last time i visited Tom Port (Better Records) in his garage was 1999, and bought 10-15 records. not much impressed with his turntable. but i was happy with the pressings i bought. it was before he came up with the ’Hot Stamper’ branding.....and quadrupled his prices.
as far as best sounding vinyl predictably as a group; it’s certainly NOT early 80’s digitally recorded rock’n roll (Dire Straits). agree that they do sound good......but not great. got to go back 5-7 years to mid-70’s analog based masters (Eagles, Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac) and find an original pressing. i’m not saying digitally sourced pressings are bad, just not top level.
but easily the best sounding records as a large group are the Classic Records late 90’s and early 2000’s single sided 45rpm’s. and then certain Analog Production and Music Matters subscription based 45rpm series pressings. these recordings were the top ’Golden Age’ performances (Classical, Jazz and Rock) and all analog. and the quality of the mastering and production is outstanding. and this was 15-25 years ago and the master tapes were in better shape than now.
i have almost 100% of these 45’s; a whole wall. i could list 200 of them and all would be winners. trying to find original pressings of all these recordings would run you hundreds of thousands of dollars if you could find them. and in many cases (not all) the 45 rpm reissue would sound better. try a few and see what you think. they are findable and predictably excellent.
if you are a Led Zeppelin fan; see if you can listen to the Classic Records 45 rpm single sided box set. these are absolutely astonishing. not cheap; but unless you have the master tape the best you will ever hear LZ.
direct-to-disc can also sound very good; but most are not the best performances. so you many times get great sound and second rate music.
as far as best sounding vinyl predictably as a group; it’s certainly NOT early 80’s digitally recorded rock’n roll (Dire Straits). agree that they do sound good......but not great. got to go back 5-7 years to mid-70’s analog based masters (Eagles, Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac) and find an original pressing. i’m not saying digitally sourced pressings are bad, just not top level.
but easily the best sounding records as a large group are the Classic Records late 90’s and early 2000’s single sided 45rpm’s. and then certain Analog Production and Music Matters subscription based 45rpm series pressings. these recordings were the top ’Golden Age’ performances (Classical, Jazz and Rock) and all analog. and the quality of the mastering and production is outstanding. and this was 15-25 years ago and the master tapes were in better shape than now.
i have almost 100% of these 45’s; a whole wall. i could list 200 of them and all would be winners. trying to find original pressings of all these recordings would run you hundreds of thousands of dollars if you could find them. and in many cases (not all) the 45 rpm reissue would sound better. try a few and see what you think. they are findable and predictably excellent.
if you are a Led Zeppelin fan; see if you can listen to the Classic Records 45 rpm single sided box set. these are absolutely astonishing. not cheap; but unless you have the master tape the best you will ever hear LZ.
direct-to-disc can also sound very good; but most are not the best performances. so you many times get great sound and second rate music.