Just echoing a bunch of stuff (and just about everything Farview said).
[A] "Mastering" isn't about "volume" - It's about translation and cohesiveness between a collection of recordings.
[2] Realistically speaking, I can't remember the last time there wasn't *some sort* of compression or limiting on a recording that's come out of here - and that includes jazz and classical. "Some sort" includes "clipping" done by the AD (some people ask me why I still use the original design Crane Song HEDD 192 and I can tell you it's because of the AD and how it handles the rough stuff in a style like no other converter I've come across) at the end of the analog chain. I can also tell you that the capture is typically done at the level that feels most appropriate for what the mixes are asking for - not what the client is expecting in the end - and then additional gain (usually via limiting) is performed post-capture.
* And I might add that I nearly *always* keep that high dynamic range version - because IMO, that's the way it's "supposed to" sound in the first place. A monkey with a limiter can make any recording just as loud as any other recording. How that recording reacts to the abuse is dependent on literally every single decision made before that step takes place.
Again, just being realistic - I'm thrilled like few others that the "loudness war" has seemed to have peaked (clipped, if you will) and levels are getting back to at least some sort of "more reasonable" (as I've said countless times, the listener never asked for this and if they knew what they were missing, they'd probably be pretty pissed about it).
That all out of the way - Are there ways to increase perceived level - substantially - without compression and limiting? Of course. I mean, in floating-bit, you could just crank the hell out of it and export to 24-bit, open the 24-bit file in float, turn it down .1dB and you're good. Heck, sometimes that actually sounds just fine (again, depending on every single decision made beforehand). But technically, in the end, you're limiting it. So just use a limiter that will do it with purpose (and style and adjustable parameters and A&R shaping, etc., etc.) instead.
And if you don't want to use any compression, limiting or various other volume-boosting techniques and you're fine with the volume that the mix is at without any consideration towards perceived and comparative volume, I'm behind you 100%. The whole "amazing" part of digital audio was that it sounded amazing and accurate at *lower* levels and had basically imperceptible noise compared to the source.
That "amazing" part lasted about ten minutes - and the volume war began.