*Robert Brook’s Guide

Robert Brook’s Guide for the Dedicated Analog Audiophile

Robert Brook Makes History with the First Shootout Video Ever Posted on Youtube

Hot Stamper Pressings of Revolver Available Now

One of our good customers, Robert Brook, writes a blog which he calls A GUIDE FOR THE BUDDING ANALOG AUDIOPHILE. You can find it by clicking the link below.

Welcome to The Broken Record!

We recently loaned Robert some copies of Revolver so that he could do the first youtube-acceptable Record Shootout video in the history of mankind. He had three copies of his own to play along with the five we loaned him, plenty to work with.

We hope to be able to discuss the experience of doing the shootout and the video with him soon, but for now, let’s just enjoy the first of its kind.

Robert now knows firsthand something few audiophiles have made the effort to learn:

Shootouts are a great deal of work if you take the time to do them right.

If you have just a few pressings on hand and don’t bother to clean them carefully, or follow rigorous testing protocols, that kind of shootout anyone can do. You can find those kinds of shootouts on youtube, but we have never seen fit to take them seriously.

The results of shootouts that are not carried out in the serious way that we do and the way that Robert did cannot be trusted, for reasons that anyone reading this blog should find obvious.

Art Dudley illustrates this approach, but you could pick any reviewer you like — none of them have ever undertaken a shootout worthy of the name to our knowledge.

Here is an especially egregious example of how to go about it all wrong.

We ourselves struggled back in the old days. in 2005, our attempted shootout for Blue could not get off the ground. Two years and scores of shootouts later, we had been able to find and clean some amazing sounding copies, which is how we were able to tell how far off the mark this pressing was.

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Are Reviews Objective?

Robert Brook has a blog which he calls

A GUIDE FOR THE DEDICATED ANALOG AUDIOPHILE

Robert recently addressed an issue that came up when someone left a comment about the sound of Tone Poets reissues vis-a-vis the the pressings that Rudy Van Gelder mastered, to wit:

“To say anything other than the difference (between the T.P. and the RVG) is subjective is misleading the audience.”

Robert explains in the post linked below that he has worked very hard to make his system as neutral as he possibly can, and why he thinks that is a good idea. He also notes that he isn’t done, that there is plenty of work left to do, and that a more revealing, more truthful system is his one and only goal.

Any piece of equipment, or tweak, or setup adjustment that brings him closer to the sound his critical listening skills tell him are an improvement is to be adopted. They have passed passed the “more truthful” test.

Are My REVIEWS Objective?

There are scores, maybe even hundreds of posts on this very blog to explain what we do and how we do it.

We tell you about our playback system and why it’s good at its job.

In addition, practically every listing on our site has standardized text detailing the three areas that are key to understanding our vintage vinyl offerings. They include:

  1. What sonic attributes our Hot Stampers have.
  2. How we go about finding records with these attributes, and
  3. What we’re listening for in order to distinguish superior pressings from common ones.

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Confessions of a Thrill Seeking Audiophile

Robert Brook has a blog which he calls

A GUIDE FOR THE DEDICATED ANALOG AUDIOPHILE

Robert was on a panel of audiophile record collectors not long ago, and he wrote about it here.

Some comments I made at the time:

Robert and I have many things in common. The most important one, from my point of view, is the fact that we are not much interested in records that sound good, or are musical and enjoyable, or are priced fairly, as seems to be the case with these fellows and their channel.

No, we are looking for the kinds of records that sound amazing, like live music sounds amazing. Records that blow our minds.

Robert spent a fair amount of time trying to explain this concept to his fellow panel members. None of them seemed to understand or appreciate his recent Way Out West experience. He told them how exhilarated he felt after having just played a ‘I can’t believe it’s a record” record, but they apparently were not interested as no one followed up.

Based on what I’ve seen on youtube lately, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are thrill seekers and there are record collectors, and that these two groups do not seem to overlap much.

He and I correspond regularly. Recently I mentioned an idea I had for a blog post that I thought would clarify which camp an audiophile might fall into:

To have a clearer picture of the depth of someone’s audio experience, I would ask this basic question:

What are five records that blew your mind and made you rethink how good music could sound in the home?

I could easily name fifty. I’ve played thousands and thousands of pressings over the last 30+ years, the famous ones as well as the not-so-famous, and quite a number of them managed to blow my mind. The better my stereo and cleaning system got, the more often that would happen. We used to call them outliers and award them grades of Four Pluses, but we stopped doing that years ago.

Are there any records on heavy vinyl that would qualify as mind-blowing?

None that I know of. But if someone thought there were, that would tell me a lot about the standards that person was setting for his playback quality. You need one helluva good system and one helluva good record to have the experience that Robert and I are talking about, and those two things are not easy to come by in the world of audio and records.

