Don’t look now but I think someone is virtue signaling. 😱. Guess who?
Better Records White Hot Stampers: Now the Story Can Be Told!
Just got shipping notification, so now the story can be told!
Better-Records.com is a small, incredibly valuable yet little known company run out of Thousand Oaks, CA by Tom Port. The business started out many years ago when Tom Port noticed no two records sound quite the same. Evidently Tom is a sound quality fanatic on a scale maybe even higher than mine, and he started getting together with some of his audio buds doing shoot-outs in a friendly competition to see who has the best sounding copy.
Over time this evolved into Better-Records.com, where the best of the best of these shoot-outs can be bought by regular guys like me who live for the sound, but just don't have the time or the drive to go through all the work of finding these rare gems.
The difference in quality between your average pressing and a White Hot Stamper is truly incredible. If you don't have the system or the ears of course you may never notice. If you do though then nothing else comes even close.
Tom will say things like only one in twenty copies is Hot Stamper worthy. This doesn't even come close to conveying the magnitude. Last night for example, wife and I were listening to our White Hot Stamper of Tchaikovsky 1812. Then we played another White Hot Tchaikovsky. Then we played the Tchaikovsky tracks from my copy of Clair deLune.
Without hearing a White Hot you would think Clair de Lune is about as good as it gets. After two sides of Tom's wonders it was flat, dull, mid-fi. Not even in the same ball park. And yet this is quite honestly a very good record. How many of these he has to clean, play, and compare to find the rare few magical sounding copies, I don't even know!
Copies of Hot Stamper quality being so hard to find means of course they are not always available. This is not like going to the record store. There are not 50 copies of Year of the Cat just sitting around. Most of the time there are no copies at all. When there are, they get snapped up fast. Especially the popular titles. Fleetwood Mac Rumours, Tom Petty Southern Accents, whole bunch of em like this get sold pretty fast even in spite of the astronomically outrageous prices they command. Then again, since people pay - and fast - maybe not so outrageous after all.
So I spent months looking, hoping for Year of the Cat to show up. When it did, YES! Click on it and.... Sorry, this copy is SOLD! What the...? It was only up a day! If that!
Well now this puts me in a bit of a spot. Because, see, besides loving music and being obsessed with sound quality, I'm also enthusiastic about sharing this with others. With most things, no problem. Eric makes an endless supply of Tekton Moabs. Talking up Tekton or Townshend or whatever has no effect on my ability to get mine. With Better-records.com however the supply is so limited the last thing I need is more competition. Bit of a bind.
Even so, can't keep my big mouth shut. Been telling everyone how great these are. One day someone buys one based on my recommendation, Tom finds out, next thing you know I'm a Good Customer. What does that mean? Well is there anything you're looking for? Year of the Cat. That's a hard one. Tell me about it. Might take a while. Take all the time you need. Just get me one. Please. Okay.
That was months ago. Other day, hey we're doing a shoot-out. No guarantees but should be able to find you one. So for the last few days I was all Are we there yet? Are we there yet? And now finally, like I said, shipped!
So now I have my Grail, and the story can be told. Got a nice little collection of Hot Stampers, and will be adding more, but this for me is The One. Might not be for you, but that is the beauty of it all. Many of us have that one special record we love. If you do too, and you want to hear it like listening to the master tape, this is the way to go.
Better-Records.com is a small, incredibly valuable yet little known company run out of Thousand Oaks, CA by Tom Port. The business started out many years ago when Tom Port noticed no two records sound quite the same. Evidently Tom is a sound quality fanatic on a scale maybe even higher than mine, and he started getting together with some of his audio buds doing shoot-outs in a friendly competition to see who has the best sounding copy.
Over time this evolved into Better-Records.com, where the best of the best of these shoot-outs can be bought by regular guys like me who live for the sound, but just don't have the time or the drive to go through all the work of finding these rare gems.
The difference in quality between your average pressing and a White Hot Stamper is truly incredible. If you don't have the system or the ears of course you may never notice. If you do though then nothing else comes even close.
Tom will say things like only one in twenty copies is Hot Stamper worthy. This doesn't even come close to conveying the magnitude. Last night for example, wife and I were listening to our White Hot Stamper of Tchaikovsky 1812. Then we played another White Hot Tchaikovsky. Then we played the Tchaikovsky tracks from my copy of Clair deLune.
