[Five]

from the FA it looks like it was taped a little low, yes.

In Audacity, go to File > Preferences > Spectrograms

change the FFT size to 512 and the Maximum Frequency (Hz) to 22000. right now your spectral view is displaying only up to 7000 (default) but most of the helpful information is over 12000Hz and isn't showing in the screenshots. So if you get a chance it would be cool to look at some new SA screenshots with this setting, at least one zoomed in on two seconds. it is also possible to stretch the display by pulling at the bottom of it.

So far it doesn't look lossy, just weak (as you mention). The FA rolls off slowly and smoothly, unlike typical mp3 sources which usually drop like a cliff or staircase at some point.