Audiophile Albums....Yes indeed
Third one. Well it figures. NPC. Look if you have an extra $300 to $500 and want to hear some really good records a White Hot Stamper is totally the way to go. https://www.better-records.com/dept.aspx?dept_id=93 That Times article is a joke by the way. |
In what way is the NYT article a joke?I wouldn't by either a Hot Stamper or on of the new British LPs, but if it came down to it, I'd go for the brand new British pressing, if I could verify that the master tape had not deteriorated a priori. And maybe you get one of Mr Hutchinson's beard hairs for free in the bargain. |
Why are these derogatory political references allowed to continue on this forum? They should be flagged. “NPC” stands for “Non-playable character”, a phrase taken from video games referring to any figure a gamer encounters while roaming a digital landscape that they cannot control themselves. Rather than the hero of the game, these are often supporting characters who offer a quest or recite dialogue to further the plot. Unthinking automatons, they have no minds of their own. The slang - “born in the fever swamps of 4chan and Reddit message boards”, as Kevin Roose of The New York Times puts it - has been adopted by right-wing social media users, many backers of President Donald Trump, as a means of attacking conformist liberal voters ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. Like “snowflakes”, “cucks” or “libtards”, “NPC” has become a popular insult for criticising Democrats and other left-leaning web users, accusing them of being unable to think for themselves, |
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Thanks for revealing your own political leanings. We don’t care! This ISN’T a political forum, it’s about stereo equipment and music. Let’s keep it that way. Right. So like I said this is the third time this same lame article has been posted as if its worth anyone’s time. The failing New York Times is failing precisely because they have abandoned bona fide standards of journalism in favor of pushing narrative 24/7. So let’s show just how awful this is staying just with the audio aspect of the piece. I will for sport go by memory - and because I’m not about to go look at it again. The piece is pure fluff with just enough detail to distract the easily distracted. Michael Fremer is in there but it seems purely to name drop as there’s nothing about him or his system really other than the speakers cost over $100k. Nothing, not even the brand, nothing about the setup. As far as the writer is concerned the record sounds good because.... well we never do learn why it sounds good. They tell us its because it uses "mined silver" which makes me wonder just how dumb even a NYT writer has to be to think, what exactly? It grows on trees? Mined silver. If I wrote something like that in college they’d flunk me. NYT its fine. Did you know records are made by something called "cutting"? Not cutting. Records aren’t cut. They’re made by something called "cutting" which requires scare quotes, another F as in Fail. I’m not making this up. Go read the fluff if you can. My favorite though is the paragraph that starts out as if its going to say records are better than... but then goes off on a tangent never letting us know. Style over substance, again and again and again. And you guys fell for it. Discerning. Yeah. Right. As if you would know. What a joke. |
Actually the New York Times is not failing, quite the opposite. Based on the 2019 annual report: 5M total subscriptions; $800m in digital revenue - quite impressive numbers in age where newspaper circulation has declined. I guess the only thing I have to say about those who decry “fake news” - if you smelt it you dealt it. |
I think it's hilarious that anyone would criticize a general interest article (i.e. intentionally fluff) from a massively circulated newspaper as if it were a peer-reviewed article in the Journal of Audio Engineering. The target audience is just some casual reader who probably went on to read a wine review or recipe next followed by doing the crossword puzzle. Of course this is fluff and it's not disguised as anything else. Why put so much negative passionate energy into some article written for a pedestrian audience that probably took 20 minutes to pen? Agendas will prevail...some just can't help themselves. |
lewm, "And maybe you get one of Mr Hutchinson’s beard hairs for free in the bargain."I had similar thought. If someone is meticulously doing the work, wouldn’t covering the beard be a good idea? Be it for hair, or dust, or whatever else that may be falling out of there? Just in case. By the way, how did you guys read that whole article? I saw a picture and a few sentences and then it told me I needed the subscription. |
The most interesting in this article (and i didn't expect it) is that a guy behind Peacefrog label who pressed electronic dance music for decades in the 90's finally dug his father's vintage records. This is a natural progress for a person who owned a label before, he's been making records for the masses, now it's about passion and high-fidelity, a new label, totally different concept, i like it. When some rare original pressings cost $300 each easily (on ebay or discogs or from a private sellers) i am not surprises that someone willing to pay similar price for something special. I never heard about his label before and i have no idea how good they are, but audiophiles often pay a lot for the quality (even if it's the same record they already have, just better pressing:) But i know for sure that small reissue labels often have no clue about fidelity, they could use another record as a source (not a master tape) and they can license from the survived band member. Many reissues of some great artrists are very bad in terms of quality comparing to the originals, but the originals sometime impossible to find. Quality is a problem, this is why i do not buy reissues if i can find an original for affordable price. This guy is going to the extreme, but all for the quality, i like this attitude. |
