Audiophile Vinyl For Beginners: MFSL, Half-Speed Masters, 45RPM, Analogue Productions UHQR, Japanese 

Thanks for the video. Been collecting off and on since I was 12 in 1970. Appreciate your insight, always something to learn!

One of the absolute best audiophile vinyl overview videos out there! Well done. Thank you!

An insightful and honest appraisal of the "audiophile" market. You admit what you do not know and speak modestly and honestly about what you do know. I have about 3,700 LP's. Most of these were purchased at garage sales south of Tampa Bay area in the 80's, 90's and first decade of 2000's when people had decided to pitch their collections for pennies on the dollar. I also bought original pressings at record stores and then often swapped duplicates of titles at the used record stores that populated the landscape in the Tampa/St. Pete area in the 90's. I was not averse to purchasing about 40 Mobile Fidelity Pressings in my life as well as same number of Japanese pressings. I am generally quite happy with all of these - I have a MoFi of LZ II and have heard it against a VG+ Robert Ludwig pressing and would not part with my MoFi. It is dead quiet, and the Ludwig was noisy. That detracted for me much of the enjoyment of the slightly superior mastering. And I listen on an upgraded Linn Sondek LP12 so I have some ability to discern quality.

Thanks for all the help! I travel for work and collect records from the road. Your information has been amazing! I’ll be visiting your shop next time in Charlotte!

I would suggest mentioning to your listeners about how important cartridge alignment (Tonearm setup) is for best sound and reduce record wear. Jim

Drool! I see you got the lights fixed on the amp too.

The lowest quality pressing of The Doors debut album is better than most high quality pressings of other bands. Once that first note of Break on Through plays…..omg what an album!

Love the Klipschorns…The Jubilee’s look interesting..

As someone starting out on his vinyl collection journey, all the way down in little ol New Zealand, this video was so valuable. Thank you! 😊

What I have found is that the more obscure or niche recordings that get released, the longer wait times for a potential repress (unless the company clearly says they will not be repressed). Anything like Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, John Coltrane, etc, will eventually get repressed once they can fit them in on the presses. If there is a record you truly want and you see it in a store or your online retailer of choice, buy it, because it may be awhile before it gets repressed.

Love that you got your upgraded system --your sound clips of records are a treat! Keep 'em coming!

A record released in 1960 was an Audio Fidelity recording entitled Percussive Vaudeville, the big theatrical sound, doctored for super stereo. I use this record to demonstrate my equipment to people who visit my home. After 62 years, it still takes first place in all my test records.

There are some smaller labels, with maybe more limited titles who really care about the quality of their records... Impex, Speakers Corner come to mind. There are others. They care enough to do things properly (Do the things that really make the difference)... Get hold of, and master from the original analogue tape, have their records pressed at RTI, Pallas, QRP and package in quality sleeves.

This is like “driving for beginners” let me show you my Ferrari.

Another great video Dillion, I have to say since my collections is all digital It's starting to get frustrating with all the different inversions. I have 5 different versions of A Kind Of Blue and none of them sound the same. I'm starting to wonder who's winning this battle, me or the manufactors.

I came to your video to find out how much you know about audiophile pressings. I found out that you seem obsessed with collecting to the point of being blinded by their marketing. Let me start by saying if when a recording is being made it is not superb quality master tapes, getting an 'audiophile' pressing of it will make no difference. Secondly, you seem to parrot each companies claims as fact. There can be no benefit from the vinyl of an album being thicker. Tell me what you think that does ? Next, 45rpm albums. The theory behind them is because the grooves are more spaced out, there is more space in the grooves for more information, but it is still limited by the information from the master tapes. Tell me, the thinking of the business of the business model for keeping the amount of pressing runs low of each album. Did you say KERCHING ? Correct. I'm going to say I don't know about all of the companies in depth that you were discussing. I have to admit the packaging is, TO, DIE, FOR. I have been informed by people who were involved with MOFI that the reason why people who listen to their albums sit and exclaim, I HAVE NEVER HEARD THAT ON (substitute name of album) BEFORE, is that they press from different takes, not the original ones that ended up on the albums that were released. I have to end though with saying, you seem EXTREMELY happy with them, and only you can be the judge of that. You look Amazing. 😉😊

Hey Dillon.. Real nice Video... Love the System... Hey!! I did add an Equalizer and " Boy" does make a difference in the Sound in our old house.... So Still being old and poor!!! Sounds pretty good.... You gave some good info.. everything good here.. Sonny still going through Boxes adding to tables... Still helping him sort... Peace Dan..

