All solid points. Unfortunately, there is also the opposite end of that spectrum, which I experienced recently while listening to some music via Sirius/XM Satellite radio in my car. Some of the classic rock stations have so overly compressed their signals that it ruins the music. Specifically, one station played Rush' Hemispheres (which is a rarity to begin with) about a week ago. The downbeat szforzandos after any quiet or buildup sections were squished so much that the music became unintelligible and indistinguishable mush. Hemispheres is my all-time favorite rock album, but this sounded so bad I had to change the channel.

There are extremes at both ends, and neither are good. Finding that balance is the aforementioned "dark art."