What does it mean when you are going to buy an audio equipment(s) then you are told that it has playback capabilities? This is something I have always heard for ages but not bothered to follow up on.
As near as I can tell, "audio playback capabilities" refer to the Computer-based DAWs have extensive recording, editing, and playback capabilities (some even have video-related features).
I believe WW is right. When you are producing audio, you will record sounds and music from different sources and compile them. Getting all the devices to talk to each other is probably and chore in itself. The quality sound of digital is a big issue as well.