This is really interesting, it sort of helps to know that I´m not the only one thinking this particular album is of unusual very bad sound quality. I have actually had contact with the iTunes support team regarding this, after finding they sounded equally bad on my beyers and grados (through the benchmark dac1) than the white throwaways on the iphone.<br />
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Being an audiophile for 15 years I have shook my head many times over the amazingly crappy sound of many commercial recordings, and many of the RHCP albums have been destroyed. Stadium Arcadium is an exception, sounding very ok (but not hifi of course;-). (and I think R. Rubin is to be credited for making that album a really great one, musically) <br />
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After downloading the I´m with you album on iTunes I´m really shocked, and still hoping that someone will tell me that they made a mistake (hence my contact with the iTunes support) when converting this to iTunes. The levels of distortion (not the usual crappy mp3 treble) in the whole spectrum, most noticable in the bass, is spectacular. I have never heard anything like it, and the best way to describe it is this: It sounds like a very cheap plastic desktop speaker set played just too loud. The start of each song is often bearable, but when more instrument layers are added later, gross distortion sets in. <br />
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The iTunes support people tells me they are investigating, but I have not high hopes. I also tried downloading from another online source (Wimp) but to no relief, it was just as bad. Back to Stadium Arcadium then, I guess.<br />
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