Going back in order:
jetter,
I thought of Tekton and Raven, but realized that my approach may be better. With Tekton and Raven, everything would sound like White Hot Stamper, if not even better. It would defeat the purpose of the test.
bluemoodriver,
It will not be double blind test although it may be dimmed lights test. Just too lazy to take it to some lab level and my friend is sane enough for me to expect him to refuse to get up and change multiple records more than once every 20 minutes. Maybe we could try to teach the dog how to do it, but that dog is not the brightest one out there so no double blind study. I believe it will be applicable result anyways. The point of listening to White Hot Stamper, or anything else, is to actually listen to it in real life, not under the test conditions. So, I think, it would be fine if some bias makes it sound better. The end result is still "better" and is what might be expected under the regular conditions. Not that I can claim to be free of bias, but in this I am as unbiased as one can get. And as experienced with that particular album as anyone could be. I am doing it for curiosity, not to steer me into buying or not buying White Hot Stampers in the future. Of course, it is not excluded, but I barely ever listen to records.
If White Hot Stamper is really that great, it may be worth paying someone to find it for you. As long as your hourly income is higher than of that person finding it for you. Time is money they say. Even then, one has to decide where the cutoff for "too expensive" is.
thecarpathian,
In my hopeful experiment, that is why we will have three different records to compare with White Hot Stamper. They may all be clunkers, or they may all be great, pressed on different continents and possibly in different years. That would shed the light on the technology itself and how much should be reasonably expected from the format.
If the only way someone will be satisfied with the sound of a record is by buying White Hot Stampers at $100-600 a pop (and click), we are approaching rarity of offerings and price of reel-to-reel indulgence. I could see a person buying a few favorite records like that for birthday.
jetter,
I thought of Tekton and Raven, but realized that my approach may be better. With Tekton and Raven, everything would sound like White Hot Stamper, if not even better. It would defeat the purpose of the test.
bluemoodriver,
It will not be double blind test although it may be dimmed lights test. Just too lazy to take it to some lab level and my friend is sane enough for me to expect him to refuse to get up and change multiple records more than once every 20 minutes. Maybe we could try to teach the dog how to do it, but that dog is not the brightest one out there so no double blind study. I believe it will be applicable result anyways. The point of listening to White Hot Stamper, or anything else, is to actually listen to it in real life, not under the test conditions. So, I think, it would be fine if some bias makes it sound better. The end result is still "better" and is what might be expected under the regular conditions. Not that I can claim to be free of bias, but in this I am as unbiased as one can get. And as experienced with that particular album as anyone could be. I am doing it for curiosity, not to steer me into buying or not buying White Hot Stampers in the future. Of course, it is not excluded, but I barely ever listen to records.
If White Hot Stamper is really that great, it may be worth paying someone to find it for you. As long as your hourly income is higher than of that person finding it for you. Time is money they say. Even then, one has to decide where the cutoff for "too expensive" is.
thecarpathian,
In my hopeful experiment, that is why we will have three different records to compare with White Hot Stamper. They may all be clunkers, or they may all be great, pressed on different continents and possibly in different years. That would shed the light on the technology itself and how much should be reasonably expected from the format.
If the only way someone will be satisfied with the sound of a record is by buying White Hot Stampers at $100-600 a pop (and click), we are approaching rarity of offerings and price of reel-to-reel indulgence. I could see a person buying a few favorite records like that for birthday.