2. misc-audio
  3. 164153-121242

Better Records White Hot Stampers: Now the Story Can Be Told!

Just got shipping notification, so now the story can be told!

  Better-Records.com is a small, incredibly valuable yet little known company run out of Thousand Oaks, CA by Tom Port. The business started out many years ago when Tom Port noticed no two records sound quite the same. Evidently Tom is a sound quality fanatic on a scale maybe even higher than mine, and he started getting together with some of his audio buds doing shoot-outs in a friendly competition to see who has the best sounding copy.   

Over time this evolved into Better-Records.com, where the best of the best of these shoot-outs can be bought by regular guys like me who live for the sound, but just don't have the time or the drive to go through all the work of finding these rare gems.

The difference in quality between your average pressing and a White Hot Stamper is truly incredible. If you don't have the system or the ears of course you may never notice. If you do though then nothing else comes even close.   

Tom will say things like only one in twenty copies is Hot Stamper worthy. This doesn't even come close to conveying the magnitude. Last night for example, wife and I were listening to our White Hot Stamper of Tchaikovsky 1812. Then we played another White Hot Tchaikovsky. Then we played the Tchaikovsky tracks from my copy of Clair deLune.  

Without hearing a White Hot you would think Clair de Lune is about as good as it gets. After two sides of Tom's wonders it was flat, dull, mid-fi. Not even in the same ball park. And yet this is quite honestly a very good record. How many of these he has to clean, play, and compare to find the rare few magical sounding copies, I don't even know!  

Copies of Hot Stamper quality being so hard to find means of course they are not always available. This is not like going to the record store. There are not 50 copies of Year of the Cat just sitting around. Most of the time there are no copies at all. When there are, they get snapped up fast. Especially the popular titles. Fleetwood Mac Rumours, Tom Petty Southern Accents, whole bunch of em like this get sold pretty fast even in spite of the astronomically outrageous prices they command. Then again, since people pay - and fast - maybe not so outrageous after all.   

So I spent months looking, hoping for Year of the Cat to show up. When it did, YES! Click on it and.... Sorry, this copy is SOLD! What the...? It was only up a day! If that!  

Well now this puts me in a bit of a spot. Because, see, besides loving music and being obsessed with sound quality, I'm also enthusiastic about sharing this with others. With most things, no problem. Eric makes an endless supply of Tekton Moabs. Talking up Tekton or Townshend or whatever has no effect on my ability to get mine. With Better-records.com however the supply is so limited the last thing I need is more competition. Bit of a bind.   

Even so, can't keep my big mouth shut. Been telling everyone how great these are. One day someone buys one based on my recommendation, Tom finds out, next thing you know I'm a Good Customer. What does that mean? Well is there anything you're looking for? Year of the Cat. That's a hard one. Tell me about it. Might take a while. Take all the time you need. Just get me one. Please. Okay.  

That was months ago. Other day, hey we're doing a shoot-out. No guarantees but should be able to find you one. So for the last few days I was all Are we there yet? Are we there yet? And now finally, like I said, shipped!  

So now I have my Grail, and the story can be told. Got a nice little collection of Hot Stampers, and will be adding more, but this for me is The One. Might not be for you, but that is the beauty of it all. Many of us have that one special record we love. If you do too, and you want to hear it like listening to the master tape, this is the way to go.
128x128millercarbon
thecarpathian
4,152 posts
 
Maybe he could call it a Dicyanoacetylene Ozone hot stamper.
maroneofferring
7 posts
 
Quality isn't unknown.
Their business model would collapse if they lied.
I have a dozen Hot Stampers and all of them sound much better than 95% of my 2800 lps.
It took 10 seconds of hearing the first one to realize it is real.

I buy lots of white label promos and an A+ to A++ is better than most of them in sound quality.
The test pressings I own also are at A++ level.

The price isn't excessive.
To get an A++  requires buying 50 copies and listening to them all. Perhaps 3 can be sold and the rest go on eBay at $10.

The A+++ show up once a year or less for many titles.

This is why an A+++ copy of Abbey Road will sell for $899. Perhaps once ever 2 years will one show up.
maroneofferring
7 posts
 
A tp of Combat Rock I own was $325 USD from the UK.

An A+++ better records of that title is $299.

So their pricing is completely aligned with the market.

And keep in mind 2500 of my lps are all thrift store finds at 10 cents to $1.99.

So, I am not "rich" - I just prefer to buy outstanding copies of my favorites.
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon OP
12,531 posts
 
Not only that, which is all true, but Tom told me his prices are actually lower today than years ago. Because the time and effort required to sift through the dreck and find the diamond hasn't changed. But his volume has gone up to where he can afford to run it more efficiently now, and so he has been able to lower his prices. It just doesn't seem that way to anyone looking at it today, but he tells me they were a lot higher 10-15 years ago. 

Even at these high prices the sought after copies can go fast. I was looking nearly every day for Year of the Cat. When I saw it and got all excited and went to buy, it was already sold!  

When I let Tom know, that is when I really started learning. There are people all over the place who know Tom will pay top dollar for an excellent copy. I even got to know one guy who claims to have sold a Hot Stamper this way. Well, I bought one from him, supposedly Hot Stamper level, and let me tell you, not even. Good copy, yes. Much better than average. But Hot Stampers are not merely much better than average. The best of them, White Hot, are almost like defy the laws of physics they are so good.  

Took a good 6 months for him to get enough YOTC for a shoot-out. Then when he told me he was going to do it, I got all excited and started bugging him. Not so fast. It was more than a week by the time he was done and had them sorted and ready to list.  

These things are not cheap. Even Tom himself jokes about how extravagantly expensive they are. But at least with these, unlike so many expensive reissues, you really do get the sound quality you pay for.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,412 posts
 
Expensive reissues? Analogue Productions single LP’s are $35. So are those from MoFi, Speaker’s Corner, Intervention Records, and many more audiophile reissue labels.

Try and find a "white hot stamper" copy of Pet Sounds, Smiley Smile, or Wild Honey. You wont, ’cause there aren’t any. The Capitol Records’ issues of those three albums are about the worst sounding LP’s in my collection (which is a cryin’ shame; the music is beyond wonderful.). AP has DRASTICALLY reduced the extreme veiling present in Capitol pressings, as well as restore some semblance of full-range frequency response (the Capitol LP’s sound like a car radio. Seriously.). The AP reissue of those three Beach Boys’ albums (and about a dozen more), $35 each.

As for MoFi, no matter how many times it’s said, it just gets ignored (’cause it contradicts the narrative?): Yes, the MoFi LP’s from the Brad Miller/Herb Belkin (MoFi owners/producers.) era (ending in 1999) are mostly not good. Everybody knows that, it’s not news (to those who have been buying LP’s long enough, and paying attention.). Stan Ricker and Jack Hunt were not masters of the art and science of mastering.

The LP’s and SACD’s released since Music Direct relaunched the label in 2001 are a very different story. Many really good reissues, major improvements over original-label copies, as well as first-era MoFi LP’s. The Band’s Music From Big Pink was issued twice by MoFi---originally during the first-era, then again in the 20teens. If you are on the hunt for the out-of print MFBP, look for one with catalog number MFSL 1-346 (the second version.). Though the original MoFi is decidedly better than any Capitol Records pressing (the bass was for some reason noticeably missing. Rick Danko was not happy!), the second version is substantially better. 

If someone has a white stamper and a modern-era MoFi of the same title, let’s hear about the shoot-out!
More to discover