Tom Port was recently on The Audiophiles YouTube channel with Steve Westman for is Audiophile Round Table.
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
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I read through a lot of comments, then skipped over a lot as well, but I ultimately decided to have another look at what Better Records has on offer. After all, a “White Hot Stamper” (is that a new Goldmine grading?) of a favorite record could be worth two hundred bucks to me. Well, my word! What a bunch of stale, half-eaten sandwiches. Most of the albums listed may sound good but the music is crap. Lots of second and third rate offerings released from artists who were well past their prime at the time of release. So picked over. If you are a serious collector who strays beyond the Beatles or Stones or Miles Davis, good luck. Maybe Tom’s business is so good that we’re left eating spinach dip out of a bread bowl. That would be my charitable conclusion. But my uncharitable conclusion is that he appeals to audiophiles of a certain vintage, with a certain taste in music, with a certain amount of disposable income, because that’s the most profitable business model for him. I am totally fine with that. It’s just not for me.
I’ll remember a few tips from this thread though. 1) Pay up for clean records - it’s worth it. 2) Promo copies (the ones with the stamps on the back, not the cut-outs!) are worth searching out. 3) Avoid most North American pressings. Too many pressed per stamper and inferior PVC. 4) Be careful of the hype. Many of the record descriptions on the Better Records website talk about “tubey magic.” Huh? Records made in the 70s (Tom’s sweet spot by the look of it) have tubey magic? How so? Plus, am I missing something? Where can I find out which pressing version is for sale? Is it listed in the description?
I love this hobby. Between gear and records, it consumes a good chunk of my leisure time. Some of the most fun I have is coming across my own White Hot Stampers. Their rarity is what makes it so addictive. Why let Tom have all the fun?
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My experience is pretty similar to Millercarbon's, and others here. I figured I'd share some of my thoughts. I posted this on another forum, but it got taken down pretty quickly ... go figure. Last summer, I came across an original mono pressing of Mingus Ah Um in one of my local shops. It was labelled as a “top copy” and the surface looked pretty good, but far from perfect. The price was a little absurd, and considering I had the OneStep and the Classic Records pressings, I wasn’t sure I needed it. But, this is an album I loved, even as a kid, even on digital, and a first pressing held a lot of allure. I took some time to think about it, do some online comparison shopping, and by the time I got back to the shop, it was gone. In a fit of pique, I bought the copy Better-Records was selling. It was listed as a Super Hot Stamper, and it was slightly cheaper than the copy the shop was selling. With a 30-day no-questions-asked return policy, it seemed a safe bet. Well, you can imagine my disappointment when it arrived a few days later. Nicely boxed for shipping, I unsleeved what was clearly a later pressing. My disappointment magnified when the needle dropped and the first thing I heard was surface noise. I’ve been conditioned by the heavy vinyl renaissance to equate surface noise with a bad sounding record. But then, the instruments kicked in, and from the first notes I could tell I was listening to something really different. It was clear, forward, and dynamic. Nothing harsh, even in the horns, but so much more engaging and rich than I was used to. It was the first drum solo that convinced me I was hearing something special in this pressing. I sat and listened to the entire record without doing anything else, and for me, something that holds my attention to where I don’t want to grab my phone or a book is part of what defines a peak listening experience. I was intrigued. They also had a Super Hot Stamper of Abraxas listed. Owning the Mofi one step, along with a few other pressings, and this being another album I’ve loved for years, I decided to take the man at his word and see if his copy could unseat those. The presentation of the hot stamper and the onestep are really different. The hot stamper reaches out and grabs you. The percussion is forward, hitting you right in the chest. The onestep is huger, it fills the room with a massive soundstage. The instruments on the onestep are less differentiated, except (on my system, at least, which tends to be bright) for the chimes and hi hat hits, which absolutely stand out. The onestep has some tape hiss I don’t hear on the hot stamper early pressing. I love a black background, which my tube preamp doesn’t really have in the first place, so I find that tape hiss a