...I CAN HEAR a difference in clarity and punch since I started tracking at lower levels...
I'm going to guess it's the analog front end that makes the difference...not the digital level itself.
This debate goes round and round...
...and apart from doing proper listening tests and scientific measurments...
...I think the real issue in understanding what is going on has always been due the *combination* of the analog front end and the digital back end.
You can't just look at digital levels and know what your front end is doing...well, maybe if you work with the same pres over and over, but the point is, the *digital level* is not the potential problem...it's the analog front end.
How you drive that analog preamp WILL change the sound....how much you increase or decrease your digital level, will not, and should not.
That gets lost in most of these debates, and it seems the focus always falls on the digital levels, since most people are in the digital world these days...and pres are often built into converter boxes, so no way to adjust one without the other.
I've mentioned it a couple of times in the past...I don't bother looking at my digital/converter levels a heck of a lot when tracking...but then I am also using standalone preamps, so I'm setting my level *at the preamp*...not at the digital meters.
Like noted...that may not be possible for folks using many of these combo pre/converter interfaces...so all they got to go by is the digital metering, and then in that case, you have to default to some "safe" zone....but if you could monitor just your preamp, there are often times when they can be driven real hard for a particular sound flavor, and that in turn would push the digital levels up well past the -14 to -18 dBFS safe zone.
Anyway...not trying to stir it all up again...just pointing out that it's not just the digital level one should focus on, if possible in your rig.
Also...the tips some folks give about staying in the safe zone are certainly not bad/wrong at all...I'm just saying they are not absolutes. There are more factors than just what the digital meters are showing.