I bought a Japanese copy of Twisted Sister's Come Out and play and the drums sounded really strange. The EU press is better for sure! The cover with the OBI strip looks really cool though!

Love your channel man. Been watching for almost a year now and you really got me into collecting and you’ve put me on some awesome music. 🤝

Don't forget about Speaker's Corner vinyl. They sound quite good.

I know your a Flying Burrito Brothers fan. Intervention records which is a smaller audiophile label does a really good Gilded Place of Sin and Burrito Deluxe and have really high gloss stoughton Tip On’s. I grabbed them both before the price increase. Really worth it I can only imagine what it would sound like on your system.

Thank you. Very useful overview.

I agree! In order to enjoy an audiophile pressing you need a system capable of bringing out the full potential of the recording. Don’t forget about record maintenance. Cleaning vinyl and the stylus are a must!

Man, I’m waiting for a special moment to break the seal on that Kind of Blue! Glad I bought two! Since you’ve posted this, about 10 copies have sold on Discogs.

Wonderful vid! Wish I had seen this when I first started collecting. These Vinyl 101 vids are great. I'm a more seasoned collector now and I know what I like and what to look for, but I had a great time watching this anyway.

Hey Dillon, great video. Could you make one on the reissue labels like Rhino, Sundazed, Real Gone, etc?

Hey Dillon - so glad you have 'evolved' - that system of yours is an absolute dream and we are all super jealous. Just don't follow that dirty path down to snobby.. 😋

You shouldn't have to get up to change a 45 RPM record; you should already be up! I'm not a sitter! (LOL) And don't diss that redbook cd! Best audio ever to my ears! I know it's not cool. I think the "uphill climb" is the main cause for the inner grove distortion as opposed to less real estate. Flat profile would really help with that. OBI also gives the date at which retail in Japan can DECREASE their price. You think the vinyl market is crazy, just wait until the oil crisis.

🤣🤣 felling saucey!! Love it!

Uhqr are for sure out of this world! And the regulars are spectacular sound. Got my order today and I'm now obsessed with their records. High quality you are absolutely right!!!! Super happy with it.🤩🤩🤩🤩

Mofi and all those "audiophile" pressings aren't for me. I'm a metal, prog/experimental, hard rock and punk/alternative guy, and I've found that there simply isn't audiophile pressings from the bands I love and the ones that do exist the first press from the country of origin beats them.

Great video. Very helpful for rookies like me. I have a Rega P1 as an entry level TT with the Leak Stereo 130 integrated amp, with a Fosi phono stage, and I think I can listen to the differences between pressings and audiophile recordings, but it could be suggestion (like in your all-in-one friend story). For now I will stick with noraml records, at least until I upgrade my system.

I own just 1 MOFI Record pressing. It was kind of pricey even for a used copy. I bought some used inport CDs for less than half the price, and they sounded very close in audio quality to the MOFI SACD.

I have a very decent system , sufficient to support a $900 dollar cartridge, so decent not super high end but decent, I have so audiophile pressing imported and domestic, even the standard issue pressing are pretty darn quiet. At more expensive levels it’s about detail. Love my MoFi Kind of Blue, regular 33rpm, not sure how much more I could get out of the 45rpm etc without upgrading to megabuck cartridge and quite a table upgrade

I’m not into vinyl, but I can tell you that CCR’s Willy and the Poor Boys on Analogue Productions SACD sounds. Utterly. Incredible. So I understand where you’re coming from with being a fan of theirs.

1] Expensive audiophile system + bad recording = bad sound. 2] Cheap hifi systems + good recording = good sound. 3] Expensive audiophile system + good recording = heavenly sound 4] cheap hifi system + bad recording = you get heart attack 5. Audiophile lp/cd but not your taste , wasted Buy lp/cd songs that you love and buy decent system. 😁

Question, how do all these audiophile companies get the master tapes for all these albums when so many of them burned in the 2008 fire?