little objectionable, since it further compromises a weak spot in my system. My thirteen year old prefers the mofi; I prefer the hot stamper. I’m an empiricist, so naturally I looked up the matrix numbers on Discogs. For $30 I purchased a copy that had matching matrix numbers, at least as close as I could get them. (You feel kinda stupid when you send a discogs seller three messages saying, “but would you say that’s a faint N or a faint Z scrawled in the deadwax?” Enough already. Just buy the stupid thing.) This copy had a family resemblance to my hot stamper in terms of its sound, and it was also in near mint condition with no evident listening damage. But, the experience is different. I recognize what I’m describing is the complete opposite of A/B double-blind testing, but which is the copy I keep putting on, feeling engrossed and enlivened by with spin after spin? (The miniscule writing in the dead wax was indeed not identical, so the experiment wasn’t perfect, but it was enough for me to have trust that hot stampers are a good value proposition for me.) I’m now ten Hot Stampers in, and planning to cool it, at least for a little while. I’ve been able to get many of my favorites (Stardust, Rumors, Mahavishnu, some Zeppelin, some Ella, some Beatles) in Hot Stamper format. That’s good enough for me while I let the funds replenish and start giving some thought to a speaker upgrade. I can say this has been true in my experience - no matter how many other pressings of a title you have, if you buy a Better Records Hot Stamper, you can play it in a “shootout” style against the rest of your stack of that title, and you will find that either it bests them all, or at very least, it gives you a different presentation that you will value and want to hold on to. For me, this has been true for ten of the eleven purchases I’ve made. Try it sometime. Even if you start with the regular hot stampers, you’ll hear they are different. So, although I have a solid "collectable" collection that I hope and expect will hold its value over the years to come, it is with joy, relief, and a sense of relaxation that I shift my record-buying focus now to listenability rather than collectability. As we cope with the ever-growing onslaught of new pressings and inflation in the prices we’re seeing on discogs, listenability is a great way to cut through the noise and put your record-buying money where it matters. It is really hard to buy for listenability anywhere other than on Better Records. Maybe if you have a friend who wants to sell you some of his records, you could do it. But, if you’re buying on Discogs or ebay, you’re not buying for how things sound. Occasionally, you can hear listening descriptions as part of the seller’s grading, but those are not comparisons to other pressings of the same title. And, as much as I like to support my local record stores, when it comes to listening first as a basis for buying, you can basically forget about it. So in all, I feel I've had enough positive experiences with Better Records that it's time for me to feel good about adding my voice to the "hot stamper" chorus - I tried it pretty thoroughly, and now I'm a believer. Pick a favorite album and give it a try! |
HA ha - you got me- maybe you are a trial lawyer! I wasn’t trying to say albums don’t get worn out, just that wear isn’t inevitable if using the right cart and kept clean. Acetates are not meant to survive repeated playback, but a very low mass design like Strain Gauge doesn’t wear even the most fragile of LP’s out. |
Just jumping in here. I used to buy a ton of records in the late 80’s early 90’s when people here in NYC were selling their vinyl by the crate full. I bought tons of promo copies and quite a few Radio station copies (not all were white labels). I’ve never done a shootout with the gold stamped promo copies, but I assume they came from first pressing run, which is why I bought them. The radio white labels are often the best pressing of a title I have, sometimes even if they beaten up or overplayed. I have a Springsteen born to run white label that is fantastic, though worn, and a Darkness on the edge of town that is great as well. Friends like to tease me since I have a dozen copies of Born To Run. Responding to Mapman’s comment From page 1 of this thread about digitizing LP due to wear, there is no inherent reason an LP should wear from play. Tam Henderson from Reference Recordings plays his acetates, which are supposedly only good for a dozen or so plays before they wear, with his Soundsmith Strain Gauge with no degradation of sound quality. |
