New remastering of Steely Dan's Katy Lied review by Fremer

The high res is quieter. Older masterings sometimes increased the perceived loudness of a track by applying audio compression, which evened out louder and softer peaks/troughs and then normalized the tracks so that the largest peaks are just short of clipping. The end result is louder but in the process the dynamic range has been compressed original. A good remastering would be quieter, overall, to increase the "space" available to play out the original dynamic range, shy of clipping.

In theory you are right that this quieter less compressed version should always sound better. But often I find anyway that it does not. Streaming services give you the opportunity to quickly start one version and then another. Even volume adjusting, I often find that the louder 44.1 version sounds better in terms of overall SQ. And it’s not the amp, when I am going from nine o’clock to say 10 o’clock on the volume dial. Both are well within the “”sweet spot” for the amp. 

In theory you are right that this quieter less compressed version should always sound better. 

I didn't say better.

Ok yes. Sorry the assumption. I started a thread on this topic as it really interests me. Why some hi res remasters are great and others aren’t. I am sure a lot of variables other than compression or lack thereof go into it. I just think one should always expect a better sounding hi res remaster. Even if it’s lower volume. 

Cool. Some remasters are higher res but poorly done. Everything comes down to the motivations and the people doing it.