Quote Originally Posted by Fritz
I cant imagine there is too much of a difference, considering MP3s sound crappy to begin with, unless you are using lossless compression. What's the sonic difference between the headphone out and the amp? Is it possible to describe?
More dynamic, extended frequency response in both directions, and the background sounded blacker.

I should also mention that I'm not much of a MP3 naysayer -- I don't mind MP3s. Most of mine are ripped from mine own CDs, using LAME alt-preset standard. (I think...I don't know how to read options in EAC, but mine look like this:[code]%l--alt-preset 128%l%h--alt-preset standard%h %s %d[/code] -- does that even make any sense? And then I have it set to high quality, which I think triggers the %h option.)

That said, I disagree that distortion == distortion. There is analog distortion, there is the deliberate distortion introduced by dither, and there is the distortion as a result of compressing MP3's, and I think they all sound different, and are neither mutually exclusive nor accumulative. I still think one ought to try to get the best sound possible, even if one listens to "crappy" MP3s.