Most audiophiles are fine with settling for less, and this is why the Tone Poets records, just to take one example, give these audiophiles what they want, a record they can enjoy, at a price they find affordable enough to collect them by the dozen.

They just don’t give Robert and me and our Hot Stamper customers what we want. Not even close. [1]

Robert discusses his love for thrilling records in his latest post. Please click to read more.

AUDIOPHILE RECORDS and the THRILL SEEKER!

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The Turn of a Screw Gets Sticky Fingers Sounding Right

Hot Stamper Pressing of the Music of The Rolling Stones Available Now

Robert Brook has a blog which he calls

A GUIDE FOR THE DEDICATED ANALOG AUDIOPHILE

Robert writes:

When we hear a truly great rock & roll record played back with the massive power and thrilling energy only such a record can deliver, what else can we do but turn the darn thing up! In my view, this is the litmus test for most records, and nearly every rock record. If we’re not inclined to want to hear it even bigger and louder, then I can’t help think, why bother?

And the fact is, some records need to be played loud for us to dive deeper into the mix and fully grasp the size and scale of the recording. That is, if we can find a copy that will let us in in the first place.

But when we do have the right copy of a record that’s well recorded and well mastered, and we’ve built and tweaked our stereo and room to be up to the task of playing it, turning the knob a bit further can indeed make a great rock record a thing to behold. We can find ourselves not just seeing into the recording, but even feeling like we’re in it ourselves.

In my recent article on anti-skate I discussed how, even when you think this and other settings on your turntable are right, you may eventually play a record that will show you otherwise. In my case, I could tell something wasn’t right with my system, but I wasn’t really sure what it was until I played a record that should have sounded fantastic but didn’t. That’s when I realized, for reasons I explain in the article, that it was time to readjust my anti-skate.

Click below to see how just how good a Hot Stamper pressing of Sticky Fingers can work as a test record for table setup.

Getting AZIMUTH Right Lets You SEE INTO the Recording!

It’s hard to imagine that anyone or any group of individuals could possibly have played as many copies of Sticky Fingers as we have. It must be close to a hundred by now. That would be my best guess. We do shootouts for the album about twice a year, which is as often as the supply of clean originals we can find makes possible.

We even played the new Half-Speed cut at Abbey Road,

The picture you see nearby was taken many years ago, circa 2005 I would guess, just as we were preparing to do our first shootout for the album.

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Robert Brook Undoubtedly Has an Impressive System

Robert Brook runs a blog called The Broken Record, with a subtitle explaining that the aim of his blog is to serve as:

A GUIDE FOR THE DEDICATED ANALOG AUDIOPHILE

We know of none better, outside of our own humble attempt to enlighten that portion of the audiophile community who love records and are looking to understand them better.

Below is a link to a review he has posted from a guest contributor, ab_ba, a person who has written us a number of letters as well.

Please read his posting on Robert’s blog and then check out my notes below.

I FINALLY Heard A TRULY GREAT STEREO, and Oh!

Wires dangling from the ceiling?

Check!

ab_ba writes:

So, if we can’t hear distortion until it’s been removed, reason leads us to conclude that we can never declare a stereo free of distortion, even one that sure sounds like it is. And indeed, Robert could readily demonstrate for me that his system still has some distortion. While I sat there marveling at the sound of John Bonham’s drumming on his pristine Ludwig pressing of Led Zeppelin II, Robert hopped up to shut off the breaker to the fridge.

We have been writing about this subject ourselves for a very long time. Here are a couple of links.

And here is a good overview of our approach: How To Get The Most Out Of Your Records – A Step By Step Guide

As for getting one’s stereo act together, we are all for it. The better the stereo, the more obvious the superiority of a top quality pressing will be. ab_ba notes in his posting:

Listening to good records on a good system is a delight, but hearing a great system is an absolute revelation. If you want to find really great copies of your favorite records, they’re out there, but you need a stereo that will enable you to identify them.

We wrote a commentary addressing that subject, entitled: First Get Good Sound – Then You Can Recognize and Acquire Good Records

One of the (many) reasons Robert Brook’s stereo has such low distortion is that he uses the same Townshend Seismic Platforms that we do. If you are interested in getting distortion out of your system, we can supply you with one to try. We have never had one returned. They are by far the cheapest, fastest, easiest way to improve the sound of any stereo. (Of course unplugging your fridge is even cheaper, but it may not be as easy.)

Robert uses the same Hallographs that we employ to help improve the acoustics of his room. We have three pair. Three of the units can be seen in the photograph above.

Tweaking and tuning are the foundation of good sound. The 80/20 rule is very real, and, if I may offer up my own experience to serve as a guide, the numbers are probably closer to 90/10.

