larger zoomlevels betray icon clarity

Comparison at 48px. Zoomlevels are 100% (i.e. none) and 400% (max). Note especially the word NEWS in the Liferea icon.

Comparison at 128px (max). Zoomlevels are 100% (i.e. none) and 400% (max). Note especially the word NEWS in the Liferea icon, and Wilber's eyes.

This is entirely dependent on the icons shipped with each app. Notice how clear the docky icon still is, or especially the Thunderbird icon. There is nothing in Docky that can make these icons look better than they actually are ;)

Forgive me if I am missing something that ought to be obvious.

1) At the 48px size, there is a difference between the two Thunderbird icons. Compare the eye on the top and bottom renderings on the previously attached screenshot.
2) I finally figured out why Docky wasn't showing the badge for Liferea (which has no bearing on this bug), but I also noticed a marked difference in the badge rendering at the same sizes and zoomlevels used before. See attachment.

It's almost like (not that I know since I don't know how to read the code) Docky is rendering the icon for the zoomed-in zoomlevel, and then scaling it down for when it's not zoomed, such that a 48px dock with a 400% zoomlevel is displaying a 192px icon scaled down to 48px. The icons look perfect when zoomed in; it is only when not zoomed in that this behavior manifests itself.

Robert, tossing it back to you to see if there's anything you can technically do.