Demo Discs for Dynamics

The group of records you see here are some of the most dynamic we’ve had the good fortune to discover.

Our scientific approach to finding the best sounding records has allowed these exceptional pressings to take their place among the best we’ve know of.

One of the many faults we find with modern Heavy Vinyl pressings is that they tend to be noticeably more compressed than the vintage pressings on this list.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – So Far

More Crosby / More Stills / More Nash / More Young

  • Boasting INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades on both sides, this copy is guaranteed to blow the doors off any other So Far you’ve heard
  • The two tracks exclusive to this album, “Ohio” and “Find the Cost of Freedom,” are amazingly well recorded – both have Demo Disc quality sound on this amazing side one
  • Huge, rich and energetic, this pressing brings the gorgeous harmonies of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young to life like nothing you have ever heard
  • We don’t imagine we’ll be tracking down too many copies that sound this good so if you’re a fan, scoop this one up!
  • If you’ve made the mistake of buying any Heavy Vinyl pressing containing any of these songs, this record will show you just exactly what you’ve been missing
  • Marks and problems in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you
  • If I were to compile a list of my favorite rock and pop albums from 1974, this album would definitely be on it
  • Not many compilation albums offer top quality sound, but this one does, and these are some others

When you get hold of a pressing as good as this one, the sound is so correct it makes a mockery of the phony EQ and just plain bad mastering and pressing of the Heavy Vinyl and Half-Speed mastered versions.

The MoFi and the Classic 200g LP of Deja Vu are both clearly wrong in important ways. This record will make it clear exactly what’s wrong with them, assuming you have the critical listening skills to recognize the differences. If you are on this site, chances are very good you do.

Once you hear this Hot Stamper pressing, you will never be able to enjoy those audiophile pressings again, of that we are quite confident. (more…)

Ravel / Rachmaninoff – The Reiner Sound

More of the Music of Maurice Ravel

More of the Music of Sergei Rachmaninoff

  • With big, bold, dynamic Double Plus (A++) Living Stereo sound or close to it throughout, you’ll have a hard time finding a copy that sounds remotely as good as this original Shaded Dog pressing
  • It’s also remarkably quiet at high end of Mint Minus Minus, a grade that even our most well-cared-for vintage classical titles have trouble playing at
  • Side one is doing just about everything right – it’s rich, clear, undistorted, open, spacious, and has depth and transparency to rival the best recordings you may have heard, and side two is not far behind in all those areas
  • True, side two earned a minimal Hot Stamper grade of 1.5+, but we still guarantee that it will beat the pants off any Heavy Vinyl reissue, because every one of those that we played was ridiculously opaque, muddy and thick enough to have us crying “uncle” after five minutes
  • This record will have you asking why so few Living Stereo pressings actually do what this one does (particularly on side one). The more critical listeners among you will recognize that this is a very special copy indeed (also particularly on side one). Everyone else will just enjoy the hell out of it.
  • Contains two works by Ravel: Rapsodie Espagnole and Pavan for a Dead Princess, as well as Rachmaninoff’s Isle of the Dead

This former TAS list record really surprised us on two counts.

First, you will not believe how dynamic the recording is. Of all the classical recordings we’ve played lately, I would have to say this is the most dynamic of them all.

The explosively loud sections of these wonderful works, with their huge orchestral effects, are dynamic contrasts that are clearly part of the composer’s intentions but ones that rarely make it from the concert hall to vinyl disc the way they do here.

Second, there is simply an amazing amount of top end on this record. Rarely do we hear Golden Age recordings with this kind of energy and extension up top. Again, it has to be some of the best we have heard recently.

(This is, of course, one of the reasons the Classic reissue is such a disaster. With all that top end energy, Bernie’s gritty cutting system and penchant for boosted upper midrange frequencies positively guarantees that the Classic Reiner Sound will be all but unplayable on a tonally correct system. Boosting the bass and highs and adding transistory harshness is the last thing in the world that The Reiner Sound needs.)

Unlike many bien-pensant audiophiles who buy into HP’s classical choices, I am not the biggest Reiner fan. On these works, though, I would have to say the performances are top drawer, some of the best I have ever heard. The amount of energy he manages to coax from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is nothing less than breathtaking.