The Kind Of Blue speed error (side one only) was discovered by Bernie Grundman when he did the remastering of the album for Classic Records in 1997. The speed error was very small, resulting in only a 1/4-tone shift in pitch. By the way, the metal plates created by Grundman in ’97 are the exact same ones he used when doing the new Analogue Productions UHQR mastering. Those plates were created using the original 3-track masters as the source, NOT a 2-track mixdown tape. Doing it thusly allowed two generations of tape copying to be avoided! It is routine to make a 2-track final mix tape from the multi-track, then from that a number of "production" master tapes (sometimes called "safety" tapes) from which the mothers/stampers/etc. are made. When Grundman was given the 3-track masters in ’97, it was the first time they had been out of the Columbia vault since 1959! He said they were in pristine condition, no sign of aging whatsoever. The Townshend Rock turntable was the end result of a research project at the Cransfield Technical Institute in England. Max Townshend recognized and appreciated the significance of the design, and bought the rights to manufacture and market a turntable employing the design. Townshend has produced seven iterations of the Rock, some full-blown SOTA models, some made to a price point. The initial version was a very complex industrial design, not looking like a product made for domestic use. It wasn’t until Townshend introduced the Rock Elite (Mk.2) in the late-80’s that the Rock found a mass audience, including myself. It features not just the patented damping trough (its main claim to fame), but also a plinth fabricated of an upside-down metal "baking pan" filled with bitumen damping pads and plaster-of-Paris---absolutely non-resonant!, an inverted bearing, a platter made of Delrin---my favorite platter material (also used by Harry Weisfeld in his Aries 1 and TNT 1-though-5 models), and three Sorbothane spheres as isolation feet. The Mk.3 was the one Max introduced while he was operating out of Texas (late-90’s), and was an attempt at a budget model. It has a frosted acrylic platter (blech), and a Seismic Sink (two metal frames separated by an inner tube) built in for isolation. That model I would avoid, unless it’s real cheap (say under $500). The Mk.5 is a marvel to behold, and is the Rock I dearly lust for. They occasionally show up for $6000-$8000. The Rock Elite Mk.2 comes up for sale once in a while, and sells for under a grand. What a deal! The last available version---the Mk.7---is very cool. A very skeletal frame, with Seismic Pods as feet! There is one on ebay as I speak, priced at just under $2800. I don’t know if the motor needs to be changed for N. American usage. Audiogon member slaw owns a Mk.7. By the way, Townshend offered the Damping Trough as a separate item, to be installed on non-Rock turntables. I’ve never seen one come up for sale, and I have plans for mine. ;-) |
Another one sort of like that, Kind of Blue, a search turned up the fact almost all the records and CDs out there are from a tape that was played on a deck with the wrong pinch roller that inadvertently changed the speed and pitch. Everyone is so used to it, but the demo I heard the correct speed remaster did sound better. What really intrigues me though is the Townshend Rock Elite. Don't suppose you happen to know where I can get my hands on a Rock? |
Both I and Michael Fremer have compared our original UK Island Tea For The Tillermann LP’s with the Analogue Productions LP of same, as well as with U.S. A & M pressings (the Island is considerably better than the A & M, by the way). I had long wondered why the Island LP was held in such high regard (including by Harry Pearson, who included it in his Super Disc list), myself finding the sound, while excellent in many regards, odd in others (especially the upper harmonics of the guitar strings and cymbals---both Zildjian and Paiste, the sound of which I am very familiar). Fremer has long cited the LP as one of the best Pop albums he has ever heard. While the original recording is not the best I have ever heard, that is not the point. The question is: what LP pressing of TFTT sounds "the best". The best may mean different things to different people, but to Chad Kassem---owner of Analogue Productions, Acoustic Sounds, and QRP (Quality Record Pressing, acknowledged in the industry as one of the three best LP pressing plants in the world)---it means which LP sounds closest to the master tape, which he had in his hands. It was in listening to the master tape that Kassem realized what no one before had: the album was recorded without Dolby noise reduction, and the Island and A & M LP’s were mastered assuming it had. Dolby decoding was engaged in the original mastering process! Try to correct that huge blunder with a White Hot Stamper LP. ;-) I don’t know anything about whomever/whatever MDS is, or anything about "on the record", so can’t respond to anything related to those two entities. I can tell you what I already did: the Analogue Productions Tea For The Tillerman LP is, by a wide margin, "better" sounding to me than either the U.K. Island or U.S. A & M LP’s. Michael Fremer was contacted by Chad Kassem after the latter heard the master tape, Chad telling Fremer that he wasn’t so sure audiophiles---long used to the sound of the legendary Island pressing---would like an LP containing the true sound of the recordings. Perhaps it is that to which MDS and ontherecord are reacting. Not to be rude, but I couldn’t care less. A related matter: Some turntables are made to as-closely-as-possible reproduce the information contained in the LP groove (each LP side has not grooves, but one long, uninterrupted groove), some are designed to "sound good".. My Townshend Audio Rock Elite is amongst the former. |
