Yes, I should know better. My family has an old Victrola (built in the late 1930’s) – it’s a somewhat rare “two-door” model and it sounds actually pretty good considering its age. You guys would flip at some of the 78 rpm titles we have – WWII propaganda music, various crooners and big bands, and even an old recording of Babe Ruth singing hilarious tune called “I’m the Sultan of Swat” (the Babe wasn’t much of a singer but he had a great comedic persona). Also, since it’s a two door model, the thing is LOUD, man.
I can’t speak for others’ recordings, but I frequently notice in my own DAW recordings that they are pretty harsh on the top end, even though I don’t add any EQ and never use plugin limiters or maximizers (I do occasionally mix into some bus compression). In fact, I had a “revelation” this morning that I talk about in this thread: