Direct 2 Disc

Oops yeah I just assumed since Sheffield made lots of D2D their website would have them but no. Go figure. Oh well, search em out, DuckDuckGo makes it trivially easy to find. The Goolag, not so much.

Its true what you said, D2D is no guarantee of SQ. Better Records is more consistent if SQ is the only goal, but even there not all are created equal and if the recording and mastering engineers dropped the ball ain't nobody ever gonna be able to make up for that. 

Still, D2D is a lot of work. Musicians have to be able to perform straight through one good take. Nobody ever made D2D to save money, its all about the sound. That tended to carry through to the pressings. So a much higher proportion of D2D are good relative to pretty much everything else.

Doug MacLeod is always good and D2D is characteristically good at capturing dynamics and detail in a way even the best tape transfers find it hard to match. 

But honestly, if what you're into is unbelievable quality then go check out Better Records. They're crazy expensive but I've got several now and you have to hear one to believe it. I've got several D2D and Doug MacLeod and other seriously good recordings and the best Hot Stampers like Nilsson Schmilsson and Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac blow them away. Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player, and Elton John I don't think has ever been considered an audiophile friendly artist, but even that one my Hot Stamper blows away all my so-called audiophile records.

In terms of D2D though if you're looking for that you want to be looking at Sheffield, they've done a lot of em, all killer good SQ. https://www.sheffieldlab.com/