Without hearing a White Hot you would think Clair de Lune is about as good as it gets. After two sides of Tom's wonders it was flat, dull, mid-fi. Not even in the same ball park. And yet this is quite honestly a very good record. How many of these he has to clean, play, and compare to find the rare few magical sounding copies, I don't even know!
Copies of Hot Stamper quality being so hard to find means of course they are not always available. This is not like going to the record store. There are not 50 copies of Year of the Cat just sitting around. Most of the time there are no copies at all. When there are, they get snapped up fast. Especially the popular titles. Fleetwood Mac Rumours, Tom Petty Southern Accents, whole bunch of em like this get sold pretty fast even in spite of the astronomically outrageous prices they command. Then again, since people pay - and fast - maybe not so outrageous after all.
So I spent months looking, hoping for Year of the Cat to show up. When it did, YES! Click on it and.... Sorry, this copy is SOLD! What the...? It was only up a day! If that!
Well now this puts me in a bit of a spot. Because, see, besides loving music and being obsessed with sound quality, I'm also enthusiastic about sharing this with others. With most things, no problem. Eric makes an endless supply of Tekton Moabs. Talking up Tekton or Townshend or whatever has no effect on my ability to get mine. With Better-records.com however the supply is so limited the last thing I need is more competition. Bit of a bind.
Even so, can't keep my big mouth shut. Been telling everyone how great these are. One day someone buys one based on my recommendation, Tom finds out, next thing you know I'm a Good Customer. What does that mean? Well is there anything you're looking for? Year of the Cat. That's a hard one. Tell me about it. Might take a while. Take all the time you need. Just get me one. Please. Okay.
That was months ago. Other day, hey we're doing a shoot-out. No guarantees but should be able to find you one. So for the last few days I was all Are we there yet? Are we there yet? And now finally, like I said, shipped!
So now I have my Grail, and the story can be told. Got a nice little collection of Hot Stampers, and will be adding more, but this for me is The One. Might not be for you, but that is the beauty of it all. Many of us have that one special record we love. If you do too, and you want to hear it like listening to the master tape, this is the way to go.
441 responses Add your response
All the studies show this one thing alone, minimum wage laws, increases unemployment. The biggest increase is at the lowest end, those with the least skills. They are the ones who wind up unemployable, because they simply are not worth $20/hr. And so just this one example of virtue signaling costs us millions in homelessness. Always amazes me the lack of knowledge of economics to not recognize that artificially low wages is just another form of corporate welfare about as non capitalistic as it gets. Why pay well when you can get the state to subsidize your business. They can just raise taxes so people can be subsidized (again anti capitalistic and inefficient). |
Now see what you've done, miller? Your rant has taken this thread completely off topic. Just remember the line from Gone With the Wind: "You should be kissed and often, by someone who knows how." I cannot help you with that, but perhaps Tom or Carol from Better-Records.com can. There. Now please try to stay on topic. |
I thought you said virtue signalers cause homelessness, now you say libtards cause homelessness. Which one is it? Are virtue signalers libtards, or are libtards virtue signalers? Are they in cahoots? Perhaps libtard signalers cause homelessness. Or virtue libtards. What about homeless libtards? Audio is very confusing.... |
millercarbon, This was too weak, even from you. Now, when thecarpathian reminded me, how is my record coming along? Are we still in for Tuesday before 8pm? Could you push it to Tuesday morning? I was hoping to take it to my friend to listen to it there (and have two judges). Of course, we would compare it to his mundane copy. So, if you could call Carol and pull some strings, I would appreciate it. Otherwise I have to waste beautiful weather on Wednesday on driving. |
So, ’Virtue signaling’ causes homelessness?? You think it doesn't? Here's how it works. At any given point in time there are people who for whatever reason simply are not productive enough to be worth more than a few dollars an hour. But libtards want to feel virtuous, so they jack up the minimum wage to $15, then $20. Why not $150? Nevermind. Libtards want to be seen to be doing something. All the studies show this one thing alone, minimum wage laws, increases unemployment. The biggest increase is at the lowest end, those with the least skills. They are the ones who wind up unemployable, because they simply are not worth $20/hr. And so just this one example of virtue signaling costs us millions in homelessness. You clearly have never thought this (or anything) through. I got a lot more. Just remember the line from Tropic Thunder: "Never go full libtard." You go there all the time. Just stop. Please. If not for me, do it for your own good. |
