Why do you say it is a requirement? Not disagreeing, I just don't understand why.
Most sources, including radio, normalize loudness to some extent. It is the default setting in iTunes/Apple Music. So it would be unusual for a song to stand out significantly because of over compression. Having said that, there is quite a bit of variation in loudness on Amazon Music (normal resolution, I do not have hi-res at this point so can't speak to that.) Maybe there is a normalization setting in Amazon Music but if so I have not seen it.
Also, it isn't like a well recorded nominally compressed song has to sound bad in the car or with ear buds if loudness is normalized.
Anyway, I still don't get it and to me it seems like one of the biggest issues in hi-fi sound quality.
My conspiracy theory is that its just what everyone does because everyone has always (since early 90s) done it.
Mark Knopfler doesn't do it.......well not as bad as most, some of his stuff is moderately compressed. But I suspect Mark Knopfler 1) Knows what he's doing and 2) Does whatever he wants.
Most sources, including radio, normalize loudness to some extent. It is the default setting in iTunes/Apple Music. So it would be unusual for a song to stand out significantly because of over compression. Having said that, there is quite a bit of variation in loudness on Amazon Music (normal resolution, I do not have hi-res at this point so can't speak to that.) Maybe there is a normalization setting in Amazon Music but if so I have not seen it.
Also, it isn't like a well recorded nominally compressed song has to sound bad in the car or with ear buds if loudness is normalized.
Anyway, I still don't get it and to me it seems like one of the biggest issues in hi-fi sound quality.
My conspiracy theory is that its just what everyone does because everyone has always (since early 90s) done it.
Mark Knopfler doesn't do it.......well not as bad as most, some of his stuff is moderately compressed. But I suspect Mark Knopfler 1) Knows what he's doing and 2) Does whatever he wants.