> "Plain" decibels are simply (power) ratios. / "Flavored" decibels are in reference to some power quantity.

I think this is analogous to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affine_space . If I understand correctly, an affine space has absolute points and relative vectors.

In terms of types: point ± vector = point; point + point = illegal; point - point = vector; vector ± vector = vector.

Similar with datetimes - you have absolute datetimes (e.g. 2025-05-23T05:16:35Z) and relative offsets (+1 minute, -1 day, etc.). You cannot add two datetimes together.

A plain decibel would be a vector, and a flavored decibel would be a point.