I have a home. But since you are shamelessly virtue signaling we have a lot of homeless here in Seattle thanks to all the rampant virtue signaling going on here. If you send me as much as you can spare I will pass it on to the ones I see every day. I know you won't. Virtue signalers never actually do anything but signal. I just enjoy calling them out on their rank hypocrisy. |
The first hot stamper I bought was Roxy Music 1st lp. Why. Because I have multiple copies and know it intimately. I was blown away and told Tom so. He was most pleased Over time I bought more hot stampers and even considered representing Better Records in the UK. My initial fervour cooled however as I bought more and more hot stampers... and sent more and more back!!! Their quality control had seemingly evaporated. Not only were the lps noisy but I had far better pressings in my collection I told one of Tom’s associates and things got very messy. Apparently complaining is verbotten. Anyway. Bottom line. Hot stampers are now a 60/40 for me but still in Toms favour. |
I recently added a Triplanar arm to my Woodsong Garrard 301. Since, the SQ has jumped to an unheard level. Albums which were previously unlistenable are now interesting and enjoyable. Now it is rare that a LP sounds bad. I do look forward to a recently ordered WHS but it seems money put into great gear pays great dividends. |
Think that’s something, partial tally what they got through lend-lease: 400,000 jeeps and trucks 14,000 planes 8,000 tractors 13,000 tanks 1,500,000 blankets 107,000 tons cotton 2,700,000 tons petroleum 4,500,000 tons food Explosives, guns, ammo, copper, steel, aluminum, medicine, and one entire Ford tire factory. That’s a lot of rubles! I’m sorry, what was this thread about? |
Before we get too far off topic, I just wanted to point out that the US helped make the Red Army mobile with Studebaker "deuce and a half" trucks. Without them much more of the Red Army would have had to walk wherever they went as well. How the U.S. Studebaker became the Soviet ’victory truck’ (PHOTOS) - Russia Beyond (rbth.com) |
thecarpathian ... "Frank and anyone interested- Pick up a copy of the book ’The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer." I just ordered it through eBay. Thanks for the recommendation. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- inna ... No, I haven't heard Paco Pena's music. I'll check him out. Oh, and I agree with you about Sabicas. |
Speaking of Eastern front, namely Stalingrad, there must have been many of them but I met only two who walked back. One took two years to get home and would not say a word about it except that he was at Stalingrad, that he mostly walked, and that it was not easy getting back. The other one was more talkative about the trip but just shook his head when being asked about Stalingrad, also mostly walked. It took him year and a half. So, important question, do fuses change sound? |
Frank, it's a good story about how you found out about John Williams. I found him on youtube a number of years ago. Also watched a few interviews with him. He speaks well too. He is Australian, by the way, living in London. He also likes Spain's flamenco. One of his friends is famous flamenco guitarist Paco Pena, who is in London as well. They sometimes play together just for fun. Have you heard Paco Pena ? He's got his own flamenco style, different from, say, Paco de Lucia, though both are deeply rooted in Andalucian tradition. But the father of modern flamenco guitar is Nino Ricardo. Some say Sabicas as well, but I don't like his take on flamenco. |
Frank and anyone interested-I read it 2 times.... A truly good book my friend.... An extra mate for you..... But hardship are hardship for everyone on all fronts... Some are worst it is true....Try the memoirs of Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel the last cossack commander of the whites Army against the red communists just after the tsar ....A true hero.... My deepest respect and friendly wishes... |
Frank and anyone interested- Pick up a copy of the book 'The Forgotten Soldier' by Guy Sajer. He writes of what he experienced as a Wermacht soldier on the Eastern Front. The misery he endured and what he and countless others went through, soldiers and civilians alike, makes what Americans at home dealt with seem like a trip to Disneyland. |
inna ...
