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Is there a one-stop site/thread for best quality vinyl pressings?

bluenote79

bluenote79

Member
I've experienced quite a few bad pressings lately, where I've compared the reissue to an original pressing or at least an earlier one. I've searched all over the web. Stevehoffman forums, Discogs, AK and a few other sites. There's a little bit of scattered info everywhere, but what I'm wondering is if there is one site where you can go to get pressing info, bad or good? For instance, let's take the recent reissue of Grateful Dead's Aoxomoxoa (2011 Rhino/WB) https://www.discogs.com/The-Grateful-Dead-Aoxomoxoa/release/3593997

I own it and it sounds awful. Distorted, lacking detail. I'd honestly rather stream it. Where might I go to find out what the best sounding pressing is of this release. In an ideal world, the release I mentioned above would be posted with a sign, warning searchers like myself to stay far away!

Again, I'm aware that there is scattered info everywhere, including AK, but I'm curious if there is an organized database of pressing info located in one place.
 
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mhjmhjones said:
That discogs link didn't work for me.

It would be nice if you could sort discogs releases by rating.
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I have updated the link. It should work now. Yes, It would be nice if you could sort by rating, but not every user rates a release by the SQ. Some people just rate based on whether or not they like an album.
 
bluenote79 said:
I have updated the link. It should work now. Yes, It would be nice if you could sort by rating, but not every user rates a release by the SQ. Some people just rate based on whether or not they like an album.
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Very true.

My copy of Aoxomoxoa is rated 4.08, yours is 4.27. I don't recall my pressing being bad at all. I'll have to give it a listen tonight.
 
mhjmhjones said:
That discogs link didn't work for me.

It would be nice if you could sort discogs releases by rating.
Click to expand...

You can make some pretty strong assumptions using the detail found in Discogs. The pressing order, the pressing plant, the label, who mastered the album, the source of the material, the country of the particular pressing, all play a part.
 
I would love to see the arguments that a 'Best Pressing' site like that would produce.

One thing I have learned, being involved in a local audio club, is that most everyone has a different opinion as to what sounds good or great.

I have sat next to people who have said, "OMG, this is great, listen to that horn, it sounds like he is right there sitting 4 feet in front of the speakers." While at the same time I am thinking, "JHC, it sounds like the bass player is in another room and the drummer is playing a cardboard oatmeal container. Don't even get me started on the glass like cymbals."

We had a member who had a pretty expensive vinyl rig that sounded dull, even the owner thought so. He had bought it and had it set up by a local professional so was relatively sure it was not his set up. I was looking at the tracking angle and said. "Your VTF is way, way off." The tube arm was angled upwards towards the cartridge and the cantilever arm was just about hitting the vinyl. Whoops, the owner had added a pretty think platter mat and had never considered what that did to his set up.

So what I am trying to say, in my over-caffeinated way, is that a bit of VFT change can make a recording go from mediocre to great.
 
olson_jr said:
I would love to see the arguments that a 'Best Pressing' site like that would produce.

One thing I have learned, being involved in a local audio club, is that most everyone has a different opinion as to what sounds good or great.

I have sat next to people who have said, "OMG, this is great, listen to that horn, it sounds like he is right there sitting 4 feet in front of the speakers." While at the same time I am thinking, "JHC, it sounds like the bass player is in another room and the drummer is playing a cardboard oatmeal container. Don't even get me started on the glass like cymbals."

We had a member who had a pretty expensive vinyl rig that sounded dull, even the owner thought so. He had bought it and had it set up by a local professional so was relatively sure it was not his set up. I was looking at the tracking angle and said. "Your VTF is way, way off." The tube arm was angled upwards towards the cartridge and the cantilever arm was just about hitting the vinyl. Whoops, the owner had added a pretty think platter mat and had never considered what that did to his set up.

So what I am trying to say, in my over-caffeinated way, is that a bit of VFT change can make a recording go from mediocre to great.
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Good point. I recently bought a used Thorens TD 160 off of the original owner. He was going to "upgrade" to a newer Music Hall tt. He had a really expensive high end setup, but to my ears it all sounded muffled and dull. When I got the Thorens home, I realized that the relatively new stylus he had on it was caked with dust bunnies. To me, he had a lot of cash, but maybe not a lot of sense. All that Thorens needed was to have a regular cleaning of the stylus and it sounds fantastic now.

Back to pressings though, all audiophile gear assumptions aside, I think that we could all at least agree on one basic thing. A record should not sound worse than the cd or even a digital file. If it does, what the hell am I doing, going through the time it takes to take care of it. Sure, it's a hard thing to measure when everyone's ears and tastes differ. What i mean is that the sound should at least be clear and distinct. The kind of bad pressings I'm talking about sound like they are being amplified through mud, lacking all detail. I'm sure there are other factors when it comes to bad sounding records, but to my ears if a record is dull, lacks detail, or has some degree of artificial noise not found in the original recording then it's a dud.
 
