To what degree DR reflects SQ?

[danadam]

6 hours ago, firedog said:

That there are older methods of computing Dynamic range out there--most commonly by measuring the "Crest Factor". 

Crest Factor measurements reflect the difference between the average volume and the peak volume--so they are easily swayed by periods of silence or near-silence (which distorts the average), and by short-duration peaks--which may not represent the volume of the loudest parts of the track accurately.

If by "most commonly" they mean Dynamic Range DB then this description is wrong. Dynamic Range DB algorithm uses the average volume of the laudest 20% of the track, i.e. the track is split into blocks of 3 seconds, average volume of each block is computed and then the top 20% is used to calculate the "crest factor". So it is not "that" easily swayed by silence.

[danadam]

What I noticed is that when I have an album A with higher DR and an album B with lower DR than I can comfortably listen album A with higher volume setting than album B. That's not surprising. What is maybe somewhat surprising is that even though now they are both at comfortable volume level, subjectively album A sounds louder. So to me higher DR allows for louder but still comfortable listening, which is nice.