Congratulations on your sonic breakthrough!! In my experience the most common reason for a recording to sound bad is that it is not a first pressing. That is not to say that bad recordings don't exist-there are a lot of them. But, the least crummy sounding will be a first press, and sometimes the differences are astounding. Discogs is a great site to determine true first pressings. I truly enjoy "the hunt" in finding replacement vinyl for my non-first presses. I agree with Uberwaltz that you need to stick to EX/ NM grading when purchasing used records on line, and even so, most grading is visual and doesn't always translate into a quiet record. I agree with the advice to largely avoid reissues. With tape degradation many have lost the magic. The Beatles reissues however are glorious! Ultra clean records are also a must. Besides removing a lot of noise, a veil is usually lifted revealing more detail and a better sense of "being there". Having gone trough the entire spectrum of cleaning options, I feel comfortable stating that Ultrasonic cleaning seems to work the best, but that is a topic for another thread. Enjoy!!
Now I get it...
Hey everyone, long time listener first time caller. I sold a bunch of used gear and recently updated my vinyl front end to a Feickert Woodpecker, a Soundsmith Paua, and a Pass Labs XP-25 (I feel blessed). As a result, I discovered I own some truly awful pressings. Seriously, never knew some of my records were so darn terrible. The good ones, though? Absolutely magical. This was a pretty cool moment in my audiophile journey. Now I finally get why some system reviews describe the components as “unforgiving to poor source material”. Awesome.