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Probably wish this one had gone ignored, but it did not. This is the Tea for the Tillerman that is according to bdp24, "beyond any question superior to any and all other pressings": https://ontherecord.co/2018/04/29/this-is-your-idea-of-analog-2/In fairness to bdp24 this may just be another case of MDS, he never did say he personally has heard either the AP or a WHS- or indeed any copy of any version. Would hate to be the one trying to insist it is the best- or even any good at all - after reading this review. |
@benjie: You’re wasting your time. The Better Records groupies will never admit there is a single LP made by Classic Records, Analogue Productions, Speakers Corner, Intervention, or---God forbid!---Mobile Fidelity that is as good---let alone better---than a BR WHS. All they do is continue to cite examples of old Mobile Fidelity’s (made in the last century) which don’t sound good, a fact that has been known for decades. Let it go, man, you’ll be happier ;-) As to them: The old phrase "Ignorance is bliss" comes to mind. Go ahead, cite modern examples of superior remasters by any of the above companies (as have I); you will be ignored. Return the sentiment---ignore them. The best example I know of a reissue being beyond any question superior to any and all other pressings, including a WHS, is Analogue Productions’ Tea For The Tillerman. ALL other TFTT LP’s were made using a master cut with Dolby noise reduction applied. TFTT was NOT recorded using Dolby noise reduction! Analogue Productions discovered that fact, and issued TFTT in the best sound---by far---it has ever enjoyed. Watch for this example to be ignored. ;-) |
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https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=searchss&state=4806:we44gd.1.1 A search of the United States Patent and Trademark Office for "hot stamper" and "white hot stamper" returns no results. |
Here we go again, another attack, now I am a thief. I am stealing a term used in the recording industry, to describe the sound of some of my albums, that has been around before Better Records even existed. We are down to this now. That's your argument. Let me share another great box set with you. Chad Kassem put out the Tom Petty Vol 1 box set, the groups first 9 albums. Not only me but most of the album reviewer in the industry feel that these are the Best versions of the albums ever produced. These pressings are white hot ! But I guess they are all wrong because Tom Port says so, only he has the golden ears to decide what is "tubby" and what is not. Keep drinking the "Kool Aid". Narrow thinking and view points limits your scope of what is available in terms of great sounding records. |
I dug out a two-record set tonight that I haven't played in years. I highly recommend this record and hope you find a copy that sounds as good as the one played tonight: https://www.ebay.com/itm/194204735483?hash=item2d378117fb:g:r1QAAOSwbvxgyjrw Frank |
Once again millercarbon you attack me like I am some scared little kid in the school yard. You think that you and only you have your finger on the pulse of everything in this forum. Only you possess the knowledge that can lead us to the promised land. Let me be blunt about it, you don't ! Lets start with the term "Hot Stamper". That term has been in the industry for many years, its not trademarked. It has been know that sound quality varies from master stampers to pressing machines to vinyl mixture formulas. Your not blazing any new ground here. Why then are you telling us? Prove it. Go sell emWhy would I want to sell my record collection? What would that prove? I spent years building my collection. Many are no longer in print or hard to find. So you lost me on that point. There is another issue and I can only be blunt about it, both your ears and your system have to be up to it. We are not talking about ticks and pops. A lot of White Hots are actually pretty noisy. As Tom says repeatedly all over the site, the best sounding copy isn't always the quietest. I have lots of quieter pressings. I have none better sounding. When you get to where you can hear it you will know.Once again you are on