In years of collecting may be 2000+I have only a few Audiophile pressings because of the huge cost difference and lucky most are Uk 1960 -80 pressings pop and classical music It's a great hobby
Look to see where the vinyl was pressed. Quality Record Pressing, RTI, MoFi and Optimal are pressing plants that turn out consistent quality pressing. You also need to see who mastered the music. You can have a very quiet Record (no clicks or pops) but maybe the sound stage is flat or the singer / instruments are buried. To use Paul's analogy you soon find the combination you'll like.
What Paul + everyone here has said. As well as the brands such as MOFI, there are also certain mastering engineers such as Bernie Grundman who also bring along a seal of quality. With Bernie, he’s so respected that he’s usually mentioned on the hype sticker!
Great advice to reference forums. Over the last few months I’ve relied very heavily on Steve Hoffman forums and Discogs, with exceptional results. But the more input you get from similar resources, the more informed your decisions. It just takes work.
It’s a fickle one but you know when you find it and just like my pursuit for sumptuous sound the thrill is the chase in finding it. Keep exploring & enjoying the journey.
I like the sound of early RCA "Living Stereo" LPs, such as Henry Mancini. They sound pretty good to my ear and can get them for only $0.50 each or less use, still near mint. These seems to have deep groove.
@@Mikexception If you happened to look at the record grooves being cut in, it is evident that I can see their appearance indicates deep and fluctuate quite a bit in different sound stages, yes, separation is also excellent, not like shallow grooves of 70s or 80s quality.
"Is there an easy way to know how to choose a quality vinyl pressing?" The short answer is no. But let's back up. I assume from the question that this person is new to vinyl and has noticed or read about the vinyl resurgence. I suggest two things: find a record store close by that has a good selection of new and used records and hopefully helpful staff, and read high end journals, such as Stereophile, The Absolute Sound, and Analog Planet. You'll learn enough about labels you like based on your musical taste, and which pressings gives you good sound. With this start keep your ears and your wallet open.
I recently acquired my latest vinyl records (a boxed set of Dvorak works) as "thank you gift" for a contribution to the local NPR station. They called me to confirm that I knew these were Vinyl LP's (apparently some folks who received them were surprised.)
Paul mentioned MFSL (Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs). They made remasters of popular records. I have some MFSL records and they sound pretty good. You can find them on eBay but they're not cheap.
I sold my two turntables and the last remainder of the LP collection. More people are selling their 1960s-1980s record collections, many LPs still in good condition. Getting well-kept older records might be an affordable option
No two pressings sound exactly the same. But to land the ones that sound the best, you either have to 1) know the stamper code, or 2) take shots in the dark. Even if you know which stamper codes sound best, that only gives you a shot at a great sounding pressing. Even within the same stamper code, there are duds -- and they could be new in the shrink-wrap, never yet played. Also, knowing which stamper codes to avoid will help, as none of those pressing will sound great. Every release has its own stamper codes, and sometimes scores of stamper codes for a single album (Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors" is an example of having a conga line of stamper codes). Also, side 1's stamper code will differ from side 2's stamper code. Also, you might find an amazing sounding side 1, and the flip side can sound like crap (or vice-versa). Then there are albums where song-by-song the sound quality varies (The Beatles "White Album" is one such example). And as our host stated, you have to find someone whose ear you trust. You should not just follow the on-line crowd. Lots of folks like boomy bass, which is not natural sounding. If you follow their recommendations, when you are looking for realism, you will be disappointed. Many folks actually like compressed (loudness war) sounding songs. Their recommendations will probably be exactly what you are trying to avoid. There is a web site named better records (with a dash between the two parts of the name. I am not including the link, because youtube tends to toss comments that have links). They clean and play both sides of every record that they sell, and they rate the sound quality of each side, accordingly. They do not sell any pressings that do not have a degree of better than average sound quality. You will pay high prices for their records, because your cost involves all of their expenses, and their time, and they are also providing their service to earn a profit. But it takes the guess work out of the equation. They offer a no-questions-asked, 100% refund, for anything that you send back (within 30 days, I believe). Finding great sounding pressings is like finding great tasting food, or a great doctor, or a great mechanic, etc. It is trial and error. And even companies that make a valiant effort to produce great sounding vinyl pressings... well, they do not listen to each of their pressings to confirm that nothing is amiss. And they probably do not have a high-end stereo to check for that level of quality control. So there is simply no cost effective way to identify which records are the special ones with great sound quality. It comes down to someone has to take the time to drop the stylus into the groove and listen. That is the only way to know how good or bad and single pressing sounds. There is no other way of knowing, pre-purchase, unless you are purchasing from someone that played that specific record, and you trust that person's ear.
