I've complained about this stuff for too long. Listen for yourself :
I've made clips from two different versions of the '56 "I've Got You Under My Skin". First is from the Bob Norberg mastered
Classic Sinatra, mastered from the "wrong" tape, and subjected to lots of processing.
Bob Norberg clip
The other file is from the 3CD U.S.
The Capitol Years set, mastered by Larry Walsh and produced by Ron Furmanek. This is taken from the correct master, with no echo added after the fact, and I'm guessing no or very little Eq. It could have been transferred on a better sounding tape deck, and it does have light noise reduction (skillfully applied), though none should have been used IMO. I've done VERY minor Eq on this, just to compensate for these issues and therefore bring this to life better.
Walsh/Martin clip
These clips are wav files, peak level matched. If you don't have a decent set of speakers hooked up to your computer, or good headphones to plug into it, please burn these files to a CD-R (if you can) and compare over your stereo. These should give an idea what all the complaints are about...