Volume level of commercial CD's.

Wavegain sounds interesting but you can do the same thing by adding attenuators on the DAC output (or other places).   

Sounds like a problem with your conversion program. I recommend xrecode. Your CDs have commercials?

There is no problem that I see with conversion. The CD's themselves play too loud and so do the FLACS that I rip. I think the mastering is just too loud for my system but Wavegain improves the volume.

Interestingly, I have a bedside radio with a weak amp and the loud FLACS sound fine there. The problem comes with my big system (Jolida tube dac and Conrad-Johnson 250 watt amp), where the volume knob has to be at a very low setting.

CDs don’t play too loud. Compared to what?

Your system is too sensitive. Attenuate it.

Run them through a DAC with a gain control.

For each 6dB you are losing a bit of resolution, so, if you play Redbook 16 bit stuff do attenuate AFTER the DAC.

I monitored my playing of  Mahler 2 this afternoon.  At my seat the range was from 44 dB to 94.  Most passages were at about 60 to 65, moderate crescendos at 75 to 80 dB, the 95 was a hard transient. Classical symphonies live can be as much as a 60 dB range.

On a CD a 50 dB range is 8+ bits so you are left with an 8 bit recording for the quiet parts.  This is why the 24 bit recordings of wide range music is such an improvement, the quiet, slow, passages can have an ethereal quality that CDs cannot match.

I also listened to the Op. 132 quartet, that was mainly in the 55 to 65 range, some pp passages down in the 50s.  Parts of the Heileger gesaang even down in the 40s.

OOPS: Typo Heiliger gesang

Another oops: those posts should have been in response to the "How Loud" discussion.  Getting old!