Clipping the a D Converter, or Share the Load Between the Two?

In contemporary mastering, it is not uncommon to see the engineer clipping the a d converter rather than controlling the peaks with the limiter. There are actually pluggins that do this. One of my favorites, i think, didn't make the port to 64 bt. It was a stillwells event horizon. If you can't hear a three tenths of a d b boost with an e c at any frequency on a mix, you need to train your ears better. Gretip of throwing it down.