A video comparing both: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nfqpr3ygSg
I tend to get physically and mentally exhausted when I have to listen to music that's maximised for loudness, took me a while to figure that out. A comparison between these two versions was the eye opener for me.
It's not the best headset in town but it should be more than enough to hear the difference.
edit: the switch at 6:10 is very noticeable to me (shure se215) but tbh they both sounds bad, and it sounds just as bad on spotify so youtube's compression isn't the culprit
This is when I suspect the differences must be minuscule even without hearing the comparison. Bose headphones are way better (and pricier) than what most people use. The sound canceling alone should make significant differences evident.
I listened on my (work issued) Jabra "whatever" headphones, and i could tell right away (without looking) when it switched from retail to GH, just by the distorted highs/lows.
I also get extremely exhausted from listening to music maximized for loudness, while listening to almost anything recorded in the 70's can go on for hours without any sign of exhaustion.
Compression can do that, but it's also possible multiband compression was used to make the bass louder so it would be more obvious ("more exciting"...) on a typical home audio system.
But this isn't a new phenomenon. Most of U2's albums, including those from before Death Magnetic, are also hideous to listen to.
I tend to assume the same, but it just occurred to me that this is kind of the opposite of Hanlon's razor...