I am looking at getting a baritone horn of my own, but am not sure what compensating versus non-compensating valves are?
A compensating valve instrument has valves that send the air through two sets of tubing. For example a double French horn has slides for the F side and the Bb side. In a normal horn the air goes through the F side when you are playing the F side and the Bb side when you are playing that side. In a compensating horn when you play the F side the air goes through both sets of slides. It's a way of making the horn lighter and simpler.