So, folks with decent systems truly believe they can tell the difference between a well recorded and pressed vinyl album versus the same production/same "album" on CD? That you can tell when DSD has been used? The difference between vinyl and well master CD? Really? Hey, I listen to both and enjoy both. Is the alleged "warmth" of a DSD to vinyl that audibly different? I don't know about that...

Martinez Joseph Young Kimberly Johnson Carol

If you love your system so much, why don't you marry it!! MOFI is still a great company. In the mid 80's I thought the top seam MFSL strip was a gimmick and ugly. I wonder how many I passed on.... ?

I just upgraded my power amp to a used McIntosh MC152... It got decent enough reviews from owners.

I think it is a bit unfair you running down digital and cd’s. I have been listening to music when you were in nappies and hate vinyl full stop. Surely you are not implying that you can’t be a audiophile by listening to cds ? I’m 69 and on my retirement at 65 I purchased a turntable to get back into vinyl. Brand new vinyl was great. Bought a few second hand ones and the good old hiss and pop suddenly hit me to why a hated vinyl in the first place. Instantly sold turntable and the few albums I had bought. A second hand cd don’t hiss and pop. And for you to say that every album you put on in your shop that sounds like crap is digital, is crap. A lot of vinyl was poorly recorded in analog so don’t generalise my man. I only listen to digital stored on HD and cd music and have listened to more albums than you have had hot dinners. And guess what I am an audiophile. You take care now.

Thanks for posting this fun and interesting vjd. IDK what saucy means but I'm feeling it. lol

I don’t mind flipping records more frequently. But I really hate it when a movement of classical music gets split over two sides a record. Bernie Grundman did that on some classical titles for Classic Records.

Nice video. I liked seeing you showing how UHQR's are made.

I will say as an audiophile with 40 years of experience, MFSL and many remasterings of Sony sound bad

Lopez Elizabeth Harris Frank Perez Laura

Ok so I wanna steal those Doors, Jimi and Miles sets from you! Oh and Metallica over Jethro any day! Grammys be damned! 😁

Lee Cynthia Taylor Michael Smith Joseph

I would rather have mid quality recordings on a better audio quality system good turntable good amp and great speakers.

RCA Living Stereo series - 1950's they sound stunning

What do you think about the Analog Spark label? I never heard of them till I recently bought a sort of hard to find Ben Folds album Supersunnyspeedgraphhic The Album. Hype label states they use The Best Sources, The Best Pressings and The Best Jackets. I haven't played it yet, still sealed, because I'm upgrading my stereo and currently don't have one. I don't see anyone mentioning them in audiophile vids. What do you know about them?

You’re beard looks fantastic in this

there would not be a need for audiophile labels if the damn record companies would stop with this damn Loudness War !

Hello, how eliminate odors from vinyl covers

Agree on the quality of Analogue Productions but will point out that not everything on the Acoustic Sounds website is an AP/QRP product. I reflexively bought the Kid A Mnesia 1/2 speed master 3LP after I got a "what's new" email from acoustic sounds back in November. It was early morning on business travel and I just hit buy to try to get it before it was gone. It was already backordered but I guess they got more in and my copy was delivered this week. Opened up that super protective Acoustic Sounds box and realized it wasn't Analogue Productions at all. My mistake for sure, but no big deal. When I was adding it to my collection on Discogs, I read the comments and they indicate the pressing is a mess. Instead of hoping I got the one without issues, I think I'll just return it unopened and be more careful next time.

Smith Edward Martin Jessica Johnson Anna

Great video 👍 very interesting ....

Miller Anthony Allen Eric Davis Patricia

Just also to mention how good Palace records manufactured in Germany are - I think just as good as the Mo-fi's...........

I am the new hipster, I collect polycarbonate. Got a clean shave too.

Martinez Amy Moore Jose Young John

Just bought a ‘95 Impulse RE of A Love Supreme and noticed Acoustic Sounds is coming out with a new pressing for some major change $$$. Recommend purchasing?

You need the googlaphonic stereo system...

Great video Dillon, been collecting Analogue Productions and MOFI stuff for a while now too and love their stuff. Even some of the Abbey Road half speed remasters have been pretty decent, especially their INXS - Kick.

What about DMM (Direct Metal Mastering)?

Does Mobile Fidelity ever rerelease their pressings? I'm a newbie to Vinyl & do not want to pay outrageous collector prices.

