In this case, the conventional wisdom holding that the original first pressings (1s) will most likely have sound superior to the higher-numbered pressings (2s) turns out to be right.
Below you will see the complete stamper sheet for a shootout we did recently. Note that the album you see pictured is not the record we did the shootout for.
We are not revealing what record had these stampers and earned these grades for the simple reason that we rarely if ever give out the specific information that identifies the best sounding pressing of any album.
Sometimes we do though. To see the titles whose Shootout Winning stampers have been revealed, please click here. The list we’ve compiled to date is short but more are coming.
The sound of 3s with the Red Label was lean and dry on both the copies we played. This was surprising as the stampers are quite low: 3s/3s.
Many RCA chamber recordings can be dry, and if one owned a nice early stamper pressing of the album with lean, dry sound, one might conclude that this RCA is just another chamber recording with those shortcomings.
But one would be wrong, because the 1s stamper Shootout Winner sounded amazing, not dry or lean in the least.
How Come?
Since, as we discovered recently, 1s wins, and handily, why does 3s/3s do so much worse?
Who knows? Your guess is as good as mine.
Further Reading
- Earned wisdom versus borrowed wisdom
- Our step by step guide to professional record cleaning
- Perhaps you can explain these record mysteries – we sure can’t