Radiohead read on

They are already loud as soon as you start playing them. That’s kind of the whole point. The level is set higher on the compressed CDs than it is on their uncompressed brethren so they play louder. You can’t get in too much trouble because the peaks are still a lot lower in dB than they would have been uncompressed. You actually need to turn the volume DOWN on some cases.

All true except actually you can get into trouble a lot faster because things are recorded louder to start and there are fewer valleys between the peaks which means when the loudest parts achieve the desired SPL when played the amp and speakers are working harder overall than they would be otherwise in that the average volume level in the recording is higher. Louder/higher volume levels overall mean more work for amp and speakers to do. So hifi setups that are not able to deal with high volume levels as well to start will feel more strain at a particular max SPL of volume. What was previously perhaps clipping, compression and distortion in just a few dynamic peaks is now more prevalent. That’s why I say it takes a bigger better hifi to play a loud CD well at a certain maximum SPL level than a less loud one. A lot of modern under powered hifis driving smaller inefficient speakers that are designed for extended bass out of a smaller package, as is very popular these days, will start to clip, compress and distort sooner making things even worse. Even more reason for many audiophiles to hate these kinds of recordings.

It’s actually not the recording that’s louder. The recording is not the issue. It’s the CD format that’s compressed and made louder. That’s why they call it the Loudness Wars. As I said you can make the level higher and still not risk blowing up someone’s boombox or Walkman since the peaks have been compressed, as well as valleys obviously. Everyone’s happy, teeny boppers can play their music loud, the record companies are making money and the only ones who are unhappy are people like me who can’t stand overly compressed music. As I also said, that means I won’t listen to some of Dylan’s greatest CDs,,like Modern Times or Stones like A Bigger Bang and Bridges to Babylon, or Radiohead. Except Pablo Honey. If I can get them on cassette I can manage to get by.  But that's a big IF.

Sure what goes into the cd release can be what's compressed versus original masters I'm sure in many cases.  

Some may have waveforms clipped as well at some stage.  Dr measurements alone do not tell you that but not uncommon at least in many modern pop releases I'm sure.

You guys almost make me want to dig out my old DBX 119 expansion/compression unit and put it into the system (assuming it still works).