The current Loudness War state

[RobC]

First, a few situations:

I gave in and got wireless earbuds for the first time. They will be useful for cycling. But that's a type of sport activity where I won't ever touch the volume control.

I remember as a teen, skipping overly loud, or overly quiet songs, preferring to keep the music player in my pocket, with a set volume.

So, sadly, the truth is, we do use the volume control, but not always.
Some limitations/systems (such as -12 LUFS target loudness) help a bit with more consistent loudness,but has its flaws.

I noticed, that the earbuds are loud enough, but rather optimized for "loud" content, that covers the range around -12 LUFS.

It's kind of sad to see that we have to adapt to the loudness war, because really dynamic music will be too quiet, and won't have a chance to get heard.
Now, I did develop some tech, that can get my music louder with a beneficial tradeoff, which actually can even make it sound better, and still impactful, with reduced dynamic range. Just, I fear sharing it, because people would try to get even louder...

Anyway, it seems that modern standards, the loudness war, etc. have such impact, that even devices get optimized FOR the crappier sound. Some devices even seem to have features that try to put some life into the trashed sound. Unless they are just some special voodoo, in attempt to get more sales.

So yeah, I originally wanted not to care about loudness, but I guess it will be better to at least make everything as loud as possible, without making compromises OR tops doing a beneficial tradeoff.