Very best sounding Vinyl

aj523,
Sound quality on vinyl is very complicated. At first glance the BR concept seems preposterous. Anyone buying vinyl has come across some that are noisier than others, sometimes so bad they get a refund or replacement. Happens a lot. Almost always the replacement seems identical except for surface noise.  

Reading about Hot Stampers made me curious. There's several dupes in my collection. Never thought to compare them. Sure enough, no two really do sound quite the same. Okay most the difference was slight, but one it was big enough to really make me think there might be something to this.  

Now with around a dozen I have to say, no duds. Of course, all we can really do is fine exceptionally good pressings. In this respect records are just like everything else. The perfect component does not make the recording sound good. It merely allows the really good recordings to shine through unmolested. The really good pressing is just the same. So the quality depends first and foremost on the underlying recording.  

That said, it is sometimes shocking to hear how much better the original recording was than we thought. Tom Petty is a good example. Never in my life imagined his recordings were any good. They certainly don't sound great on anything else I ever heard. But the White Hot Stamper of Southern Accents is mind-blowing in its dynamics and sized. I mean its just huge! And Damn the Torpedoes is supposed to be even better??! We will just have to see!

So in my role as the OP, I took the Better Records plunge and tried out A Night at the Opera, Super Hot Stamper A++ both sides. Original 1975 pressing. $150.

All I can say is Wow! Dynamic, raw, clean. Freddie came alive in my living room. Loud. I can barely turn the volume up. 45 year old record kept in great shape by its previous owner(s). I can not imagine what a White Hot Stamper of this vinyl sounds like.

Thx @millercarbon

To the OP: You're welcome. 

To the doubters: Tol' ya so!

I won’t be buying many of these but will pick and choose my most favorites for my birthday or other special occasion/gift certificates. And to look out for special pricing, I was told. 

That's the way to do it. Only problem, depending on what you want it can be almost impossible to do it that way. Many times I have seen mailers with something I wanted and as fast as I can get there its gone. There's one I've been wanting enough I bookmarked the search and would look just about every day. One day I didn't look and the next day there it was- SOLD! Arrgh! 

Then on the other hand there are plenty of good ones that turn up fairly regularly, you just have to become a watcher over time to realize this. Keep coming back you will notice the titles everyone wants can go for crazy money. There was a better than White Hot (A++++) Pink Floyd DSOTM recently for $800! I post this partly for you, partly because I know it will trigger someone. (And oh how I do love to trigger someone.) 

Tom makes the argument his nearly White Hots are a great bargain, because they are very close to A+++ but for a lot less. My experience has been when the truly White Hot ones, as expensive as they are, are so good they are totally worth it. Super Hot some dumpster diver can probably scoop one up and after hours cleaning and comparing 20 copies come up with one just as good. White Hot, put down the pipe, you are dreaming. 

It depends on the recording of course but some of these are absolute jaw-droppers. Never in my life would have dreamed Tom Petty Southern Accents was a freaking demo disk! Always liked the music, never dreamed it was so well recorded. Now its one of my all-time faves. And according to Tom Port its not even the best Petty, that honor goes to Damn the Torpedoes. Both recorded by Shelley Yakus. Which they happen to have in stock right now. 

Er, did. Heh.

Super Hot is the lowest level of Hot Stampers. The thing about vinyl, quality does vary from copy to copy. There'e nothing magical about a Hot Stamper. They do after all come from the same pool of records as everyone else has. So odds are any given record in your collection could be Hot Stamper quality. In other words just because you have a random copy does not mean you have an average copy. Could be better, could be worse.  

The one Super Hot that I have is clearly a better than average copy, but its not rock your world better. White Hot, pretty much all of them are. Some of them- Tom Petty Souther Accents, Nilsson Schmilsson, Rumours- are absolute knockouts. Had a Audiogoner over he compared WH Rumors to 45, not even close. 

Not familiar with Yes. But you said you purposely chose average not exceptional recordings. That probably would have a lot to do with it. I have a White Hot Beatles Help and it sounds great, but it is what it is if you know what I mean. The better recordings tend to make for better Hot Stampers. 

In any case that's what they have the return for!😁

Oh yeah, in terms of vinyl sound quality alone would have to agree. In terms of "to show off your system" though BIA is hard to beat. Between you and me, I would go for the ones you mentioned.

Yes. That’s what I thought too. But their 30 day no excuses guarantee is plastered all over the site. So I tried one. Really wanted to send it back. I mean, who really wants to pay $350 for a record? A record you already have three copies of?!?! Not me! So I emailed Tom Port. Sorry Tom, I mean its good and all, but not $350 good.

Fine. No problem. Send it back. Okay I will.

Only funny thing. Instead of shipping it just sat there in the box all ready to ship. What is wrong with you Miller? Send it back! Okay, but one more listen, just to be sure.

And after that one more listen I knew the truth. That it sounds so much better its hard to believe. That I not only cannot send it back, I want more!

Peter Gabriel So is incredible. Tom Petty Southern Accents is out of this world. Tom Petty! Never in my life would have believed Tom Petty had a bona fide genuine demo disk. Neil Diamond Taproot Manuscript, Nilsson Schmilsson! Coconut is a stop the presses DEMO DISK!!!

Every time I say something about this a bunch of people who have no idea what I’m talking about nevertheless opine on how I don’t know what I’m talking about. All I can say, buy one, play one, then get back to me.

The most commonly available, accessible, and affordable awesome sounding vinyl I know is the Dire Straits Brothers in Arms MoFi 45.

Very close, Jennifer Warnes comes in with The Well and Famous Blue Raincoat, both on 45. But really there’s a whole slew of them could fill the bill, all around the same general level of sound quality. Michael Ruff Speaking in Melodies on Sheffield is certainly in there.

On the subject of the "very best sounding vinyl" this will trigger a few but I must say the very best sounding vinyl is always going to be a White Hot Stamper from Better Records. Anything Super Hot will blow out any and all reissues- yes including even the BIA45. A White Hot Stamper is so good its almost impossible to describe, except to say its like I would imagine maybe the actual master tape would be.  

I had a guest one time requested to hear for himself. Played him my second best copy of Rumours, the reissue 45. Sounds great. He said, "That is gonna be awful hard to beat." Then my nearly WHS. He agreed its no contest.

Yes they are used. Yes they are expensive. Very, very expensive. They are also "the very best sounding vinyl."