the attack. You think I can't hear and that my system is not up to your standards so I am not able to disseminate my findings about records that I listen to. I have excellent hearing and my system is up to it. I am not like some people who constantly brag about their system and are posting pictures and telling people to go look at my great system. People like that sound desperate for approval to me. I have spent many years building up my system. I consider my room high end. I am north of 250K. So I think I can hold my own on what sounds good. When your system improves- as hopefully it will over the years- I think the difference between your better than average pressings and your genuine Hot Stampers will grow increasingly clear.Sir I am way beyond that statement. I know what great sound is. I own it. I don't think you know what great sound is. Someone has to tell you that this album sound great. You think you know it all, go tell Chad Kassem or Michael Hobson or Bernie Grundman that they don't know the first thing about remastering a record. Let us know how you make out. |
guys spending hundreds on common titles is exactly the type of thing your average record digger laughs at audiophiles about, but i absolutely do believe the people who bought em when they say they're amazing, because i myself have a small number of common records with uncommonly good sound compared to friends' copies - just luck of the draw though, i'm not rich like that. the thought of dropping 300 on a single copy of rumours (a dollar bin goodwill record anywhere in america until about 10 years ago) strikes me as totally absurd, but hey, not my money. makes perfect sense in a world of $5000 cables. there's no one right way to enjoy your music |
No offense, but you're conflating a trademarked and graded product "Hot Stamper" with records you have that sound good. I have been down this road, and all I can say, if you really do have copies that good you would be selling like Tom, because they are worth a pile of money. This is like the DIY cable guys who pretend to have turned $150 worth of parts into a $2500 cable. Why then are you telling us? Prove it. Go sell em. I got sucked into that con one time, a guy convinced me he knows what is Hot Stamper quality because he sold some to Tom. So hoping for a deal I bought one of his, what you would call hot stamper. I have lots of records that good. I have maybe one or two that are as good as a Hot, let alone White Hot. Zero White Hot. As for reissues, I once sent Tom a MoFi just so he could get some laughs with his staff. A more awful record I never heard in my life. And no, I am not saying they are all that bad. Sheesh! There is another issue and I can only be blunt about it, both your ears and your system have to be up to it. We are not talking about ticks and pops. A lot of White Hots are actually pretty noisy. As Tom says repeatedly all over the site, the best sounding copy isn't always the quietest. I have lots of quieter pressings. I have none better sounding. When you get to where you can hear it you will know. When your system improves- as hopefully it will over the years- I think the difference between your better than average pressings and your genuine Hot Stampers will grow increasingly clear. |
@maroneofferring I think that there is a little confusion about what I am stating. I have many hot stampers in my record collection. Some are original pressings and others are remasters. I was curious as to what Better Records classified sound wise as a "hot stamper". That is why I purchased the Super Hot Stamper " Breakfast in America ". I have several versions of this album so I thought it would be a good example to benchmark against. My original pressing sounded just as good, maybe a little better because it has only a few ticks. The Mofi's (early pressing from 1980 ?) and the most recent one 2019 did not sound as good. The true bell of the ball was the test pressing I have, amazing sound, very lifelike presentation. If you have never heard an A+++, it is an eerie experience.I think you are spot on in your statement above. I am not saying the albums that Better Records sell are not good, I saying that people have hot stampers in their collections and probably don't realize it. They are not the unicorns that Tom Port makes them out to be. The one disagreement I have with Better Records is that only original pressings are the best examples of an album. In my 50 years of being an audiophile, I have come across many examples of hot stampers made by companies such as Quality Record Pressings (Analog Productions), Mobile Fidelity (old and new releases), Classic Records and Speakers Corner to name a few. When Tom Port makes the statements that all of these remasters sound horrible and are not worth the plastic they are stamped on is an insult to all of the people who work in these projects. These