Our notes make mention of the fact that none of the copies of CS 6053 — Famous Overtures… Beethoven — that we had on hand in preparation for our now-abandoned shootout sounded good enough to make cleaning and playing them worthwhile.
The sound had plenty of Golden Age Tubey Magic — it’s rare that an early London pressing from 1959 doesn’t — but the strings were pinched in the louder parts of the music.
It sounded to us like an old record.
It has the kind of sound that makes it much more likely to be found sitting on a shelf and not a platter. Seriously, why would you bother?
The world is full of records that don’t sound especially good. As a matter of fact they make up the bulk of the world’s record collections. The average record is, by definition, mediocre, so it stands to reason that all those rooms full of shelves of vinyl you see on the internet are packed with mediocre sounding records.
And if you just happen to be the proud owner of such a record collection, how can you possibly find the time to play more than a small fraction of it in any given year? Or even over the course of a decade for that matter?
The fact is that you can’t. Which, on the upside, means that, as far as you know, all your records sound great! No need to buy another copy of whatever title you care to name.
You haven’t played it in twenty years and don’t plan to for another twenty. Here’s hoping your kids like old records because they are going to end up with an awful lot of them.
On Another Note
1959 was a phenomenal year for audiophile quality recordings – as of 2026 we’ve auditioned and reviewed more than one hundred and seventy titles, and there are undoubtedly a great many more that we’ve yet to play.
We think there are about 50 that belong in any audiophile record collection worthy of the name.
There are quite a number of other records that we’ve run into over the years with obvious shortcomings.
Here are some of them, representing only a 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 audition.
- 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.
UPDATE: 2026
Woops, I take that back. I have met one, 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. He can also help you get your arm and cartridge set up properly, a new service he has just begun to offer and one that we recommend to all our customers and readers who could use help in this area. (There’s plenty of free advice to be found on his blog and mine.)
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 any pressing marketed to audiophiles. 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.
Further Reading
- Playback accuracy is key to finding better records
- How can you tell when the conventional wisdom is wrong?
- Large orchestral recordings are the only way to get to the highest levels in audio
