I'm sure there are plenty of exceptions but I found just about all of the original CDs in my collection from the 80's and 90's sound better than the remastered CD versions which almost always sound louder. On the other hand most sacds sound better than the cds but there again that is not always the case. Somewhere I have an old file that compared waveforms that show just how much compression is used in in order to increase volume. The clipped waveforms don't look pretty.
I'm glad Jakewash started this thread because I was thinking of starting one called "Dude, Who Stole My Dynamic Range".
