I get it... There is actually quite a bit to it all. As a musician I was fortunate to play with it a lot. Lot of recording dynamics, stage set up, and fine tuning.
A lot of what you are going to get as playback all depends on the equipment it was recorded on at the time. So much stuff ignored that would be absolutely incredible on modern systems if it was remastered... :)
Now, there's an understatement! 100% agreed on that one. And I'm 70 and think that despite my best efforts, I only learned about 10% of what I really wish I could have.
Granted that that applies to everything.
Agreed also on that last, except it would depend on who was doing the remastering (or re-recording, which may be what you really mean), and their purpose. Most remasters of rock, pop, country, etc., actually got worse in many respects. Have you ever checked out the Dynamic Range Database at dr.loudness-war.info?
Of course, dynamic range isn't "everything". Not by a long shot. But, I've had fairly good luck with buying CD's that rate highly on that website. Very often they are overseas releases.