Internet Radio sounds better than ripped CDs. Why

What I'm hearing with Apple lossless is a hardness and compressed sound. Whereas a station like TSF Jazz sounds much more open. It's not that I don't hear the compression especially during complex pieces but overall its much more listenable. Since I'm using the analog out, maybe the AE isn't the best for decoding Apple lossless? Or perhaps I need to use error correction when ripping CDs. I don't have much interest in a external DAC at this time. I'm just not interested in spending big bucks on audio any more. In fact I'm really enjoying the mid-fi sound (and convenience) of internet radio and Pandora.

Mat,
The analogue outs of the AE are only OK.....or worse.
A DA converter is a 'must' for this guy. I don't know how inexpensive a good DA can run, but just for example, a CA DacMagic is about 400$ online.
Preowned? quite a bit less.

Lossless files are 'decoded' at the computer end and sent as a bitstream to the AE. So, whether you are sending MP3@160 or lossless, makes no difference at the AE end. All the heavy lifting is done at the computers end.

I'm thru with 'upgrades' for quite a while, too. If I do anything, I'll sell my CA840 player, which includes 2 DA inputs and also sell my OPPO upsampler so I can buy an OPPO '83 and a DacMagic. Kind of a sideways move, but I can end up with BlueRay and make a small bit of change.

Definitely use Error Correction when you rip your CDs.

Guys,

I have the same experience in that Radio Paradise (radio station) sounds better than my ripped CD collection (WAV) through my squeezebox.

Drives me nuts.

I have checked everything, I have ripped CD's with I-tunes into WAV files, tried FLAC with the program MAX and the result is still the same.....