Is New Vinyl Exempt from Loudness Wars?

there is still the problem that very few people have the playback equipment needed to track it well much less not have the stylus jump the groove.   So it only makes sense to produce such a product at higher cost and profit margin since only a few will be able to benefit.

The rule of thumb I use is a Grado Gold mounted on a Technics SL1200. If you can't track it perfectly with that then you have a mastering problem. No-one is cutting in such a way that only a top-end arm/cartridge combo will work!! Lacquers for mastering are 14" in diameter; if we want to test something we will often cut a test track outside the 12" diameter and then play it back on our SL1200 to see how well it works. That way we know we are getting a good cut when we proceed with the recording.

At extremely large/fast cutting head excursions, the cutting head coils may physically burn up, much like how a speaker's voice coils may be destroyed by an excessive current. Also, the diamond cutting head stylus may prematurely wear or break. This places important constraints on the maximum levels that can be recorded to a record.

This is another example of a statement made by someone that has no clue as to how the mastering process occurs.

In actual real life, this won't happen. You can't burn up the cutterhead by cutting a trackable groove! Anyone who thinks that hasn't been around one.

Further, the stylus typically has about a 10-hour service life before it has to be replaced. **Diamond** is usually used for dub plates (which are plastic custom one-offs made for DJs and the like, being harder than lacquers you need a different stylus). So most styli are actually sapphire, not diamond!! Additionally, they are heated so they can make the cut without noise. The reason they only go about 10 hours is they start to make noisy cuts. At 5 hours its often a good practice to check and see if you need to raise the stylus temperature slightly to compensate for wear to the stylus. 

The stylus isn't going to break or wear prematurely without abuse- that is pretty much just bunk. 

Mapman
BTW, playing CDs versus streaming ripped CDs from computer disk storage is another good topic to consider when assessing the overall utlity of modern digital versus vinyl.   My overall satisfaction with digital jumped way into the green when I made that transition. I have not played a CD in years other than in my car. Its rip and stream only these days baby!

I do both CD's and streaming, depending on my mood. I guess I like to handle cds and lps, and maybe from being in IT since I was 17, makes using the computer too close to work sometimes for me. IDK.  The other thing. I don't think of myself as old but my kids sure do, at least with some of my music habits. They can't believe I listen to whole cd's without skipping tracks. I tell them I want to get to know the artist, and most time, the best stuff, is the stuff that never makes it to the radio, Their not buying it.  So the computer advantage of cueing up a song list on the server is not a big deal for me. But not stepping on and knocking over piled cd's around the cd transport....:^(

In regards to new vinyl , I live in a small town with only a small HMV nearby with limited selection. If I really want something I need to drive 45 mins or have it brought in. The last thing I want is to have any vinyl handled more by couriers.   
 

"In regards to new vinyl , I live in a small town with only a small HMV nearby with limited selection. If I really want something I need to drive 45 mins or have it brought in. The last thing I want is to have any vinyl handled more by couriers."

There are excellent deals to be had on eBay.  If they're packed correctly the couriers can throw the around like a discus.  The last ones I sold were the first two Mothers of Invention, In Through the Out Door, Tea for the Tilerman, and a bunch of Mercury Living Presence, and I'm not talking about reissues, either.  It's a buyers market out there.

Nobody said dynamic range is the end all do all for sound quality. But listen, if you buy a Ferrari that's supposed to redline at 8,000 RPM and you get it home and find out it comes with a rev limiter installed that cannot be removed that limits revs to 5,000 RPM, guess what?  You should have bought a Toyota.