heres where i will need a better clairification of terminolgy,,,
when you play one of the recordings that the levels are down and not clipping the outputs/distorting,,,, are the meter level being shown by the leds still in the yellow , as recorded ,, if thats the case then the recording is doing its job ,, if there is a diserenable difference between the recording and the original track ,, then maybe theres a problem ,,
remember if you increase the track volume till if clips/destort then its gonna sound like that ,, you cant increase the volume on a recorded cd in attempt to get it to play louder on a system,, the system is susposed to increase the volume,, called amplification ,, not shure where you are running into problems ,, have used the internal rec function from day one and other than adjustments for track gains havent seen the low levels mentioned ,, as recently as two weeks ago ,
not a bad solution , 
