Thank you, Charles. And I agree with everything you say — particularly regarding the importance of the original master. Beyond that, what if the guitarist was using a dodgy cable or iffy amp?

The volume thing may even be a ploy on Apple’s behalf to impress non-audiophile users. And it’ll probably work. The important thing is that that additional loudness doesn’t appear to impact dynamics, so it’s not a case of the loudness wars, thankfully.