MP3s have pushed audio quality to rock bottom

Ken Ishiwata, a 30 year veteran onf the CD and hi-fi world, has confirmed what many suspected - that at the start of every new technology boom - particularly with CDs and then MP3s, quality is sacrificed for convenience, adding that its only recently that the quality of CDs have matched the quality of older technologies such as analogue vinyl. 


MP3s have further educed quality as music was compressed  to keep costs down although modern advances in file storage means this is no longer necessary. Ishiwata, a master tuner at Marantz, says of market leader Apple's iTunes that their music is "not sold for the quality its sold for the sexiness and the convenience" although he thinks that both iTunes and digital streaming platforms such as Spotify will improve quality over the next five years.