UPDATE 2026
The Decca recording with Solti from 1961 on London (CS 6217) is still the king on this title, as far as we know.
The review below is for a White Dog pressing of the Reiner performance that we’d played way back in 2007.
We’ve played others over the years, but nothing has impressed us all that much, so we are still going through the process of acquiring more copies of the London and have yet to do a shootout for them.
Our 2025 notes for LSC 2364 on Shaded Dog is that it is rich, but the strings are somewhat shrill and it has an unfortunate tendency to become more congested than we would like in the louder passages.
The sound is passable I suppose, but it’s hardly the pressing you want to play when it comes time to hear the music properly performed, and with top quality sound. This is of course the service we offer — the actual pressing that has audiophile sound with a performance to match — so we hope to see Hot Stamper pressings of the London coming to the site in 2026.
Fun Fact
Note that this recording from 1961 was rereleased on London in 1971 with a different catalog number (CS 6781) and a different cover, as well as notably inferior sound. Audiophiles would do well to avoid it.
Our Old Listing
This Mahler work is very accessible and enjoyable. Lovely, smooth, sweet string tone. This, along with the 1st Symphony, are my favorites.
Comparing the Classic Reissue with the white dog above (LSC 2364) reveals that Bernie Grundman got the tonal balance right (not a common occurrence), but the magic of the RCA string tone has mysteriously been replaced by the thick, glossy strings you might expect on a Phillips record.
Consider that the same effect could probably be achieved if you were to buy a Crown amplifier and hook it up to your speakers. I know that sound well. I had a Crown DC-300A in 1973 and, no, I don’t want it back.
The average Shaded Dog may be better than the average classical record, but that certainly doesn’t mean it has any claim to audiophile sound. We’ve played bad early RCA pressings by the hundreds. Now, with this blog we can point some of them out to music lovers who are more interested in top quality sound than owning pressings with the original label.
There are quite a number of other records that we’ve run into over the years with obvious shortcomings.
Here are some of them, a very small fraction of what we’ve played, broken down into the three major labels that account for most of the best classical and orchestral titles we’ve had the pleasure to play.
- London/Decca records with weak sound or performances
- Mercury records with weak sound or performances
- RCA records with weak sound or performances
We’ve auditioned countless pressings in the 38 years we’ve been in business — buying, cleaning and playing them by the thousands.
This is how we find the best sounding vinyl pressings ever made, through trial and error. It may be expensive and time consuming, but there is simply no other method for finding better records that works. If you know of one, please write me!
We are not the least bit interested in pressings that are “known” to sound the best.
Known by whom? Which audiophiles — hobbyists or professionals, take your pick — can be trusted to know what they are talking about when it comes to the sound of records.
I have never met one, outside of those of us who work for Better Records. I remain skeptical of the existence of such a creature.
[Woops, I take that back. I have met one, a certain Mr. Robert Brook. He has been conducting his own shootouts for a few years now and has made his findings available on his blog, The Broken Record. This is information you can trust.]
We’re looking for the pressings of albums that actually do sound the best.
You know, when you actually play them.
If you’re an audiophile with an ear for top quality sound on vintage vinyl, we’d be happy to send you the Hot Stamper pressing guaranteed to beat anything and everything you’ve ever heard, especially if you have a pressing specifically made for the audiophile market. Those, with few exceptions, are rarely better than mediocre, and a great many are just awful.
And if we can’t beat whatever LP you own or have heard, you get your money back. It’s as simple as that.