Eli5 Why does sound ‘sound’ different e.g. in a room through a microphone compared to my ears?
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It’s not just the microphone that changes the sound, you also have to consider the recording medium, the recording method, and the play back method.
Each of the components involved in the recording and playback have difference sensitivities to both different frequencies and sound pressure levels (loudness). They also add noise and distortions into the sound.
Different components will over or under-emphasize certain frequencies because everything has natural frequencies (think about singing in the shower where certain notes have extra resonance).
Some echoes and reverberations in the room may be of a low enough volume that the microphone or speaker is unable to replicate it. Recording playback systems can have greatly reduced dynamic range than real life.
Another difference is that a microphone is sampling the sound from a single point. You have two microphones on either side of your head providing you information of where sounds originate from. Electronic playback tries to use signal processing tricks to recreate this, but they cannot exactly replicate your particular ears.
In short there are a bunch of little things that you may not notice, but in sum total your brain says something is just a bit off. With very expensive equipment and setup we could probably make it very difficult to tell the difference, but it is not critical for most people.
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