What genres are you most interested in? If you’re into jazz there is no better value going right now in new vinyl than BlueNote’s Tone Poet Series at under $35/ea (they were running a 30% off sale recently and I bought a truckload). Mastered from the original tapes and pressed at RTI, these sound better than the original pressings in most cases. Where most of BlueNote’s 50s and 60s pressings rolled the bass off under 90Hz (and boosted the mix just above 90Hz to give some slam) to compensate for crappy turntables/arms/carts that would skip at low frequency, Kevin Gray opened the frequency pipe up all the way in the Tone Poets mastering since modern gear can handle it. The result is a huge dynamic range and quiet vinyl at bargain prices. Mofi is fine too as is Music Matters. They just aren’t the screaming bargain that is Tone Poet and to a slightly lesser extent the Blue Note 80 series (which are even less expensive but don’t sound quite as good to me as they aren’t pressed at RTI). https://store.bluenote.com/collections/tone-poets |
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I have ordered from Music Direct. It generally stocks audiophile quality recordings on LP, and it does a GREAT job of packing and shipping. I have had poor experience with LPs purchased from, and shipped by, Amazon - the records are good, but the LP sleeves get damaged if the packing is poor. |
+1 on AcousticSounds...I should have mentioned them too. |
Thanks for these posts! I just bought a couple from Acoustic Sounds. |
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A lot of local record stores sell online - Hi-Voltage and Silver Platters in Tacoma and Seattle come to mind. Plaid Room Records is another record store that I've bought a lot of records from. Music Direct, Acoustic Sounds as mentioned are great, especially for "audiophile" pressings. Music Direct owns MFSL. Pop Market has some of the best prices and a huge selection, but not always the best pressings. There are some good sellers on Discogs, I've had positive experiences with veteranrocker, Vinyl., and recordmule to name a few. MusicDirectVintage is an outlet store for Music Direct, mostly dinged up records, but there are deals to be had there sometime if you're not super critical about sleeve condition. |
The only guaranteed high quality source I know is better-records.com
Nothing else even comes close. |
Amazon. If you don’t like it, send it back for a full refund. Just watch out for excessive shipping charges. |
Although I've had similar negative experience purchasing off discogs, the wide variety of records and some of the great sellers far outweigh the bad. I'm a collector and seller on discogs myself, and appreciate knowledgeable and experienced buyers.
If you, or anyone reading this thread, are interested in purchasing through my online store, feel free to DM me for my store link.
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Agreed @richie1975. I’ve been buying most all my vinyl on Discogs, and 98%+ of my purchases have been an excellent experience. I prefer original or first generation repress/remasters (mostly from the 70’s); most all classical. If you look at a sellers rating and feedback, you’ll know if you are dealing with an ‘honest broker’ in most cases. And, it’s also possible to get a ‘mint’ album that also has noise because of the pressing or poor vinyl used on certain runs.
I just purchased about 17 albums from a seller on Discogs, ‘Philadelphiamusic’, and was very very impressed by the quality of my purchases, most all were claimed to be ‘VG’ or ‘VG+’, and were every bit of that if not a bit under-graded. Incredibly clean vinyl and sleeves. All for about $50 shipped, or about $3 an album. Pretty hard to beat. |
Your local music store should or might have an online presence. You can always buy from them |
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After the discussion about Thin Lizzy in the what's on your turntable thread I decided to flesh out my Thin Lizzy collection and ordered a bunch of stuff this morning from discogs. |
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I've had great experiences with Discogs. In the cases of the two records I received that weren't as described, the sellers quickly refunded my money and didn't even ask for the record back. That said, Dusty Groove out of Chicago is my go to place for new and great used records. They list new arrivals which is great. Shipping is super fast. Love them. My daughter lives close by so I always hit the shop when we visit. http://https//www.dustygroove.com |
Thanks for the input. I have made many purchases from Better Records and have not been disappointed. I'm glad many of you have had good experiences with Discogs, I will try again and be a little more selective and research sellers reviews. I have checked out all of your suggestions and look to hear more.
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Remember on Discogs you can sort by condition. I only buy NM and usually have no problems.
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