Excellent sounding LPs

@mylogic 

Music lovers try to extract the best they can from their records, and accept recordings with their set achievable limits.

Perhaps the best answer yet. This is pretty much how I stand with it.

@mylogic 

As I admitted earlier, I do have a tendency to listen for sound quality in analog more than digital. Perhaps it’s because of record’s potential for wonderful sound.  
 But of course, you’re right.  There’s more gold in listening for the music.

@rvpiano  “There’s more gold in listening to the music”

Searching for the Eldorado in your own music

l have personally learned not to beat myself up trying to drag out that last ounce of musicality from my system. Never ending changes make differences, but I’ve now accepted the fact, too much is bordering OCD land rather than entering Utopia. 
 

When listening and choosing what LP to put on l know from memory what to expect with the recording. However it does not influence me to play albums just because of a brilliant recording. It’s how l appreciate the content that matters, and what has motivated me to play that music again.

LP pressings quality and original recordings are beyond our control. Best to try and put those concerns to the back of our minds…..
 

Ah, interesting topic. From experience, certain labels / recording engineers could be relied on for Hi Fi sound. Blue Note, Mercury Living Presence to name a few. That said in my collection many Pop and Rock records were crap shoots. I found first press UK for the UK artists "generally best" also German Pressings. But not all the time! I own a David B record US dyna flex that sounds GREAT. Go figure. Reissues? Touch and go; although I do like quite a few of Kevin Gray's offerings (although not all) 

To be honest, I’m too much of an audiophile to ignore the SQ of the recordings completely.  A combination of listening for music and sound is, for better or worse, my quest.  Of course, extraordinary performances in not so good sound demand attention.