I totally agree with you. I affectionately call John Williams "Mister Perfection." I even have his very first album. Interesting how I discovered him. I was driving in my car back in the early 70s listening to the local jazz station. The DJ came on and said: "Okay folks, I’m going to play something really special, so get your tape decks ready." He qued up John William playing a beautiful rendition of Concierto de Aranjuez. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I was so emotionally taken that I had to pull the car to the curb. When it was over, the DJ announced what we had just heard. I wrote it down, and drove directly to the record store and bought it. That was my introduction to the classical guitar. That concerto is one of the most beautiful guitar pieces ever written. I actually heard John Williams in a live concert at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbV9t6U2IIg&ab_channel=Zigeunerbaron glupson ... Yes, Times were rough. My folks had just recovered from the Great Depression and we were facing fascism in Italy and Nazi Germany, and Imperialism in Japan. When I was born (1938), Hitler had just taken over Romania and Czechoslovakia in order to take their oil and other resources. Three years later, on December 7th, 1941, we entered WWII. I lived through all of the rationing and hard times. The sound of air raid sirens is still fresh in my mind. I watched my parent’s friends leave in uniform never to return. I saw the Gold Star flags in the windows. There was a positive side to America in those days though. Growing up in the 40s and 50s, was when we still had a truly free country. Children were safe roaming the streets. The central government was still small and the power rested with each individual state. Can you imagine a time when young boys could carry their rifles through the streets, in order to get to places where rabbit hunting was good? No one batted an eye. Can you imagine a sixth-grade teacher who insisted that every boy carry a pocket knife on him at all times, then taught us how to use the oil-stone in the corner of the classroom to hone it to razor sharpness? Can you imagine a time when our currency was backed by precious metal ... with the effects of curbing inflation and stifling the creation of a welfare state? I lived it. We’ve come a long way, glupson ... and in my opinion, a long way back toward revisiting the grievances expressed by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. Please guys ... if you are under the age of 75, watch the movie "Saving Private Ryan." It will give you a real appreciation for the sacrifices made during those tough times. Frank |
oregonpapa, "That’s what I look back on with satisfaction knowing that I’ll be leaving this earthly place better off than how I found it. :-)" If you have been collecting records for 70 years, you were likely born when Earth was an unpleasant mess. Major wars, economic crises, something must have been around during those times. |
Frank, I think of John Williams as the very best classical guitarist. I prefer him to Segovia and others. Perhaps, you could make a list of your truly favourite records and tell everyone not to sell or give them away unless under extraordinary circumstances. Someone in the family is going to appear at some point in time who will continue your audiophile journey. We are forever. |
Early influences >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bF478FHSNs&ab_channel=konidolfine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3qY3cnrfk0&ab_channel=revived45s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGdohgbuRqY&list=RDeGdohgbuRqY&start_radio=1&ab_channel=... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpJTUG5QEiU&ab_channel=jukejointjohnny48 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIAxA2lWCGA&ab_channel=SnottyGigglebutt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rCSTY917sk&ab_channel=rogerbridgland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPG_OX370iw&ab_channel=JazzEveryday%21 And one of my favorite vocalist from back in the day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV4sY5AQ3uo&ab_channel=DinahWashington-Topic |
Spot on. I have four grandkids. My wife and I stressed education and excellent work ethics. Both of my daughters went through private schools ... at great financial sacrifices. Not easy when you are the sole bread-winner working on a 100% commission basis. They in turn did the same for their four children. The results speak for themselves. One, a speech therapist who works with small children. One, a commercial real estate broker, one, an attorney specializing in acquisitions and mergers - a graduate of the University of Norte Dame with high honors, and was the editor of the ND Law Review. And finally, a surgeon in his third year of residency at the USC hospital in Los Angeles. That’s what I look back on with satisfaction knowing that I’ll be leaving this earthly place better off than how I found it. :-) Frank |
