More Entries from Tom’s Audiophile Notebook
I think I originally posted this in the comments section for Steve Westman’s youtube channel, but, to be honest, I cannot remember as it was way back in 2023 when I wrote it.
Tom Port here. Hello all. I come in peace with a quick question.
Much is made of price points when discussing these modern pressings, and rightfully so.
I admittedly do not know anything about The Counting Crows record being discussed, but I wanted to know more — what was available, from what year, mastered by whom, that sort of thing — so I went to Discogs to see what vinyl versions had been pressed recently.
The original import LP is probably made from a dub, or mastered right off the CD — that used to happen a lot in the 90s. (My beloved Jellyfish Spilt Milk on import vinyl is a dubby joke compared to every other copy I have, including the cassette. Watch for a review of the Omnivore LP coming to the blog soon.)
Then Analogue Productions put out a version in 2012, cut by Ryan Smith, which can be seen here.
There are 16 for sale starting at $127.49. It’s two discs at 45 RPM.
Chris Bellman cut the record in 2017, and his version can be found here.
CB in the deadwax. 2 discs at 33.
There are 43 available from $25.36. Since those were manufactured by Rainbo records, the vinyl may be terrible. Their stuff often is. I gave up buying their pressings in the 90s because they were so often warped and noisy.
Then there is one other which is a bit of a mystery, with no date of release, this one.
No CB in the dead wax. 2016 on the copyright info on the label though.
8 are available for $37.99
Question
Which one sounds the best?
Seems to me that this would be valuable information for your viewers to have. Why spend $100+ for an audiophile pressing when there are so many others around?
And some tables cannot play 45s, so for those who own such tables, this information would be very useful indeed.
Best, TP
As you can see, I bent over backwards not to be my normally tendentious self. I did not ask any questions I already knew the answers to.
I know nothing about these pressings other than to say the album in question never appealed to me, so at the very least I can say I don’t have a dog in this hunt. I couldn’t care less what any of them sound like.
Has there been any attempt by anyone to answer any of these questions?
I don’t know, and furthermore I don’t think it would be all that easy to find out. My gut tells me no and I am content to leave it at that.
What is the value of anyone commenting about the sound of one of these Heavy Vinyl pressings without breaking down which ones are good, which ones are mediocre and which ones are bad?
Apparently, few audiophile record lovers enjoy testing different pressings — so that they will have real evidence to back up their opinions — as much as we do.
Others seem to be content with offering opinions backed up by little more than the fact they bought the record and that they played the record and they liked (or didn’t like) the sound of the record.
Can it really be that so few audiophile record collectors take any of this audiophile record collecting thing seriously?
Further Reading