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Audiophile LP's

That title sounds pretty general but I didn't know how else to name it to attract some attention. For several decades in the production of vinyl the sound quality has widely varied due to recording process, pressing, and other factors. I remember years ago that some commonly available LP's were also available in a much higher quality (and a higher price) than the standard LP and offered superior sound quality. Can't remember all the terms to describe these records but direct-to-disk, master recording, and probably a few others I can't recall. Back then I never purchased any of those since when the needle dropped and music was there what else mattered? To buy a record at 2 or 3 times the standard price didn't make sense to anyone I knew at the time.
My question....I know that numerous sellers on the web list LP's for sell as "mastered", "audiophile", and the like. Back in the day were current sellers offering these truly superior records just trying a ripoff? If not, are most of the ones still in existence only are owned by private collectors?


jrpnde

Showing 1 response by kacomess

kacomess
199 posts
 
Of course, in addition to what's been mentioned already, there are the much lauded (especially by the late, great HP) early Mercury pressings and RCA "Shaded Dog" but recently - once the return of vinyl became evident to major music companies - fidelity on many labels' newer releases seems to have deteriorated. I read somewhere (WSJ, I think) that digital recordings (i.e., CD format) were simply transferred to vinyl and sold at a premium price. If that's true, it would partially explain the alleged problem.
Not yet appearing in this thread: Gilian Welsh's new label is quite good. She's only released a couple of albums so far (with David Rawlings), but both albums I've purchased ("Harrow and Harvest" and "Poor David's Almanac") were excellent.
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