My old AV receiver had a "night mode" (I believe it was called) that did some really great, natural-sounding dynamic range compression. I ended up just keeping it on all the time, for the reasons the parent lists. Alas, the entire unit stopped working several years ago, and I learned it would cost more to repair it than replace it... and I didn't do great research when buying its replacement, so "night mode" is no more.
