almarg
As I see it the reason is that what is happening before the buffer, which is dependent on the physical characteristics of the particular disc, is affecting circuitry that is after the buffer. That is the basic point Kirkus was making in his 2011 post that I quoted above. Those effects are not occurring via what he refers to as the "forward signal path," meaning the intended signal path that we tend to think of, but rather via coupling of noise via unintended pathways. Those would potentially include grounds, power supplies, stray capacitances, or even the air. Such effects will of course vary depending on the design of the specific component.
>>>>Is there a Babel Fish translator for that?
addendum: if it doesn’t make sense it’s probably not true.