Is remastered mainly just less jitter?

Most of the re-masters I’ve heard are just louder and more compressed.

Typical example was the Moody Blues On the Threshold of a Dream, the original Decca release is so much better than the MFSL re-master.
Sure the Decca was a "little" raw, but the MFSL re-master was blunted and fat, no excitement in comparison.

Cheers George

The Stones remasters in hybrid cb/sacd were excellent and much better than prior releases. Those remasters provided the greatest improvement over original redbook in the rock domain that I have ever heard. Remasters in general are a crapshoot.

I concur w/ The Rolling Stones on SACD (remastered), as well as, The Police on SACD, Van Halen (CD) and Rod Stweart (CD).  Otherwise, it is a crap-shoot.  Happy Listening!

The Small Faces Decca deluxe reissues have also been well remastered. I agree it is a crap shoot.

georgehifi
Most of the re-masters I’ve heard are just louder and more compressed.

+1
not only are many if not most remastered overly compressed, sometimes to the point that all the numbers are in the RED on the Dynamic Range Database, but many original issues are overly compressed, examples include the last few Rolling Stones, Dylan, almost all Radiohead, the list goes on.