I'll say that this mix very likely got singed a bit in mastering. Probably just because it was a surround mix it didn't get pummeled like the stereo content in this set. (Maybe we got lucky that someone maybe treated it as a novelty with regards to that?) No deal breakers there. This is the real deal and a good mix. It's just still the weakest recording this band ever released. And again, everything else in this set is volume war destroyed low budget hash. You'll listen to this once or twice and then go back to the radio shows and boots from 1978. (That you already had in better quality than the copies in this set.)
er...allow me to offer a somewhat alternate opinion.
The Ultimate set is worth it if only for the
amazing "pre-vocals" version of the first UK album included as a bonus. It sounds fantastic, and is absolutely revelatory as music, with some quite different mixes and previously unheard parts and solos. The Bruford/Wetton rhythm section is a monster and sounds much more raw and live than on the final mix.
The 'Abbey Road' remaster of the first UK sounds OK, I would not say it's ruined by compression; it's not brickwalled. I would guess it has been re-EQed too. It's a case of compare and decide, not automatic rejection (I have at least 3 different masterings in my collection). It's certainly different from the standard version in one way : reverb has been added to the famous dry intro of 'In the Dead of Night'. Why? Ask Jobson.
Never been a big fan of Danger Money, so I'll pass on passing judgement. The live versions from broadcast UK Mark I concerts were always more interesting to me.
Speaking of those broadcast concerts: in this set they sound like garbage. EJ ruined them, which is a damn shame if he really had access to the master tapes (it's not clear that he did). There are vastly better versions available in circulation. Seek those out.
I found the NAN surround mix disappointing; for example, on the original stereo mix, the Hammond solo on 'Night After Night' leaps out of the mix thrillingly. In the surround mix, nah. I listened once and haven't since. Maybe revisit in a a year or three.
