Record prices, even without Better Records or MoFi, are inflated. To me, those enterprises are two different things.
I never doubted that sample to sample variations, even with the same dead wax inscriptions, could sound different.
I was a MoFi customer in the original era. Today, not so much simply b/c I have good pressings of all the warhorses (or at least those I care about).
I’ve done shoot-outs --sometimes, 12 different copies.
I did buy one record from Tom Port- Tons of Sobs, "Free"’s first album which is a favorite in the electric blues genre. His copy does sound better than two others I own with the same dead wax. (One is a pink label, 3rd pressing not the bulls-eye, and a pink rim label). His was a UK pink rim label, super hot white ultra stamper whatever, in mint- condition. I liked the record enough to buy it from him, but I don’t think that’s his usual fare.
The price of standard vinyl from the old days has gone up in price by multiples, and early pressings simply aren’t available easily in M- condition. Look up a relatively rare copy and see the condition rating.
I’m usually chasing small/private label stuff that isn’t on anybodies’ radar. That stuff is not reissued by MoFi and usually not Tom Port’s fare.
I just got an email for Horace Tapscott’s Live at the IUCC. I have an OG, an original, that didn’t cost crazy money 5 years ago. Side 3 is amazing.