Is this a commercial? You getting freebies and promos from these labels. Be transparent! 😂

This was fantastic. You’re the best ambassador for vinyl Dillon. Keep it going brother.

That intro. ❤🔥

SonicFlare is also great audiophile channel to watch. All things audiophile with a great and charming host.

So, I took a chance at buying a collection at an estate sale. This includes a JCPenney all in one turntable, tape player, radio, and recorder. Also, comes with it two speakers and 50ish records with some cool music(not looking to sell) including Santana, bob Dylan, Beatles. I got all this for $40 and part of the reason why was because the table wasn’t turning and I was going to take a chance at fixing. I believe I diagnosed it to be the idler wheel tire that was caked and destroyed. In completion of fixing, would that be a good turntable for the records or would it destroy them? I appreciate your videos, great content. Liked and subscribed.

Any dork that complains about flipping vinyl over has no business even listening to vinyl

Just now working on record collection #3. My #2 collection had about 800 records, #3 has 7 so far...LOL Collection #2 was mainly used, older Pressings. Most VG and VG+. Not many new or M. A few possibly NM-. With this new collection I'm going for quality over quantity. I'm going to buy mostly new, sealed records, something I avoided like the plague last time. My mindset was "more more more I need a wall of records" instead of wanting optimum sound quality. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a junk collection, but I became more interested in the collecting aspect. A little hiss and pops didn't bother me. I found it nostalgic and charming. I also went down the collecting "variant" rabbit hole. Fun and interesting but expensive. I mean I had six variants of Eagles Greatest Hits...is that really necessary??? LOL I just wanna try another angle this time. In 40 years of loving vinyl I've never even owned a MoFi press or an AP press. I've never had a great stereo, or money for expensive records. So this is an adventure to me. A different kind of collecting. I don't have a big budget, so I gotta make my picks and purchases count. I'm only buying my very favorite of my favorite albums. I'm researching presses, and labels. Videos like this help, so thank you.

I love 45rpm LPs! What a Lazy society we have! "Alexa?... turn my record over for me" 🙄🤭! .....The inpatient people that can't wait for a reissue, are the same people that hate to get up to flip a 45rpm LP!

Good Evening, really dig your channel. I was wondering what you think of half-speed mastering in general. I recently saw The Who and was thinking of picking up Tommy, being released on half-speed mastering on 7/8. I've heard pro and con about that type of mastering. I'd really appreciate your thoughts. Also, might you have heard a "regular" mastering copy of Tommy, and would you recommend that ? Keep up the great work. John K.

Been dealing with Elusive Disc. Pissed me off after ordering a Rush box set and waiting 6 mo. then telling me it's not available any more. I've had a Black Sabbath box set ordered for almost a year now and haven't heard from them. I'm done with them.... Other companies you suggest? Thx for your time. Robert

Jez you spend half the video babbling about bullshit. You should cut to the chase

Good advice is to blind buy music you love from these labels because you will just like it and play it. Be careful about buying everything. You might not play it and you could be spending $400-800 a month With all The records coming out nown

My apologies my verbosity has gotten the best of me and I left you a very lengthy text but how do you say what you want to say to somebody without using words I don't get it maybe I'm just old not a date thanks

I have a half-speed master copy of The Who's Odds and Sods, but it's probably wasted on my AT LP60 With $100 Bose computer speakers. That's all the free space I have for.

a well recorded, mixed and mastered compact discs would sound better than anything else; it's a shame that no-noise filters, bad EQ's and the so called Loudness War, where many CD's have a DR of almost 0 because everything is brickwalled to death, have given the audio medium compact disc a bad name which they do not deserve. my 2 cents. those labels you mention release some fantastic sounding stuff, but they are only cooking with water, too. All those great sounding releases could be released on properly mastered cd's that not only the rich audiophiles could afford to buy; specially nowadays because of those scalpers and investors.

Thanks a lot for the great lesson.

Great video. Thanks. Another favourite of mine was TBM (Three Blind Mice) label, e.g. Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio, Midnight Sugar.

