Sorry I misread your post. SC is oft discussed regarding the noticeable effects of their compression. YT and other platforms apparently use less or none; however they do raise or lower the gain of your upload which SC does not do. I find it hard to compare uploads unless I carefully match the volumes. But I’m old and my hearing is highly likely much less acute than your’s. I would not find it surprising that SC could alter a wav to the extent that an unaltered mp3 would sound better.

On a peripheral note and you may be familiar with it … loudnesspenalty.com (with no signup) will instantly analyze your tune and tell you how much the platforms will raise or lower the gain of your tune. You don’t even have to upload the song.

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