Lossless audio - is it really that important? - Yes it is!

[MatrixS2000]

Originally Posted by stevei

Suppose the earplugs cause a rapid drop off in volume above 1khz, just for illustration. Then suppose you listen to something that has at one point in it two sounds at 900hz and 1100hz, with the 1100hz sound quite a bit louder. The perceptual encoding discards the 900hz sound, and normally if you can hear the 1100hz sound you won't notice this has happened, but if you have the ear plugs in and can't hear the 1100hz sound, it will be like night and day because in the original you'll hear a 900hz sound and it won't be there in the compressed version.

If you have 2 tones - one at 900 hz and the other at 1100 hz, doesn't mean you can't hear the 900 hz even if the 1100 hz tone is louder - that is how music works! Some sounds are louder than others, you don't throw the quieter stuff away, you HEAR that it is lower in volume.

That scenario you just described is an audiophiles nightmare and illustrates exactly WHY we want LOSSLESS audio!