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Ten Years After – A Space in Time

More British Blues Rock

  • Here is a vintage UK Chrysalis pressing (the first copy to hit the site in over three years) with solid Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it throughout
  • This side two is tonally correct, big and bold, with the kind of rich, full-bodied sound that is the hallmark of rock recordings in the early to mid-70s, and side one is not far behind in all those areas
  • One of the most important records in my growth as an audiophile from 1971 to the present – my stereo was forced to evolve in order to play this kind of big production rock at the loud levels that the album needs to work its Psychedelic Blues Rock magic
  • No matter how many times you play it, you will hear — or at least gain more of an appreciation for — something new in the exceptionally dense, deep, sophisticated soundfield the engineers no doubt sweated to create for the album
  • And each time you make an improvement to the quality of your playback, this is the album that will show you just exactly what you have accomplished
  • 4 stars: “The leadoff track, ‘One of These Days,’ is a particularly scorching workout, featuring extended harmonica and guitar solos. The production on A Space in Time is crisp and clean, a sound quite different from the denseness of its predecessors [that] has its share of sparkling moments.”
  • This is clearly the band’s best sounding album. Roughly 150 other listings for the best sounding album by an artist or group can be found here.

We always knew this great album could sound good, but it’s not often we heard it sound like this!

A Space in Time is just one of the recordings that made me pursue big stereo systems driving big speakers, right from my earliest days in audio. You need large dynamic drivers with plenty of piston area — the kind that can move a lot of air — in order to bring the power of the music to life.

If you have big speakers and a penchant for giving the old volume knob an extra click or two, it just doesn’t get any better than A Space In Time.

I’ve been playing ASIT for decades and I heard lots of things this time around I never knew were there. This is why we keep improving our systems, right? There is never going to be a time when these 50+ year old recordings have nothing new to offer.

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Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy

More of the Music of Led Zeppelin

  • With two outstanding Double Plus (A++) or BETTER sides, this copy is guaranteed to blow the doors off any other Houses of the Holy you’ve heard
  • Side two was sonically very close to our Shootout Winner – you will be shocked at how big and powerful the sound is
  • For this album, Mint Minus Minus is as QUIET as we can find them
  • Only the pressings mastered by Robert Ludwig have any hope of doing well in our shootouts, and those are the only ones we have ever offered, beginning all the way back in 2006
  • Wall to wall, floor to ceiling Led Zeppelin power – this copy delivers like you will not believe, or your money back
  • A Better Records Top 100 album (along with 4 other Zep titles), 5 stars in AMG and a true Zeppelin Must Own classic
  • The Tubey Magical acoustic guitars here should be a wake up call to everyone that any and all attempts to remaster this album are bound to fail – that sound is gone and it is never coming back
  • 5 stars: “Jimmy Page’s riffs rely on ringing, folky hooks as much as they do on thundering blues-rock, giving the album a lighter, more open atmosphere…”
  • If you’re a fan of the band, this title from 1973 is clearly one of their best, and inarguably one of their best sounding

This copy has the kind of BIG, BOLD ROCK SOUND that takes this music to places you’ve only dreamed it could go. The HUGE drums on this copy are going to blow your mind — and probably your neighbors’ minds as well.

And what would a Zep record be without bass? Not much, yet this is precisely the area where so many copies fail. Not so here. The bottom end is big and meaty with superb definition, allowing the record to ROCK, just the way the band wanted it to.

The vocals too are tonally correct. None of the phony upper-midrange boost that the Classic Records reissue suffers from is evident on this copy.

The louder Robert Plant screams, the better he sounds and the more I like it.

The Classic Records pressing makes me wince, and Jimmy Page’s remaster is not much better.