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Do Original Pressings Sound Better?

Robert Brook has a blog which he calls

A GUIDE FOR THE DEDICATED ANALOG AUDIOPHILE

Below is a link to the commentary he’s written about his experience as a guest on The Audiophile Roundtable.

(He’s the fellow in the lower right corner.)

Do ORIGINAL Pressings Sound BETTER?

Do all audiophile represses sound better?

All?

Wouldn’t it be better to pose the question as “Do any audiophile represses sound better?”

But better than what? That’s the $64,000 question. No one seemed interested in answering that one. Or even noticing that it needed answering.

A fellow in the comments section asked:

Here’s a question to Robert, because he said he didn’t like the sound of the Tone Poets he heard… compared to what?

I don’t remember what Robert said but here’s my answer:

Compared to the hundreds of great sounding jazz records you’ve played! Compared to Way Out West if we have to pick one.

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Robert Brook Flips Out Over a Killer Pressing of Way Out West

Hot Stamper Pressings of Sonny Rollins’s Albums Available Now

Robert Brook has a blog which he calls

A GUIDE FOR THE DEDICATED ANALOG AUDIOPHILE

He recently found himself in the possession of a killer copy of Sonny Rollins’ famous Way Out West album, one that was clearly superior to everything he used to think sounded just fine. Recent improvements meant that his stereo was now capable of showing him a Way Out West he had no idea existed.

This, as you can imagine, is music to our ears. We know exactly how he feels. This has happened to us countless times over the course of the last twenty years. Sometimes we even write about our experiences with these kinds of breakthrough pressings.

WAY OUT WEST Reveals the ENDGAME in ANALOG Audio

Two quick points:

1) This is the reason why all serious audiophiles do their own shootouts. It’s the only way to find the pressing that can show you just how good a record can sound.

2) And it’s the reason that constant audio improvements are the cornerstone of evolving music appreciation.

“… I’m hearing the studio space and everything in it a whole lot better, and I’m relishing all the more the insane chemistry these musicians have on this record. Musically I could always appreciate how dialed in Rollins, Manne and Brown are on WOW, but now I can actually hear that in the sound of the record, and this brings the performance and the experience of listening to it to a whole new level.”

Whole new level? That’s what I’m talking about!

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Robert Brook Digs Deep and “Gets” Down to Earth

Hot Stamper Pressings of Jazz Featuring the Piano

Robert Brook has a blog which he calls

A GUIDE FOR THE DEDICATED ANALOG AUDIOPHILE

Below is a link to the review he has written for a record we had very much enjoyed while doing the shootout for it a few years back, Down to Earth.

Lately we have been writing quite a bit about how pianos are exceptionally good for testing your system, room, tweaks, electricity and all the rest, not to mention turntable setup and adjustment.

DIGGING DEEP Into The Ramsey Lewis Trio’s DOWN TO EARTH

Other records that we have found to be good for testing and improving your playback can be found here.

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Robert Brook Hears Something Funny on the MoFi One-Step of B,S&T

Robert Brook has a blog which he calls

A GUIDE FOR THE DEDICATED ANALOG AUDIOPHILE

Below is a link to a review Robert Brook has just written for the MoFi One-Step pressing of one of our favorite albums of all time, BS&T’s second album.

I do not doubt for a minute that it’s every bit as awful as Robert says it is. Probably worse! I made some rather extensive notes in the comments at the end of his review you may find of interest.

Blood, Sweat & Tears: How Do MoFi’s 2 Disc 45 rpm’s STACK UP?

We’ve written quite a bit about the album, played copies of it by the score as a matter of fact, and you can find plenty of our reviews and commentaries for the album on this very blog.

Based on everything I am reading these days from Robert Brook, he has a good stereo, two working ears, and knows plenty about records and what they are supposed to sound like.

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Robert Brook Compares Three Very Different Pressings of Lady in Satin

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Billie Holiday

Robert Brook has a blog which he calls

A GUIDE FOR THE DEDICATED ANALOG AUDIOPHILE

Below is a link to the review he has written for one of our favorite records, Lady in Satin.

In this review he compares our White Hot Stamper pressing to his two originals, a Six Eye Mono and a Six Eye Stereo. We knew where this review was headed; we’ve been down that road ourselves. For our most recent Hot Stamper reissue, we noted:

There may be amazingly good sounding original pressings, as amazingly good as this one, but we’ve never run into one and we have our doubts about the existence of such a magical LP – where could they all be hiding?

Add Robert’s two originals to the pile of pressings that sound good, but not as good as we might want them to.

Lady In Satin: CAPTIVATING on the WHITE HOT STAMPER