Very best sounding Vinyl

Hey Chuck,

My experiences with Better Records were a different experience than yours.  I bought Yes--Close to the Edge super hot stamper and compared it to the copy I had since college that had been given LAST treatment and played a ton.  I had a good friend over when I did this and we listened to both a couple times through.  I did the same with another album, but can't remember which album it was.  It was a super hot stamper also and my copy was again from college and had LAST treatment and had been played a bunch.  In both cases, my copy sounded better in all ways--not night and day better, but better.  I sent both of those back and haven't felt the urge to try again since.  That was about 6 years ago.  Both of my original albums were just OK to pretty good recordings typical of most of my collection.  Most of my albums are quiet with only occasional pops or none.  I purposely chose albums that were just typical of my collection rather than sonic spectaculars.  

Bob

Some good recordings & music:
Supertramp--Crime of the Century   (MF)
Loggins & Messina--Sailing the Wind
Blood, Sweat & Tears II
Michael Franks--Passion Fruit
War--Why Can't We Be Friends?

More to come--I have to arrange my albums after building cabinets to put them in again.

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!😁

Am I the only one who thinks Dire Straits "Brothers In Arms" album is too hot? I wanna love the recording, I love the music, but it’s too sibilant for my taste....maybe its just my copy. On the other hand, Dire Straits debut album, "Dire Straits" is an incredible recording in comparison IMO.

-Norah Jones "Come Away With Me" (its darn near perfect)
-Chuck Mangione "Feels So Good"
-John Fogerty "Blue Moon Swamp"
-The Notting Hillbillies "Missing and Presumed Having a Good Time"
-Blue Note 86 "A New Generation of Jazz"
-Simply Red "Picture Book"
-Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto w/Itzhak Perlman (London Symphony/Chesky Records)
-Chet Baker and Bill Evans "Alone Together"
-Chet Atkins and Mark Knofler "Neck and Neck"
-Willie Nelson - Super Hits
-Amanda McBroom - "Dreaming"

"Am I the only one who thinks Dire Straits "Brothers In Arms" album is too hot?"

No, there is at least two of us.

"Am I the only one who thinks Dire Straits "Brothers In Arms" album is too hot? I wanna love the recording, I love the music, but it’s too sibilant for my taste....maybe its just my copy. On the other hand, Dire Straits debut album, "Dire Straits" is an incredible recording in comparison IMO"

I have the debut album, sounds pretty good. Never got into their music after that.

Wiki:

"Brothers in Arms was one of the first albums directed at the CD market, and was a full digital recording (DDD) at a time when most popular music was recorded on analog equipment. It was also released on vinyl (abridged to fit on one LP) and cassette. Producer Neil Dorfsman says the digital multitrack was mixed on an analog board with the resulting two track mix re-digitized via a Prism A/D converter and recorded on a DAT machine."

May as well play the CD but on better gear.