When audiophiles search for "the beatles abbey road rar hot," they are rejecting the loudness war. Most commercial CDs and streaming versions of Abbey Road have been compressed. Compression raises the quiet parts and squashes the peaks, making the album sound "modern" on earbuds but murdering the dynamic range.

On August 8, 1969, at 11:35 AM, the band stepped outside to escape the studio's intensity for just ten minutes. Photographer Iain Macmillan stood on a stepladder while a policeman held up traffic. They walked across the zebra crossing six times.