mastering engineers are some to the best in the industry. They know how to work the console. They are not just slapping something together to send out. They take pride in their profession and put out the best sound reproduction that is possible. They are at the top of their game. And we know why Tom Port says things like that. Someone above stated Yes, but Tom Port is also a businessman....:-))Right.If he came out and said that these other record companies make great sounding records, he would be out of business. Why would you spend hundreds of dollars for a used album that sounds good when you can buy a new album for $50 that sounds just as good or maybe even better. There are many examples of great sounding records. Let me share one with you. I was able to purchase some records from the Michael Hobsen Classic Records Collection. It is a pressing of Tommy by The Who. It is a 45 rpm pressing on Clarity Vinyl, 8 records, single sided pressings. This was a test pressing and is 1 of 1. It was never produced in this format. I will say that this is the BEST sounding rock album that I have ever heard, period. Words can not begin to describe the sound, it is truly amazing. There will not be an original pressing "white hot stamper" that would even come close to sound that is on this album and I do not make that statement lightly. It is kind of ironic that same people that Tom Port discredits in their abilities to remaster albums are the ones that created this masterpiece. |
Definitely. Benjie found a WHS in his collection that rates higher than what Tom found among. his 50. I have many WHS in my collection that are just "regular" records bought for $1 ir $10. We all do. That doesn't negate Tom's records he finds. Stampers usually ran 5000 presses before swapping in new metal dies. Pop rock obviously much higher for 20 million sellers. The early part of stamper run will sound best and the later part sound worst. Even within identical matrix numbers. This is why I collect WLP. In the USA in the 1970s, about 750 to 1000 would be pressed after the test pressing run was approved. AOR stations, newspapers, college radio, reviewers all received a copy. These all sound better than the average pressing, but Toms A++ usually sound as good or better. White labels go for $40 of a rock title, and A++ are $79 and up. Again, prices make complete sense. If you have never heard an A+++, it is an eerie experience. As though everyone took one step closer to the Mic. Vocals and guitars especially. Far far superior to nearly all of my lps. Except for that BL SS of LZ2... |
I think, Tom Port is correct and we should be glad that someone is out there who uses his ears. Rare enough. and there is always someone who get money for something…that is our economy system. But we have the chance to check it …. there is a risk for everything …also for buying new reissues for example. of course we can see it from the other side … reissues are bad for dealers who make money with originals … so, bad mouthing them is more or less normal. But we can compare those too and after all those years I can say, a lot (not all) of reissues are nothing to write home about. What is worse? His prices or those from dealers who sell crap records and don‘t care for anything? I am not a customer from him but I read some of his statements …. A have a few old VICS from the same title in 1S or 2S or other stampers and made my comparisons. In general, the 1S pressings have the highest ratings and everyone thinks, that’s the one to go. Yes, the 1S from mine was good …. But then a higher code was below my diamond … and my cup of coffee went cold. Much more clear, a presence to die for etc. A killer. A possible explanation From a 1S a batch is done until the cutter head is dead and will be replaced. But before that will be done, a few hundred will be made with this dead unit, and it still is 1S. Now 2S will start and when you have luck, you can get a early 2S, can be possible it will sound better than a later 2S …. i think, TP does it that way…..and then there are country differences …. when I go out and buy 10 or 15 cheap records with shipping etc…..at the end of the month i can have luck and there is a hot stamper among….or not…. and a Hot Stamper from TP can be better than my description of hot stamper….so i think, i will go for his when i am ready to pay his price. |
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I found another HS. Paul Simon there goes rhymin Simon. 99 cents thrift store find. About 10 records I have found like this, not from Tom. But the % is the same. That is out of 2800 lps, of which 2000 are from thrift stores. So 1 out of 200, similar to figure Tom states when they do a shootout. That is a lot of crate digging and time...or one could spend 1099 to 699 for a WHS that shows up once every 5 years. Hours invested calculates out to a good value. |
