My 2 cents -
Most people don't really understand how ATRAC works. I have read in multiple places that this is how it works:
The sound audible to the human ear is NOT compressed. It is the sound that is inaudible that is compressed. I don't know if it has changed to become this way in recent generations, or if it was always this way. But I used to think the inaudible sounds were just CUT out, and they sound you could hear was compressed. That's not true.
So anyway, the point is, what you can hear, is not compressed. It's what you can't hear that is compressed.
-N