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New vinyl quality....

Recently I have purchased quite a bit of new vinyl. I am shocked at the poor quality control and inconsistency that I am getting. Anyone else?
Chris Stapleton Traveller 2LP: LP1 is flawless. LP2 is so beyond warped and is not even close to round!! Oh, and this is after I returned the 1st copy as there was an audible flaw through most of the first 2 songs of disc 2, side 1. Wish I had that copy back! 
Stones' new release, Honk: LP1 is so bad the center is damaged and won't even fit over the spindle! Additionally, there are visual marks all over it - looks like smudges. LP2 is fine.
I am seeing this a lot. Probably 30-40% of the new (sealed) vinyl I'm buying has some kind of an issue. Not even talking about SQ here - it's physical issues that I am seeing. 
What are you all experiencing? 
denjer1

Showing 1 response by cd318

cd318
2,636 posts
 

@denjer1,

You’re not alone.

Here in the UK myself and a couple of friends have found that well over half of new vinyl (180gm)/to be of poor quality, especially in terms of surface noise / clicks and pops.

The turntable we use is a Pro-ject Debut Carbon with an acrylic platter and an Ortofon Blue cart.

Quite often we find heavily played LPs from the 70s/80s to be superior in this regard. Yes, we do encourage each other to return them but its not always possible.
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