How do you avoid buying new LPs that sound just like CDs?


Most new albums and reissue albums I bought at around $20 sound pretty much like CDs, or even worse.
Some notable exceptions are Norah Jones' Come away with me. It sounds real nice, much better than CD; LP's Lost on You sound pretty good too; Eminem's LP sound good too.

Most LPs that I bought at $40 or over always sound very good. I have two Patricia Barber's LPs and they sound much better than her CDs, but her LPs usually cost $40 or more. Why can't record company make LPs that sound like Patricia Barber's and price at around $20? For me, $20~30 per LP sounds right and I can easily buy them. But for more than $40, I hesitate. Overall, I've bought about 100 new/reissue LPs at around $20 and about 20 at $40 or more over the last 10 years (in addition to about 5K used records that I've collected over 40 some years). 
So, when you buy new or reissue LPs at around $20, how do you avoid those with sub par sound quality? Or, if you like certain musicians and songs, you just buy them without concerning the sound quality?
128x128ihcho

Showing 1 response by kijanki

I'm not sure if digital recording has anything to do with it.  My friend works for very large recording studio, known for many highly praised recordings, that dumped analog recording (Studer) decades ago.  The more important issue is compression, necessary to be able to play music with smaller speakers (boomboxes).  It sounds like we need two different medias - one for audiophiles and another for the rest.  At this point I would assume that most of people buying LPs are audiophiles, taking into consideration how impractical they are.  So, I would expect much less compression on LP than on CD.  Do I make sense?