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Hi-Fi a la Espanola / Fennell

More Classical and Orchestral Recordings

  • An original Plum Label Stereo Mercury pressing (the first copy to ever hit the site) with a huge, powerful and tubey Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side one mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side two
  • Both of these TAS-approved sides boast an abundance of energy, loads of rich detail and texture, superb transparency and excellent clarity – the very definition of Demo Disc sound
  • Don’t expect to see anything but the real FR pressing when you get this one home — the RFR pressings are not remotely as good and did not even qualify for the lowest Hot Stamper grade on both sides
  • We owe a debt of gratitude to Harry Pearson for championing records such as this one – who is fit to carry his mantle today? (Besides us of course!)
  • We have been working up a shootout for this title for a very long time — after hearing how dubby and veiled the Classic Record pressing of the album was, we knew only the real thing would be worth doing

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A Scheherazade that Lacks Power in the Brass and Richness in the Lower Strings? No Thanks

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Rimsky-Korsakov Available Now

One of the most dynamic Scheherazade‘s on record. The brass really blasts through in this recording. 

Of course the question is how does this recording stack up to the famous Reiner. Well, I’ll tell you.

The Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra is not in the same league with the CSO, that’s well known. Dorati may be every bit as talented as Reiner, but he doesn’t have the players at his disposal capable of pulling off demanding material such as this.

But the orchestra acquits itself well here. The first violinist is quite good. That’s not the problem.

What lets the side down is the Mercury recording team, who fail to adequately present the weight of the orchestra in the lower midrange and below. One thing I noticed recently when playing an original LSC 2446 was how rich and powerful the sound was in the lower strings and in the brass relative to later pressings of the same title and other recordings of the work.

That opening movement of Scheherazade needs power down there and the Mercury simply doesn’t have enough of that power to qualify it as one of the top sounding Mercs.

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The Three on Inner City – By Far the Best Way to Get All Six Tracks

More of the Music of The Three

  • A Demo Disc quality Inner City pressing of this wonderful recording with INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it from start to finish
  • The transients are uncannily lifelike – listen for the powerful kinetic energy produced when Shelly whacks the hell out of his cymbals
  • My favorite Piano Trio Jazz Album of All Time; every one of those six tracks is brilliantly arranged and performed
  • 4 stars: “One of Joe Sample’s finest sessions as a leader” – with Shelly Manne and Ray Brown, we would say it’s clearly his finest session, as a leader or simply as the piano player in a killer trio

If you want to hear the full six tunes recorded by The Three at that famous Hollywood session (which ran all day and long into the night, 4 AM to be exact), these 33 RPM pressings are the best way to go. The music is so good that I personally would not want to live without the complete album. The Three is, in fact, my favorite Piano Trio Jazz Album of All Time; every one of those six tracks is brilliantly arranged and performed (if you have the right takes of course; more about that later).

More On The Subject Of Energy

This is a quality no one seems to be writing about, other than us of course, but what could possibly be more important? On this record, the more energetic copies took the players’ performances to a level beyond all expectations. It is positively shocking how lively and dynamic the best copies of this record are. I know of no other recording with this combination of sonic and musical energy. It is sui generis, in a league of its own.

Both sides are so transparent you can hear Shelly Manne vocalizing as he’s playing the drums. The drum solo on side two is killer here. So full of energy and so dynamic. Why aren’t more drum kits recorded this well? Check out the pictures inside the fold-open cover to see all the mics that were used on the drums. That’s where that wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling sound comes from.

The transients are uncannily lifelike, conveying the huge amounts of kinetic energy produced when Shelly whacks the hell out of his cymbals.

Ne Plus Ultra Piano Trio

This record is made from the “backup” tape for the session. East Wind released two versions of the famous direct to disc version at 33 RPM, and for those of you who bother to read the commentary, you know that take one of that pressing presents a completely different performance of the music than the one found on the Inner City on offer here.

There was a time when the best copies of a recording like this would go directly into my collection. If I wanted to impress someone, audiophile or otherwise, with the You-Are-There illusion that only Big Speakers in a dedicated room playing a live recording can create, this would be up near the top of the list. There is practically nothing like it on vinyl in my experience.

This is without a doubt my favorite piano trio record of all time. Joe Sample, Shelly Manne, and Ray Brown only made one album together, this one, recorded direct to disc right here in Los Angeles for Eastwind in the Seventies. Joe Sample for once in his life found himself in a real Class A trio, and happily for jazz fans around the world, he rose to the occasion. Actually, it was more like an epiphany, as this is the one piano trio album I put in a class by itself. All three of The Three are giving us the best they’ve got on that November day in 1975.