oregonpapa, Is it safe to assume that some/many of the records in your collection have never been released in digital form? With every passing day, there is less and less physical copies of your records in the world. That may be a nice project as you have a good playback system. Copying true rarities into digital format (files, not CDs, if possible) for grandchildren’s grandchildren. I am not sure how to go around making sure that it does not get deleted by someone disinterested at some point. Maybe contact one of the streaming services? Maybe some of those records fall into public domain now? Just ideas, I am not sure how interesting or feasible they are. |
oregonpapa, Your collection is for yourself. You have enjoyed it for 70 years. You did not start it thinking of some grandkid lugging your records around. Still, as much of an effort and love you have put in, I highly doubt you would put it as the top achievement of your life. Your kids and grandkids would probably come higher on that list. Your record collection is surely impressive, but remember it is only a record collection. Pieces of plastic in paper, not much more than that. Life should not be about what, it should be about who. Enjoy your grandkids. You know they are nutz with their cellphone addiction, anyway. |
You’re welcome, tvad ... Yes, it is food for thought. Almost 70 years of putting this collection together and no one in the family cares. In fact, they think I’m nutz. It will probably be a really good day at the Goodwill store. Frank |
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Thanks for the good wishes... Man, ’O Man ... where do I start? For the "oldest," you’d have to get into the small 78 rpm collection I have. My main focus as a teen and young man was jazz. So, for the 40s, we can start with the Big Bands and the Big Band singers. Stan Kenton (also 50s & 60s), early Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford, Peggy Lee, Chris Connor, LIonal Hampton, Benny Goodman, Charlie Parker, Chu Berry, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Zoot Sims, Stan Getz (Getz could play anything. A true genius) and tons more. Even The Andrew Sisters and Doris Day. Morphing away from rhythm & blues as a teen, I left Earl Bostic, Big Jay McNeely, and Joe Houston behind. I still have their recordings in the collection, to be played from time to time to remind me of the transition. Kind of like a history lesson, or a step back in a time machine taking me all the way back to Junior High School. The collection is full of excellent mono jazz, and jazz vocal recordings. For those who shun mono recordings, you are really missing out on some great-sounding records and performances. One of the keys is to find a cartridge that really digs down into the grooves of those mono records to extract what hasn’t been extracted before. I’ve found the Audio Technia OC-9 MK III to be such a cartridge. At $500.00 from LP Tunes, it is a bargain. Some of my favorite mono jazz records are early Brubeck, Miles, Clifford Brown, Chet Baker, Jerry Mulligan, The Montgomery Brothers, Howard Rumsey’s Light House All-Stars, lots of Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderly, Sonny Stitt... and way too many more to post here. I admit that I lean toward the West Coast jazz sound. It is just more melodic than the East Coast stuff. I’m addicted to the great vibes players too, especially Cal Tjader, who I consider the best in a long line of "bests." On the stereo recordings ... I’ve avoided early Blue Notes because of their dual-mono presentations. I think that’s one of the reasons the mono Blue Notes command so much money. I came late to classical and really late to classic rock. The classical guitar section is pretty impressive. I absolutely love the great guitarists John Williams and Julian Bream. For flamenco, check out Manitas de Plata - one of the greats, if not the greatest. Lots of other great ones, but those are my favorites. There are tons more ... I could go on and on. I wonder who will end up with the collection when I finally check out of here. My kids and grandkids aren’t interested. Heck, there isn’t even a CD player among the bunch. I can’t even burn them a CD of any of my music. What a shame. Frank |
I have that one Frank. Not the Hot Stamper, but even a regular copy is as you say pretty spectacular. The one you linked to "with issues" if you read the detail it is not much of an issue, just some light ticks. Otherwise, double-LP, A++, would be a lot more. The site is chock full of info but to me it seems to be sort of scattered around. Tom sent me a link to a page I will probably be using a lot going forward. It's a list of "Well recorded albums that should be more popular with audiophiles" which is different than a Top 100 (which he also has) in that these are both well recorded and a little less popular, and so a little less expensive. If you can call anything on his site less expensive- it is a very relative term! I have found there is a lot of stuff like strings, brass, sax, in other words classical, jazz, big band, that I never cared for simply because they were so poorly recorded. My Super Hot Stamper of Sinatra-Basie was a revelation. Never ever in my life dreamed sax and stuff could sound so tonally correct, warm, and real! There's a flute- OMG it actually sounds like a real flute! With all the dynamics and everything! So when I look at this list and see Sinatra I Remember Tommy, and from Tom's comments this is an even better recording than Sinatra-Basie, well I want that record! Eventually. These things are expensive. Pick and choose. Not for everyone. Etc. Etc. |