@best-groove the "search" function has existed for a long time so as not to make mistakes Yer statement is more ridiculous than saying water is wet. No one searches for a statement which has been made prior, before posting a statement. If they did, the your post is as much a "mistake as mine, since someone has made that statement prior to you. Now I'm sorry if that is over your head. But since we're all here to be smart asses, I figure it must be my turn. I can remember A time in my 20 years here that smart asses were not the norm as they seem to be today. @millercarbon et al. The main entry for me were the albums themselves which sell for $300 -$3k. Only an audiophile board is appropriate for such things IMO |
Right. There is no record worth that kind of money. But hey, if the guy can earn a living this way why not? I have so many classical and jazz from this era that are amazing pressings I guess I just have not interest. I have also heard some amazing high rez files of older classical recordings that have been re mastered for digital, $20.00. I would rather have 15 new recordings than one. |
As for the other issue, problems have solutions which are usually quite simple but they always offend somebody's sensibilities. Screw them. politicians have no interest in solving problems they will say a do whatever they think will maintain their lock on power. Forget about educating the public. They prefer to keep us stupid. They are all a-- h---- of the highest order. All of them. The situation we find ourselves in is a prime example. |
The main entry for me were the albums themselves which sell for $300 -$3k. Only an audiophile board is appropriate for such things IMO Record collectors are NOT audiophiles, only some of them, collecting records and audiophilia are two different things. There’re millions of vintage records that cost now hundreds or thousands dollars (for 1xLP or 1x45) on the used market. The prices only goes up in time. It must be a rare record if the price is so high. Collectors does’t care about re-issues, they do care about original pressings. On the used market we have what we have, rare records are extremely expensive. popsike.com is the site to check auction finals with prices for records. Record collectors, those guys who sitting on many thousand rare LPs and 45s, will pay more for one record than for any piece of audio equipment. It is crazy that a piece of plastic goes up in price from $2 to $2000 in 40 years, but it must be something very rare and unique for knowledgeable people like record collectors. The quality of pressing is the last thing to care for them. It is true. Many private pressings from the 60s, 70s are bad quality or an average, sometimes very good ... But it’s a piece of history, it can be one and only release made by some band, it is very important for someone who cares. Recreating vinyl pressing process for the best possible quality on the new re-issue is very good idea, but this is definitely for audiophiles, not for record collectors. Anything made for audiophiles is expensive by default. Even those average 180g re-issues from the digital copy pretending to be "better than original" are expensive. |
There is no record worth that kind of money. I used to think so too myself. Then I discovered Hot Stampers https://www.better-records.com/search_adv.aspx?sp=white+hot&option=s_name&min_price=1&ma... I know you're familiar with my system. https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367#&gid=1&pid=8 Now imagine: I went to all this trouble, paid all this money, to ... what? To play crap? To at the last second cheap out on crap records? No thanks. I don't know about this stuff the Times writer is talking about. Fremer I would, but the Times guy is such a moron he doesn't give us Fremer's take. Anyway I'm clear on the Times being a joke. Hot Stampers though, whole other story. Totally worth that kind of money. |
Michael Fremer's comment about this article and about negative comments HERE |
I do believe there is an element of jealousy and resentment in some responses to expensive program sources and equipment as Fremer suggests. My own response has nothing to do with this. It is purely a lack of interest. I am not a record collector. I am a music collector. I would rather buy 10 albums or 15 digital files than one of these records. I have a bunch of albums that rise to that level of quality that cost me much less. Would I buy them if I had unlimited resources? Maybe, but it would be purely for bragging rights. |
The question to be asked is this: can a $350 reissue be considered a good deal for the serious record collector? I think not, not even for bragging. They’re more like expensive stop gaps, because they’re just fancy reproductions and serious collectors will continue to long for the original. That’s how collectors are wired. The other question is: can it be a good deal for the serious audiophile? That will depend on the quality of the original recordings and the condition of the original tapes. But most of the classical records released by ERC were not chosen for their sonics. They were chosen because the originals are trophies for the rich, like the Martzy Bach or Kogan Violin Concertos. These are undoubtedly great performances, but sonically they’re average late 50’s EMI recordings. ERC has all the characteristics of a labour of love, for me it’s also an exercise in futility. But apparently their products sell out quickly, so they do serve a purpose. |