Benjie, I have a dozen along with other copies of the same albums. All dozen sound better that my other pressings. WL promos are usually A+ to A++. I also have stumbled across WHS in the bargain bins. They are put on the shelf next to Toms. You are *one* who disagrees. Whilst a dozen posters such as myself state that WHS sound great. You are an outlayer. Your one example does not refute the data from a dozen people and one hundred albums. Anecdote is not the plural of datum. |
There are so many layers to this, it is an almost unbelievably complex subject. Like for example the last few Super Hot Stampers I got, Sinatra-Basie, Sting Dream of the Blue Turtle, Sinatra Songs for Swinging Lovers. All exceptional records but it would be hard to name three so different sounding! Sinatra-Basie is the quintessential audiophile demo disc. Everything is there from the imaging to the incredible presence and it is so perfect one of the last guys to hear it said it was the best he ever heard. Sting has the same incredible detail and presence but is recessed back so far it is like not even the same system. Sinatra Swinging his voice is huge, the space he is in cavernous, almost like it has some reverb going on. These are the huge mega-differences between them. On that level they are very different. On another level though, the ability to hear and discern incredibly fine detail deep into the recording, on that level they are all exceptional. This is the realm where Hot Stampers live. They are not at all what most expect. They certainly are not what I expected. The great thing about it is Tom Port is a real music lover and an audiophile's audiophile. He knows these records like the back of his hand. What I really want are some more music and recordings like Sinatra-Basie. I bet he knows right where they are. |
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.Top. And as usual, not everyone will accept that …. I have no records from him, but i have respect for his business model. I spent thousands of dollars on top reviewed, hyped reissues which went into my trash box after 1. run…. 20 hot stampers instead would have been a better choice. …But, Toto IV for example, i own MFSL with 12xx serial no. It is listed for several hundred dollars at ebay, the sound does not move me but who cares …a hot stamper from that one is a few hundred $, but it is one from the million used 5$ + shipping records you can buy …. I think, to chose that one as a first press cannot be bad …first press is very good generally? And not expensive … And another But … i had the chance to listen to a few hot stampers in a familiar system some time ago … top sound indeed! Thank you for your impressions |
I have purchased a Super Hot Stamper, "Breakfast in America". Paid $199 for it. The record was rated A++ for both sides. I played it and compared it to an original copy that I own and did not hear that much of a difference. I do not think it was worth the money, I do not think that there is anything special about the Super Hot Stamper. I also have a MOFI copy that sound great. The best sounding copy I have of this record is a test pressing that I paid $60 on eBay. It is a big step above the Super Hot Stamper. So when you make statements Why is it people who never tried and so don’t know insist on acting as if they do? I will let you in on the secret. Tom said it’s okay: Get one, listen to it. Then come back and let us know. Well I am coming back to let you know, I do know and I did not find the Super Hot Stamper to be any better in sound quality when compared to the other versions I own. It was not a life changing event when listening to the record that some people have gushed about. I still stand behind my original statement, clean your records and demag them, you will be surprised at the difference in sound quality. Everyone, you do own hot stampers in your record collections, you just don’t know it yet. |
Yes clean records sound better. Yes demag works. No the Walker is not permanent. No Tom does not turn records into Hot Stampers by cleaning and waving a Talisman over them. He even says on his site these are things they do just before playing one. This is all just good housekeeping, like having the system thoroughly warmed up. Why is it people who never tried and so don't know insist on acting as if they do? I will let you in on the secret. Tom said it's okay: Get one, listen to it. Then come back and let us know. |
