I guess it depends if you're interested in better sound or authenticity. Preference comes into play as well.
I think if you are lucky enough to have a good clean copy of a first pressing, they sound better in general. But those can be hard to come by, and in that case a remastered release will sound better than a badly worn original.
More to the point, I think first pressings are a better document of the artist's original intention at the time of creation because the people who made the music had to approve that version. That doesn't mean it can't sound better. And I have heard some reissues and remasters that do. But that's me and the other people involved in the remastering deciding what sounds good/right years decades after the original recording.
George Lucas thinks his digitally altered and remastered Star Wars trilogy is better than the original releases. I say F-you, Han shot first, but that's me deciding what's right.
I think if you are lucky enough to have a good clean copy of a first pressing, they sound better in general. But those can be hard to come by, and in that case a remastered release will sound better than a badly worn original.
More to the point, I think first pressings are a better document of the artist's original intention at the time of creation because the people who made the music had to approve that version. That doesn't mean it can't sound better. And I have heard some reissues and remasters that do. But that's me and the other people involved in the remastering deciding what sounds good/right years decades after the original recording.
George Lucas thinks his digitally altered and remastered Star Wars trilogy is better than the original releases. I say F-you, Han shot first, but that's me deciding what's right.