Better Records vs MoFi

I have sold about 18,000 records in the last 3 decades (I'm a listener, not collector per se).  Tom Port's hot stamper LPs generally (95% of the time) are superior to MOFI reproductions.  This is unfortunate because they do press quiet LPs.  I've acquired probably 40 MOFIs and kept 2 (most from collections at $1 to $5 each).  The Maazel Respighi LP is a great example of a totally failed remastering.  YUCK!  It was a numbered copy that I sold for $295 with a no. 40? (low) when others were advertised on Ebay for $400-500+.  I sold Tom another MOFI for $300 sealed (rock) which he resold for $500-600.  He told me it wasn't really exciting music so no loss there.  

I'm not indicating that all MOFI LPs are worse sounding than a well pressed original hot stamper LP, but it is too often the case.  Often, CD copies sound better than original pressings (especially if they aren't hot stampers).   Tom agreed on such LPs as Down to Earth by Ramsey Lewis (I have 3 original and early LPs differently pressed yet the CD is superior).  

If one can afford to, buy the Better Records LP.  

Child level statistics and some knowlege about the record mastering / pressing process ( mother …stamper…press, cycle time, day, temp…etc will tell you the deadwax is a good place to start…. Many variables are NOT discernible via deadwax….. start w deadwax and listen……

And Port and company can’t hear them all…. nor can we mere mortals…

Record prices, even without Better Records or MoFi, are inflated. To me, those enterprises are two different things.

I never doubted that sample to sample variations, even with the same dead wax inscriptions, could sound different.

I was a MoFi customer in the original era. Today, not so much simply b/c I have good pressings of all the warhorses (or at least those I care about).

I’ve done shoot-outs --sometimes, 12 different copies.

I did buy one record from Tom Port- Tons of Sobs, "Free"’s first album which is a favorite in the electric blues genre. His copy does sound better than two others I own with the same dead wax. (One is a pink label, 3rd pressing not the bulls-eye, and a pink rim label). His was a UK pink rim label, super hot white ultra stamper whatever, in mint- condition. I liked the record enough to buy it from him, but I don’t think that’s his usual fare.

The price of standard vinyl from the old days has gone up in price by multiples, and early pressings simply aren’t available easily in M- condition. Look up a relatively rare copy and see the condition rating.

I’m usually chasing small/private label stuff that isn’t on anybodies’ radar. That stuff is not reissued by MoFi and usually not Tom Port’s fare.

I just got an email for Horace Tapscott’s Live at the IUCC. I have an OG, an original, that didn’t cost crazy money 5 years ago. Side 3 is amazing.

hi Bill…. a voice of experience and reason….

I’ll let everyone in another secret, if one doesn’t know already. CDs don’t all sound alike, even though they could be from the same master digital copy. Especially from different pressing plants. I’ve been through sometimes six copies of a favorite CD and three or four will sound quite different, generally the dynamics and body of the sound. I use the same Furutech D-Stat III gun. Prior to that I used a Kilowat destat gun. I tried the Audiodesk audio lathe (trimmer) for a few months. Differences remain between stamped CDs. Tom Port pointed that out back then as well but he doesn’t care about CDs and we had a shoot out of some Capitol pop CD.

Most of my records were purchased used (maybe once played). Probably 8,000 were given to me free. Most were purchased between $1 and $5 from the 1960s. My $10 to $25 records are rarer stuff. My best friend only collected Jazz LPs from the 50’s to 70’s and his collection of 3,000 LPs has mostly $50 to $500 LPs. He stopped purchasing LPs for more than $35 a couple of years ago and purchases only CD reissues now. So do I.

Most of my LPs are worth under $2. About 1,000 are worth more than $50 each, up to $500 (mostly classical). My typical classical and opera LP is not worth much anymore (about 20,000 LPs worth). My pop and jazz LPs are worth more. My ethnic music LPs are worth $5 to $10 each generally with some titles exceedingly rare in mint condition-basically priceless to me (100 to 500 pressed per title in the 50s and 60s) with few collectors for them.

I just don’t purchase LPs for high amounts despite being capable of doing so. The music I listen to often is rare and unavailable and the reissued LPs often don’t sound as good on more common pressings. I find that MOST high value LPs may have the distinction of being a first stamper, early pressing, or other attribute but the variability is sufficiently great that the particular LP being sold may not be a "hot stamper" quality. At least at Better Records, he listens to them and informs on what he hears. It is a crapshoot to purchase used older LPs otherwise for high prices. Of course, they could also be just bad reissued LPs like the MOFI Respighi.