Vinyl Lovers

I have been buying primarily through eBay for a couple of decades now. Maybe 90%. My 2nd source is discogs. I rarely buy at a brick and mortar store: the selections are far too limited.

I look for NM pressings from close to the release date.
I find that they are superior to reissues/remastered reissues 95% of the time.

I suspect the reasons are:

- master tapes degrade over time, so someone promoting an LP as “remastered from the master tapes” is hoping you will be bamboozled by the word “master”.
- add to this problem, some remastering is done digitally. ADA is inferior to AAA, and the difference can be heard. For example, I stopped buying MFSL pressings at a certain point because they somehow were no longer sounding as good as my old somewhat worn pressings. I then later learned - as did everyone else - about how they introduced a digital step into their process without making that clear to everyone.

I have built up a collection of 6,000+ LPs over 59 years.

- since 2005, I buy 98% of my LPs online, either over eBay (about 98%) or discogs (about 2%, but within the last year I’m going here more than eBay).
- I buy only from vendors with a rating of 99% or higher. Make sure they have sold at least 200 LPs. No exceptions unless I’ve been looking for that LP for ages. eBay guarantees everything, with discogs you have to rely on your credit card to get your money back if anything goes wrong. I’ve bought from two bad sellers: one took months to deliver, the other discogs had to remove him because he was suddenly getting a slew of negs, his rating went from 99.5% to 90% within a week.
- I wander into brick and mortar shops when I come across them, for fun, for old times sake. Very rarely do I buy anything there, either I cannot find it or it’s overpriced.
- I always look first for original NM of pressings of recordings - where they exist - that were mastered analog and pressed before 1990 (AAA: analog recording, analog mastering, analog pressing). Remastered issues come from “master tapes” that have been sitting on a shelf deteriorating for 20, 30, maybe 50 years or longer, so the remastering almost will never sound as good as a well cared for original press. Sometimes a EX or even a VG+ will sound better than a remastered LP, certainly often better than one merely reissued. I bought a reissue of Blows Against the Empire by Paul Kantner and the Jefferson Starship - for example - that was so muddy sounding that I returned it for that reason alone. Same with Eric Dolphy’s Out To Lunch: my original mono and stereo deep groove presses sounded waaaay better than the reissue. If I do get a reissued remaster, I want it to be AAA. Avoid ADA - where digital has been inserted into the chain at the mastering stage: it IS possible to hear the loss of sound. Years ago, I found myself wondering - for example - why the quality of MFSL remasters suddenly seemed to drop off: the sound seemed thinner, with less dimension and detail. Then the news came out and I said “aha!” I’ve never bought a MFSL ever again.

https://www.theaudioatticvinylsundays.com/