As I stated way back in the beginning of this thread, you already own hot stampers. Clean your records to remove everything that is in the groove of the record. Next and this is the most important step, demagnetize the record. That is the secret. When you do this it opens up all aspects of the record. That is what Better Records does and they use the Walker Talisman to demag. I have owned a Furutech Demag since 2007, one of the best investment I have made for my vinyl collection. This thing is a game changer. Some years later I purchased a Talisman to compare. The Talisman is nowhere near as powerful as the Demag. While the Talisman did improve the sound, the Demag improved the sound significantly. I also own a tape demagnetizer that I use for my open reel tapes. It does NOT work on vinyl. So don't go out and buy one. I have an original copy of Year of the Cat that I purchased back in 1976. It was an ok sounding record. When I cleaned it using an ultrasonic machine and demag it with the Furutech, there was a huge difference in sound quality. Yes it was hard to believe it was the same record. I have found this to be true for many many records in my collection. I am not stating that all my records have become white hot stampers but I will say this, every record that has been ultrasonically cleaned and demag, has sounded much better. A difference that you can hear. |
Want a great-sounding reissue? Trust me on this one. https://www.ebay.com/itm/384198971949?hash=item59740b122d:g:JYIAAOSwDRJgDZ~p |
Reissues of any price then, if it makes you feel any better. Point is this is where the sound quality is at. Hot Stampers. Not reissues. Don't need no White Hot to trounce MoFi. Don't need Super Hot. Regular old Hot will do the job just fine. White Hot and you will not be comparing, you will be shaking your head in disbelief. |
Expensive reissues? Analogue Productions single LP’s are $35. So are those from MoFi, Speaker’s Corner, Intervention Records, and many more audiophile reissue labels. Try and find a "white hot stamper" copy of Pet Sounds, Smiley Smile, or Wild Honey. You wont, ’cause there aren’t any. The Capitol Records’ issues of those three albums are about the worst sounding LP’s in my collection (which is a cryin’ shame; the music is beyond wonderful.). AP has DRASTICALLY reduced the extreme veiling present in Capitol pressings, as well as restore some semblance of full-range frequency response (the Capitol LP’s sound like a car radio. Seriously.). The AP reissue of those three Beach Boys’ albums (and about a dozen more), $35 each. As for MoFi, no matter how many times it’s said, it just gets ignored (’cause it contradicts the narrative?): Yes, the MoFi LP’s from the Brad Miller/Herb Belkin (MoFi owners/producers.) era (ending in 1999) are mostly not good. Everybody knows that, it’s not news (to those who have been buying LP’s long enough, and paying attention.). Stan Ricker and Jack Hunt were not masters of the art and science of mastering. The LP’s and SACD’s released since Music Direct relaunched the label in 2001 are a very different story. Many really good reissues, major improvements over original-label copies, as well as first-era MoFi LP’s. The Band’s Music From Big Pink was issued twice by MoFi---originally during the first-era, then again in the 20teens. If you are on the hunt for the out-of print MFBP, look for one with catalog number MFSL 1-346 (the second version.). Though the original MoFi is decidedly better than any Capitol Records pressing (the bass was for some reason noticeably missing. Rick Danko was not happy!), the second version is substantially better. If someone has a white stamper and a modern-era MoFi of the same title, let’s hear about the shoot-out! |
Not only that, which is all true, but Tom told me his prices are actually lower today than years ago. Because the time and effort required to sift through the dreck and find the diamond hasn't changed. But his volume has gone up to where he can afford to run it more efficiently now, and so he has been able to lower his prices. It just doesn't seem that way to anyone looking at it today, but he tells me they were a lot higher 10-15 years ago. Even at these high prices the sought after copies can go fast. I was looking nearly every day for Year of the Cat. When I saw it and got all excited and went to buy, it was already sold! When I let Tom know, that is when I really started learning. There are people all over the place who know Tom will pay top dollar for an excellent copy. I even got to know one guy who claims to have sold a Hot Stamper this way. Well, I bought one from him, supposedly Hot Stamper level, and let me tell you, not even. Good copy, yes. Much better than average. But Hot Stampers are not merely much better than average. The best of them, White Hot, are almost like defy the laws of physics they are so good. Took a good 6 months for him to get enough YOTC for a shoot-out. Then when he told me he was going to do it, I got all excited and started bugging him. Not so fast. It was more than a week by the time he was done and had them sorted and ready to list. These things are not cheap. Even Tom himself jokes about how extravagantly expensive they are. But at least with these, unlike so many expensive reissues, you really do get the sound quality you pay for. |