I have been astonished by the non flat pressings for heavy weight vinyl mastered by MOFI and Abbey Road Studios. I send back so many modern records because they are bell shaped.
Wonderful explanation to a complex subject. I would also add to challenge the shop owner/seller as many times they just don’t know what is audiophile or not.
I cherish my Sheffield Lab direct-to-disc LPs as, to me, they are the best sounding recordings available in the 1980s (Dave Grusin, Thelma Houston, et al).
Wasn’t Tim de Paravincini associated with mobile Fidelity’s before he passed away? He had a reputation as a recording master in the industry for many years including designing his own legendary microphone?
Short answer is YES, from what I've read MoFi is using a playback chain engineered by him, and I'd like to hear the full story because I suspect Mobile Fidelity either bought out his stuff or his company bought them, or some such thing occurred and I suspect it's complicated. (Cut to the chase, look back to around the early-mid-1990's and a company called "DCC" and their gold CD's mastered with a tube-based playback system I'm pretty sure was engineered by him about the same time MoFi was using their "GAIN 2" system--I suspect one way or another these two companies either merged or one bought out the other or some such thing happened! What I do know is back then if you bought anything produced by either of these companies it was going to sound great!)
If the price is cheap, buy it in any case and if it not up to standard, re-record it with Steinberg Wavelab, remaster it with Wavelab and write a new CD. The end result can be stunning.
Wa ka shaw. “little fox.” But good try! Though yours might be the actual native pronunciation? Not what we say here though. And we are loaded with great record stores in the greater Milwaukee area! Vinyl Vault Records in Waukesha, Record Head, Acme, Bullseye, (Waukesha is a western suburb) And a few actual good old fashion Audio shops!
I buy records at estate sales and thrift shops. At something between a quarter and $2 each, a few duds can be tolerated, and the really good ones can be thought of as bargains.
For every case always good to check diameter should be 30 cm +/- 3 cm. And round shape is best. Have a pin in pocket to check in store if it fits the whole in center. No more than one or max two wholes in LP should be observed . 🙃 Seriously it is not the quality of pressings but I find quality of handling at home deciding for depth of impressions. I wash them usualy once for three sesions of use, for comfort use propylen alcohol during play to make efective removal and brush stylus and groves before each session And of course what is written. I wish everybody to be happyto listen to any possible recorded sound
As everyone has said, it's really a crap shoot but some sellers/producers of vinyl have good reps that they want to maintain. But I have found that the heavy weight vinyl 180 gram if I remember right usually means someone has spent the money and time to do it right. But not always. Just another point to consider.
Steer clear of heavy vinyl. I have never heard one that has great sound quality. Perhaps some great sounding heavy pressings exist? But I am not going to purchase hundreds of pressings with the hope that one of them has great sound quality. Heavy vinyl is a marketing gimmick. I have many amazing sounding pressings, which took many years to collect, and none of them are heavy vinyl. I have also tossed loads of pressings, because most pressing's sound quality suck. I am not working now. So my rolling the dice with new purchases is over.