Just don't get caught going down the rabbit hole of listening to music just because it sounds great, or before you know it you're listening to Melody Gardot, Madeleine Peyroux and Shelby Lynn instead of Mr Bungle, Clutch, The Melvins and Kyuss. P.s Mike from the in groove can't pronounce the word 'Eels' nor does he seem to know anything about the band (you'll get it if you watch the particular video I'm talking about) Hilarious 😂

It's important to know about the different kinds of Mobile Fidelity (MoFi) releases. The One-Steps are obvious because of the packaging. But their other releases with the "strip" across the top are not all created equal. There are actually THREE variations. The least expensive are the "Silver label" editions. These are identifiable by the silver/gray color of the strip. They don't use the same vinyl as the more expensive MoFi releases and they're all 33 RPM. And then there are two variations of the non-Silver label 45 RPM editions. The "Original Master Recording" (OMR) and "Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab". The colored strip at the top will read one of these two things. The OMR indicates that the original master tapes were used as the source for the remastering. The other indicates that the source was not the original masters or could not be verified to be the original masters. Still, they're analog (assuming the original recording was analog) but not necessarily the original. This helps explain, to the uninitiated, some of the price differences they'll see both in the MSRP and the after-market. Also, totally agree with being patient. Many of the releases will be repressed in time. I held out and got a copy of Breakfast in America, and the first 3 of the 5 Dire Straits albums. The last two will be coming soon enough! Just hoping they repress Dylan's Desire while I'm still relatively young!!

What's your top 5 "affordable" turntables that sound great currently available in the $200 to $600 price range?

I love 45 rpm but most of the time I am listening while cooking and just can't keep flipping discs while making food.. so I am willing to give up a bit of quality for ease of use.

Listen to this on IEM Zr1 U12t Mest mkii Anole vx / v14 Big bois- Elysian X Trailli Odin

The magical mystery tour mofi sounds weird as fuck to me. I wouldn’t say it sounds bad, but it seems like something went wrong mastering it.

The jump from 45 to 78.26 is much bigger than the jump from 33 1/3 to 45.

You’re the first guy I’ve seen that actually knows his stuff. I’ve been collecting since 1964. Recently I had to see my Bill Evans-Jim Hall Undercurrent album mono on UAJ signed by both guys. I actually thought I was going to puke to I shipped it. It was EX -EX+ . That hurt. I don’t own many USA pressing. Mostly UK, Italy ,and Odeon red wax Beatles. Paul Simon,Joni Mitchell I believe I have three to five albums of each album. Beatles first pressing Parlophone - early stereo are panned hard right,hard left to the degree of isolated vocals right,instruments left. I’ve sent quite a few to Michael Fremer to listen to for his feedback. The most critical man imaginable. I did have a 63 Decca Please,Please Me he wanted to buy,but didn’t want to pay what it was worth. Christ the guy probably has a million dollar playback system. By the way. How many people do you believe have a Macintosh tube power amp,and preamp ? That’s quite an elite setup by anyones standards . If I ever get near No.Carolina I’m going to stop by ,and meet you. Lastly. The source master tapes are a big deal. 1/4 at 30 IPS. I’m sure you know companies like Capitol Records make or use dubs that are not close to the original source tape masters . Point being how are the companies you mentioned getting first generation tapes ? MoFo ? Did you mention they or some other pressing plant had 45 rpm Beatles albums ? I’ve never seen one . In any event you’re as good as it gets. Usually these audio reviewers are hacks. Ever see these clowns that sell online called “ Better Records “ . I know you have ,and your laughing now as well as I am. Cheers. Me

Great video, I’m definitely going to have to share this! I’m jealous of your Grateful Dead MOFI collection. Curious of your Hendrix collection. That Winterland box is always a tease. Did you make a video of your Hendrix collection?

I got 15-20 mofis. I love them. The sound quality is amazing.

I am setting up some old Bose speakers that I've had for sale here at the bike shop, to make sure I can sell them if they aren't as good as my other speakers. It is driving me nuts................LOL

hi where can i buy vinyl records

I like the Basis turntable and Vector tonearm. It's doesn't get much better than that for the money.

I actually got to tour acoustic sounds pressing plant in Salina, Kansas in college. It was super cool to see the whole process. We got to see a 50,000 dollar audiophile set up and let me tell you that was the craziest sound I have ever heard. It filled the whole room and just emerged you

Just enjoy the music for fuck sake.

Thanks for talking about 45rom vinyl, i was always wondering why they sometimes sounds better than a lot of LPs. And the ones I bought in Germany about 40 years ago sounds fantastic, far better than a lot of the first generation CDs to come out.