Weird compression in the stock music player?

Hey, everyone. This question's more oriented towards more audio-minded folks, so bear with me here. Has anyone noticed some strange issues with audio compression when the phone's running at a higher volume?

I've started to notice that past a certain point, my phone doesn't clip like I'd expect it to, but sorta softly eases into a really terrible sort of compression that drives me nuts, particularly when I'm trying to run sound through my car stereo over A2DP. It seems that once you reach the last 3 or 4 ticks of the volume control, the music will start compressing heavily which really mucks with the audio quality and causes the music to lose punch in the midrange (as generally it seems tracks with high levels of bass are affected by this.) Has anyone else noticed this? I assumed at first it was an A2DP issue (possibly conditioning the sound for the A2DP stream?) but then heard it when hooked up hardwired as well.

If you have noticed this, is it just a 'feature' of the phone, or are other music player apps not affected by the issue? Is there one you'd recommend? Obviously I'm not expecting audiophile quality sound but it is quite annoying when suddenly the middle drops out of a track in the midst of listening.

Thanks everyone!
 
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