Simply Vinyl...why the bum rap?

As far as I know the main issue is that they don't disclose where they get the source material for their releases. Is it a digital remaster or is it a analog original? The two releases I have, Nick Drake "Pink Moon" and Tom Waits "Swordfishtrombones" sound amazing. Very quiet, clean vinyl with quality packaging. I have heard that some of their releases don't sound as good as the original but have not been able to do any comparisons myself. On the other hand, the $10 Scorpio 180g "Audiophile" releases sound awful. I've tried three because of their price, Miles "Kind of Blue" Brubeck "Time out" and Sade "Diamond Life", and took them all back. Very noisy pressings that sound like someone used a casette copy as the master.

I second what Blackie said. Simply Vinyl simply doesn't produce consistently high quality products. All of their low price items were priced so low for a reason -- they suck. On the other hand, the full priced items - e.g. Santana Abraxas and Eagles Hotel California - sounded fairly descent.

I bought some of the Simply Vinyl Van Morrison and Bob Dylan when the label first came out, but the records sounded like crap--really compressed and thin. I didn't notice surface noise so much as just bad quality recording. I have stayed clear of the label since then, so I don't know if they've been able to improve. Like you, from what I hear from time to time, I gather not.

I concur :) 'Lost Highway' soudntrack sounds very good on Simply Vinyl.