Done buying new vinyl

It’s all about who mastered the recording. The 60’s thru 80’s pressings I own, the mastering varies. I would have to say that even the worst mastering of the classic pressings are still better compared to the ill non-experienced mastering going on today.  Plus, you have analog mastering & digital mastering, two different worlds. Digital mastering is incompatible for vinyl as they can sound like a CD when playing them, but, there some exceptional ones done for live recordings with the new HD mastering process. Another thought here is great mastering equals excellent soundstage, air and dynamics, and that’s what we all desire. Today's vinyl releases are made with some of the best vinyl weight we have seen, along with premium grade processes, however, bad mastering tears up everything great about today's pressings and that is the atrocity.

Used vinyl all the way. I have yet to hear a new release that sounded as good. Missing some magic. Somehow, they seem better at recording and mastering/pressing, in the 70, 80's, early 90's vinyl I buy. Check Discogs for mint and mint minus copies.

Hi guys. I have been listening at John Surman and Garbarek ECM CDs for decades. Digital as well. I recently bought a collection of ECM LPs of the same albums ie Private City, Legend of the 7 dreams, Rites and so on. What I can say is that I have been highly disappointed. The quality is not what one can expect from an analogue sounding LP. The sound is thin, in a nutshell, I even find it sometimes less good than the CD or digital streaming. These pressing are of course digital, as opposed to an old ECM pressing from the 70’s I found in a second hand shop at Montreal which is called Conference of the Birds (Dave Holland) which in turn is an analogue pressing and sounds marvellous, with flesh and so on. I suspect ECM to deliberately create "CD sounding LPs" as a way to satisfy a majority of people who own poor equipment and cannot extract the best of a rich analogue pressing. I do not want to look paranoiac but I guess this is a profitability issue at the end ie they can sell more of these "CD sounding LPs". I am so disappointed from ECM, that I definitely stopped buying their new releases, even in CD, and enjoy the streaming versions with Spotify.  If someone can advise on a label which is only making LP pressing from analogue sources, I am interested to know which one is.

For some people it's a PITA , for others it's a labor of love.

My experience with all of the mentioned mediums has always been mixed.  I don’t know know a lot about the whole recording, mastering, and transfer to each medium.  I’ve got great sounding vinyl, eg jazz from East Wind and Three Blind Mice, but some recent reissues that are not very good.  Same for CDs, my main source.  Most are great, some awful.  In the end, I think its all about how well the original recording is made, and how well its mastered and transfered to the product that reaches the consumer.