Couple thoughts and question
Question -Doug when you say "comes back from SoundCloud" can we assume you mean the realtime compressed streaming file
Yes all the small rectangle looking holes in the SC would seem to probably make the sound less smooth and more distorted (how much and if we would notice it is the question) But it has always seemed to me that SC streaming can get more distorted more quickly particularly in the highs compared to listening back on my system to the original WAV file.
I think Sound Cloud has switched to ACC 256 which is better IMO than the 128 bit they used to do But it seems still not up to uncompressed as per Dougs example .
Yes the Nugen MasterCheck plug in I use has settings for specific streaming platforms for example I think YouTube wants to see -14 to -12 LUFS max over that it will automatically reduce it
here is an excerpt from the Master Check web page
"Playout services essentially have a ‘letter box’ through which they deliver your audio; if it doesn’t slide through then the service will force it to fit. A super-loud master might win the loudness war on CD, but will simply be turned down on any major streaming service. This leaves valuable headroom which you could have used for transient detail and punch.
It is important to be aware of how True Peak clipping can cause downstream distortion in encoded audio. Heavy compression will result in audible 'fizzing' and loss of stereo definition, especially with lower quality codecs."
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