As somebody who grew up in Waukesha WI, I'm surprised that an audiophile did not know of the city (how to pronounce) - it''s the birth place of Les Paul - the "Wizard of Waukesha" (inventor of the electric guitar). Steve Miller's parents were the Best Man and Maid of Honor for Les Paul's wedding and Steve Miller received personal guitar lessons from Les Paul before he also became famous. I would pronounce as "Wok-ah - shaw". And if the person who asked the question is reading this - I used to buy my vinyl from Mainstream Records on Main Street, 1 block east of Barstow Street. I doubt they're still there, but I live in Saint Francis now and cannot verify.
With any analogue media quality will vary from copy to copy. You‘ll finally take it or quit buying records, it’ll come with expensive, some people will need years, other ones will need decades. That’s sad, but some audiophiles will never learn to choose a good copy!)) Be prepared to buy junk, buying records is similar to hunting, sometimes you win, but mostly you loose)) That’s a great fun anyway!))
Is there any point in buying records in 2022 other than collecting? A digital recording converted to analogue and stored on a vinyl disc. A person has to worry about vibration isolation platforms, scratched records, warped records, cartridge wear, dirty records, vinyl storage solutions, cartridge tracking issues, arm balancing issues, phono stages etc, etc. 😅😅😅
My tip is: "See if it's with the artist Roger Waters and you'll know that you got fabulous sound-quality." You'll perhaps don't get that big recordcollection but you know that the ones you have sounds great.
Waukesha (western 'burb of Milwaukee) is another bastardization of native American words. It's pronounced like Wauk A shaw. I'm south of the land of cheese in the Chicago area.
Native American words are also used by the US military to name missiles, bombs and various weapons. Note: NASA rarely uses Native American words to name probes, space instruments, space stations etc. Why is that?
There should be no such thing as an analog master of any great music being allowed to degrade without a high quality digital DSD copy of it existing capturing the original nuances.
Lack of provenance is the dirty secret of the vinyl market. The best recordings IMO are from the pre CD area where recordings were on an analogue master tape. A modern Remaster has an undisclosed provenance. It may be taken off the original master tape or if that is lost ( many of Tom Petty's taped were destroyed in a fire) it can even be taken off a CD. Outrageous but undisclosed. I prefer to find an original pressing of good quality instead of a remaster.The Beatles remasters of 2007 by George Martin were terrible- he was going deaf at that point and it shows. Modern recordings ( I have a Yo-Yo Ma that is unlistenable) are only as good as the recording equipment - some are even just off a computer. It's a lottery and good luck!
Stick with digital. I have a turntable but rarely use it. I find you will have to spend a lot of money on your Turntable to get it to sound half decent, whereas you can get very good digital set up for a modest amount of money. However the good recording issue is the same in both analog and digital worlds.
Much of the vinyl being produced today is substandard??? Actually, vinyl lovers have never had access to so much high quality vinyl by the likes of Mobile Fidelity, Blue Note, Tone Poets, etc. Honestly, you guys are such shameless self-promoters and BS artists, especially given that for years now you have been shouting the superiority of digital from the rooftops.
Really, never been better? Have you ever listened to clean quality records from the 60's or 80's and even 70's? I mean just your average mass produced, not overpriced limited edition "audiophile", records!
There’s a lot of good stuff, but there’s also some dreadful stuff out there like Waxtime, I made the mistake of getting a couple of theirs and they sound like a cd. Ugh.
Strongly disagree. There is a lot of bad and mediocre vinyl out there, but also a lot of good. But most people’s systems are not good enough to do good vinyl justice.
@@brentpederson4942 I have a huge collection of vinyl albums and singles purchased when there was no other format available. I have some amazingly good recordings considering the vintage technology of a bit of rock scraping on a spinning disk but none of these recordings could be described as “Audiophile” when compared with a good digital recording. There are just too many technical limitations in vinyl and I have no desire to return to those days. Still, if some prefer the sound of vinyl then that is fine,
