There are so many variables with vinyl production it's almost impossible to say old is better than new or one is better than the other. When vinyl was still current I recall returning albums that were simply bad pressings. Bad pressings can happen anywhere at any time. I returned a warped brand new Parlorphone album recently.
That said if you have an original pressing of a classic album that was made from a fresh stamper you'll have a good album. If you got one at the tail end of the stamper's life don't expect it to be as good. Same goes for the new pressings. All one needs to do is to take a tour of any new pressing plant or watch a video of same and you'll see nothing has changed. The question of one being better than the other is perhaps a matter of different. From what I've been able to sample the new pressings sound fine. Certainly a new pressing of just about anything is going to sound better than a pressing that's been played 10,000 times regardless of what it was played on.
That said if you have an original pressing of a classic album that was made from a fresh stamper you'll have a good album. If you got one at the tail end of the stamper's life don't expect it to be as good. Same goes for the new pressings. All one needs to do is to take a tour of any new pressing plant or watch a video of same and you'll see nothing has changed. The question of one being better than the other is perhaps a matter of different. From what I've been able to sample the new pressings sound fine. Certainly a new pressing of just about anything is going to sound better than a pressing that's been played 10,000 times regardless of what it was played on.