When it comes to small combo piano jazz, there is none better.

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The Who – Who Are You

More of the Music of The Who

  • With solid Double Plus (A++) grades on both sides, this vintage UK import is doing just about everything right – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • This copy has the Glyn Johns big, bold sound we’ve come to expect from this famous producer/engineer
  • Forget the domestic pressings, forget the DD Labs Half-Speed, forget whatever lame reissues have come or will come down the pike – if you want to hear this album right, a Hot Stamper British pressing is the only way to go
  • The title song sounds great on this outstanding copy – the dynamic power of the recording comes through loud and clear
  • If you’re a fan of The Who, and what audiophile wouldn’t be?, this album from 1978 belongs in your collection

Big, tubey and rockin’, this copy has The Who sound we know from Who’s Next so well. Huge and spacious, with lovely three-dimensional depth, the sound has that patented “live in the studio” quality that Johns’s practically trademarked. Breathy vocals and great life and presence to every instrument — this is the way to hear it!

This copy has the Glyn Johns Who sound we’ve come to expect from one of the most famous producer/artist collaborations in the history of rock music. (I would argue Johns’s work with the Stones is even more legendary.)

This is certainly not the equal of the beyond brilliant Who’s Next — what is? It’s an undisputed Masterpiece — but the best songs here are certainly in that league. The title track is one I used to demo my system with twenty years ago and, with a copy like this, would be happy to again.

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Chabrier / Orchestral Music – Ansermet (Decca)

More of the Music of Emmanual Chabrier

  • This superb Chabrier album containing one of our two favorite performances of the España Rhapsody boasts INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound on side two mated with outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound on side one
  • This spectacular Demo Disc recording is big, clear, rich, dynamic, transparent and energetic – HERE is the sound we love
  • All the energy and power of Chabrier’s remarkable orchestration, thanks to the brilliant engineering of Roy Wallace
  • Ansermet’s Chabrier disc has long been a favorite of ours here at Better Records – this copy will show you why

If you want a classical record to TEST your system, if you want a classical record to DEMO your system, you will have a hard time finding a better pressing than this very copy.

Who can resist these sublime orchestral works? To quote an infamous (around here) label, they are an audiophile’s dream come true.

So clear and clean, and spread out on such a huge stage, either one or both of these sides will serve you well as your go-to reference disc for Orchestral Reproduction.

Listen for the waves of sound in Espana — only the best copies bring out the energy and power of Chabrier’s remarkable orchestration.

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Pink Floyd – The Wall

More of the Music of Pink Floyd

  • This copy of The Wall is guaranteed to blow the doors off any other pressings you’ve heard, with solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER on all FOUR sides
  • Forget whatever dead-as-a-doornail Heavy Vinyl record they’re making these days – if you want to hear the Tubey Magic, size and energy of Floyd’s magnum opus from 1979, this is the way to go
  • The Wall demands big, bold, explosively dynamic analog sound, and here is a copy that delivers on that promise
  • Grungy electric guitars, breathy vocals, huge punchy drums, earth-shaking bass and room-filling ambience are all here on these TAS-approved side like you’ve never heard before
  • A Top 100 title and one of the best sounding rock recordings of all time – here is a copy that will make our case
  • If you’re a Pink Floyd fan, or maybe just somebody looking for a killer Demo Disc to play, this title from 1979 surely deserves a place in your collection

We spend a ridiculous amount of time cleaning, playing, and comparing copies of this classic double album for our shootouts and let me tell you, there are a lot of weak copies out there.

What do these kinds of top grades give you for The Wall? Top-notch clarity and transparency, mind-blowing immediacy, weight to the bottom, extension up top, HUGE open soundfields, real texture to all the instruments, TONS of energy with serious dynamics, BIG punchy drums and loads of natural ambience.

Pink Floyd tends to be an amazingly well-recorded band, and this album is certainly no exception. If you’ve taken home one of our Hot Stampers for Dark Side of the Moon, Meddle, or Wish You Were Here, then you certainly know what we’re talking about. (more…)