Shout out for Better Records

I have also had excellent experiences with Tom at Better Records. I have bought around 3 dozen hot stampers and found some great-sounding versions of many of my favorite titles, some astoundingly so. I will tell you what my BS detector has found. That many of these overpriced, overhyped "audiophile" records such as MFSL, Nautilus, Classic, Kevin Gray half-speeds aren't sonically worth the vinyl they are stamped from. I just bought a hot stamper of Michael Jackson Thriller and compared it to the CBS half speed, which is a JOKE. After hearing bass transients on the hot stamper that aren't even hinted at on other pressings of this record I had, there is no going back. For those who have a problem in paying for the hot stampers, let me ask how much you pay for amps, preamps, speakers, cables, turntables, CD players, and so on. If I can pay big bucks for these, why would I not want to pay for a recording that makes it sound as if I spent big bucks on some hardware component to make a recording sound better? Frankly, I am glad you are being closed-minded and not helping to drive up the price of these records. It leaves more for me.

Absolutely, you can go to used record stores just like Tom does, buy a bunch of pressings of a title, go home and clean them, and listen to see if there is a "hot stamper" in the bunch. I have done just this with Heart Dreamboat Annie, some Cat Stevens titles, and others. If you have the time and patience to do this, you can approximate what Tom does. And if he lists a hot stamper, it gives you hope that some do indeed exist. However, as a record dealer for many years, I am sure Tom is a lot more familiar with which pressings sound best, and furthermore, I don't have the time to do this often. I just pay him to do this for me. I have never bought his really expensive hot stampers, just the ones listed for between $50 and $200. I figure I am getting darn close to his best anyway. I can tell you that I tried for years to find a better-sounding pressing of Steely Dan Katy Lied to no avail and thought such a thing didn't exist. I loved this record but hated the bland and mediocre sound. When I reluctantly bought one of Tom's hot stampers I couldn't believe it. It sounded like a completely different recording, so much so that I thought it had come from a different master or recording session, or that somehow Tom was treating the records in some way. Not all of the HS pressings are that dramatically better, but on certain recordings it makes a serious improvement in the sound.

Viridian, I agree that Tom makes it sound as if he has the market cornered on the best-sounding pressings of a title. I sometimes wonder if he is treating records in some way to enhance their sonics. It just seems strange that he finds these great-sounding copies of records that have absolutely wretched sonics, but I have proof that he has done so. I remember going to several used record stores and buying a bunch of Heart Dreamboat Annie LP's. One of them, which appreared to be an original pressing based on writings in the trail-out, had bass extension and dynamics not found on other copies. Later I found a white label promo with the same stamper numbers and was surprised to find it sounded rather ordinary. Who knows why one record sounds better than another? Another thing that irks me about Tom is that he pushed DCC big-time until he had a falling-out with Steve Hoffman, and now of course, DCC is sonic garbage and killed by his hot stampers. Still, all in all, I have been impressed with most of the hot stampers.