I’m kind of surprised you got a bad pressing. I’ve had pretty good luck with recent Dead pressings on Rhino. I looked at the Discogs link, and again at all of the pressings I have (which are mostly recent archival releases rather than reissues). I have at least one pressed at the same plant (Optimal), which I don’t remember sounding bad. But the one thing that’s different is there is no mastering credit on the one you linked. All of the ones I have have a credit, and most were cut by Chris Bellman.

What’s interesting is that the US version that came out at the same time as the one you linked was cut by Chris Bellman and pressed at RTI. So I would guess that pressing is a good one. I must stress though, that I haven’t heard it. The only copy I have of Aoxomoxoa is an original white label promo. That one sounds pretty good. But based on my experience with other copies cut by CB and pressed at RTI, I would be very surprised if that pressing sounds bad.

As for the original question, that would be useful if a list existed. Even a more general label/pressing plant list would be helpful.
 
Johnny B said:
I’m kind of surprised you got a bad pressing. I’ve had pretty good luck with recent Dead pressings on Rhino.
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I have the Workingman's Dead repress on Rhino and it sounds fantastic. It was cut by Chris Bellman. I wish I could say the same for this release...
 
Johnny B said:
Actually, that’s not true. I forgot that I also have a Burbank label pressing of the remix.
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How do you like the Burbank remix? Saw a nm one earlier today with W1 in the run out.

Almost grabbed it, but balked. It was $18...pretty good price for a super clean copy. I have an original, but the condition is not that great.
 
bluenote79 said:
I have the Workingman's Dead repress on Rhino and it sounds fantastic. It was cut by Chris Bellman. I wish I could say the same for this release...
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Agreed on the Chris Bellman cut Rhino lps. I have a few that sound quite nice. I wasn't in love with his Europe 72.

It wasn't bad...just didn't have the mojo of my Burbank artisan cut. I sold it and bought a green label artisan in nice condition.
 
Go Giants said:
How do you like the Burbank remix? Saw a nm one earlier today with W1 in the run out.

Almost grabbed it, but balked. It was $18...pretty good price for a super clean copy. I have an original, but the condition is not that great.
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I’m not really a fan of the remix. It’s better than the remix of Anthem of the Sun, which is just awful. It’s not as murky as the original, so it does have some appeal there. But I like all the weird stuff popping in and out of the original mix.

There’s now a thread on this over at the Steve Hoffman site. It seems that maybe there was an initial Chris Bellman cut version that may have been replaced by a recut. Or maybe it was cut by Chris Bellman and doesn’t have his initials on it. The original press on this stated that he cut it, but apparently copies for sale now don’t have his name attached to them.

I was going to pick a copy of this up because my white label has some hum through it. But now I’m kind of holding out hope that they’ll do a proper pressing after this year reissue.
 
Question is who would be making the assessment of which pressings sound good and which don't. Would everyone trust their judgement?

I notice on Discogs the reviews are all over the place. On LP's that I think sound great and give them 4 or 5 stars another guy will give it a one star rating. And what system are people using to make their assessment? Are we to take a persons review on equal grounds if their vinyl source is not of equal levels to those who's system is far superior?

I usually have found that prices for pressings reflect the better better pressings. So if your buying the re-issued copies for 2 or 3 dollars over those of first pressings and or special pressings that go for much higher prices your probably going to find them not as good sounding. But that is not to discount quality re-pressings as many of those are very good, but don't expect them be a couple of dollars. And you need to throw out the higher prices that colored vinyl sell for. It has been my experience that colored vinyl and picture disc sometimes go for higher dollars not because they sound better but rather because some non listener likes to collect them for their collectable value.
 
Sound quality will always be subjective givin all the variables involved. Generally, I try to buy first pressings, but some are very difficult to find in excellent condition and for a reasonable price.

After a while you get to know which labels and mastering engineers do a great job. For instance WB green labels typically sound great. Some orange RCA's had know quality issues and have lots of surface noise

There are a bunch of engineers I trust...Robert Ludwig...George Marino...Bernie Grundman etc. Again, not 100 percent guarantees, but generalizations.

And of course equipment matters a lot too. Cheap and worn stylus, poor amplification, bad cabling will not produce good sound.

Agreed on picture vinyl comment above. Bought Anthem of the Sun a while ago. Kinda cool looking, but sq was not very good.
 
The Rhino reissues I have bought, have generally been very good. Some excellent and a couple of turkeys. All of The Doors reissues have been VG, as well as the older Fleetwood Mac's. Deep Purple "Machine Head" was horrible, no highs at all. To be fair the DP was many years ago when they first got in the game. But then again The Doors "L.A. Woman was from the same era and it was excellent.
 
Yes, the Rhino Doors reissues I own are very good and are somewhat close to my originals for sound quality.

Fortunately my Machine Head lps are WB greenies in very good shape and sound fantastic.

Most of my original FM lps are in good shape and sound great too. I'm looking for another kendun cut "Mystery to Me" though. Mine could be in better condition.

Not sure if there's a singular site for best pressings. I use this site, the Steve Hoffman site, Analog Planet and just word of mouth.
 
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