2. analog
  3. 140825-1252

The quest for the hot stamper or is it a myth

I have looked at Better Records and their belief is  they have actually found the holy grail of vinyl geeks. The mysterious hot stamper. A record that has no outside evidence what actual number pressing it is. 1000 records can be pressed from a stamper before it degrades the sound. Some manufacturers go up to 1500. I have a DCC Van Halen # 778 on the record jacket and it sounds phenomenal and it should by DCC. Of course if you have Led Zep II and Bob Ludwig is in the dead wax you have a winner. I bought a Marvin Gaye "What's Going On" this year and its sounds really amazingly good. I have the 2 CD extended set and best of on record and SACD. The record not only slays them but cuts it
them up into little bits pieces and feeds it to the wolves. No contest. The sax is smooth and detailed as silk and the intro to "Inner City Blues" just makes me want to hear that over and over again. Ok I assume it was a well engineered album to begin with. Chime in on the engineering. Does anyone else believe in the hot stamper and do you think you have one in your collection???????
128x128blueranger

Showing 2 responses by dorkwad

dorkwad
534 posts
 
I agree, they earn good money, but too much. I apparently don't agree with their conclusions, or they hear differently than I do.
dorkwad
534 posts
 
I bought 2 of the 2nd best sounding records they sell--not the White Hot Stampers, but the next ones. I can’t remember what they’re called. I had regular copies of the exact albums from when I was in college in 1970-75. Yes--Close to the Edge and Steely Dan--Aja were the albums. I had good friend over and we listened to them both. Without a doubt, both of my albums sounded much more live and clear and more dynamic than either the Better Records ones did. Back to BR went the records and I can’t see myself buying another one from them in the future unless they drop their prices to about 1/5 of what they are now. Almost all the MF albums I have sound very good and BR says they generally suck. All my albums have been cleaned with a brush and some fluid, then LAST applied to each side. None of them have been cleaned on a machine. Sue me! Either my copies are better or the LAST is making them so. It really wasn’t a contest at all. I was surprised and disappointed at the results. The albums I bought from BR were about $140 each on a good sale ($199 normally). This happened about 4 years ago.

My analog portion of the system is Super Lenco rebuild with most of Jean Nantais’ upgrades, Pete Riggle Woody arm, Benz Micro Ruby 3, and Whest 3.0 RDT SE phono pre. I have VMPS RM40 BCSE MLS speakers, Nuforce Ref 9 V3 SE mono amps with TDSS level 3 upgrades, TRL DUDE preamp and upper mid cabling that sounds very good with the system.  The ICs are double Teo GCs and many of there PCs are Core Power Equi=Core 150s.  The SCs are Cerious Technologies Graphene Extreme plus their jumpers.   All contacts now have the PPTC on them and there are 5 SR Blue fuses in the components.  Everything is one 2 Sistrum racks and have RTS couplers clamping them to each platform.  It sounds pretty darn good.

I believe there as really great copies of most albums.  Are you lucky enough to get one of these?  Of course, all of my direct-to-disc albums sound fantastic, but I have copies of many others that are at least their equal.  The DTD albums are not necessarily the music I want to hear on a regular basis, however. 

Bob

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