Labels With Shortcomings – DCC/S&P/Audio Fidelity

Van Halen on DCC – Not My Idea of Good Sound

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Van Halen Available Now

As I recall it isn’t very good — thick and dull and closed-in; in other words, boring as all get out — but, in its defense, I confess I played it quite a while ago.

If your copy sounds better, more power to you.

But I bet it doesn’t.

Any copy we sell is guaranteed to blow the doors off of it — as well as any other pressing you own — or your money back.

Here are other records, many of them on Heavy Vinyl or Half-Speed Mastered, that we found to have similar shortcomings. They are, to one degree or another:

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Never a Dull Moment – Unless You’re Playing the DCC Heavy Vinyl…

More of the Music of Rod Stewart

In which case you are in for an unending string of dull moments (see below).

We were thrilled when we dropped the needle on side one of this Hot Stamper pressing and heard sound that was AMAZINGLY airy, open, and spacious.

It’s got all the elements necessary to let this music REALLY ROCK — stunning presence; super punchy drums; deep, tight bass; and tons of life and energy. Rod’s voice sounds just right with lots of breath, texture, and ambience. The sound is clean, clear, smooth, and sweet — that’s our sound.

Side two here is nearly as good and dramatically better sounding than most. Listen to the percussion on Angel — you can really hear all the transients and the sound of the drum skins.

On the same track, the meaty guitar in the left channel sounds mind-blowingly good. The bass is deep and well-defined, and the sound of the drums is awesome in every way. Who has a better drum sound than Rod Stewart on his two best albums?

One of His Best

Along with Every Picture Tells A Story this is one of the two Must Own Rod Stewart albums. Practically every song here is a classic, with not a dog in the bunch. Rod Stewart did what few artists have ever managed to do: release his two best albums back to back.

And this, not to put too fine a point on it, is clearly the way to hear it.

What to Listen For

Most copies tend to be dull, veiled, thick and congested, but the trick with the better pressings is being able to separate out the various parts with ease and hear right INTO the music.

It’s also surprisingly airy, open, and spacious — not quite what you’d expect from a bluesy British rock album like this, right? Not too many Faces records have this sound, we can tell you that.

But the engineers here managed to pull it off. One of them was Glyn Johns (mis-spelled in the credits Glynn Johns), who’s only responsible for the first track on side one, True Blue. Naturally that happens to be one of the best sounding tracks on the whole album.

Angel, the first track on side two, can have Demo Disc quality sound on the better copies such as this one.

The DCC

[This commentary was written more than 10 years ago. We have not changed our minds about any of it though.]

We hadn’t played the DCC in a very long time, so we offered a special guarantee for the Hot Stamper pressing we had just listed:

Better than the DCC? Some people think so; without both records side by side I can’t say which I would prefer, but this record sure sounds amazingly good to me. Zero distortion! Music in your room! Never a Dull Moment is a great title when you hear it like this.

We continued:

This original copy has a wonderful sense of ambience; the music rolls out on a bed of air. One of the few rock records with a real room around it. My experience with 180 gram vinyl of late has been so disappointing that I find it very hard to believe this copy would not walk all over the DCC in a shootout. If recent history is any guide it should be no contest. Of course, as an open record, this LP is 100% returnable for any reason. If you own the DCC and like it better than our Hot Stamper here, we will go you one better and refund not only the cost of the record but your domestic shipping as well. This is how confident we are in our boy here. He rocks. I’ve never played a 180 gram record that rocks like this and I don’t expect to any time soon.

Then we played a DCC copy and it really sucked. It was pure muck. A complete disaster.

We gave it an F and put it on our hall of shame. In fact, it’s records like this — records that sound this bad — that made us want to have a hall of shame in the first place.

Strange Days – Rhino and DCC Reviewed

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of The Doors Available Now

Sonic Grade: DCC: B / Rhino: C

It’s not easy for us to find copies of Strange Days that outperform the DCC, but our best Hot Stampers beat it handily. We also put our original copies up against the 180g version from the Doors Box Set and it was an absolute bloodbath.

We understand that a well-known reviewer likes the sound of those Doors pressings (along with just about every Heavy Vinyl reissue that hits his table) but we here at Better Records prefer to set higher standards.

We think you deserve better, and at these prices the record better deliver a world of sound that the Heavy Vinyl pressing only hints at. And it does. (more…)

The Doors – Rating the DCC LP

More of the Music of The Doors

Reviews and Commentaries for The Doors’ Debut

Sonic Grade: B

We used to like the Doors First album on DCC back when it came out in the late ’90s; it sure beat the MoFi and every other pressing I had around, including all my original gold label Elektra pressings.

But much water has gone under that bridge. There have been countless audio revolutions, as well as the improved record cleaning technologies we employ (and tout at every turn). Without them old records just sound like old records, and the DCC pressing will be better.

But with them, and lots of other changes, the right original stomps all over the DCC.

Hey, We Was Wrong and we’re not too proud to admit it. If you have the DCC and want to know what you’re missing, a Hot Stamper is the ticket.

It will cost you a fair bit more than the DCC, but the difference in sound should more than justify the difference in price if this album is important to you, and how could it not be?

Further Reading

Latin ala Lee! on S&P (Reviewed in the 2000s)

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Miss Peggy Lee Available Now

Not sure if we would still agree with what we wrote back in 2003 when this record came out, probably not, but here it is anyway.

As for the difficult remix, the more remixes I hear, the less I like remixes. The ones Hoffmann did for Nat King Cole drive me up a wall.

The Record of the Year for 2003.

I know how crazy that sounds, but it’s true! If you don’t have a smile on your face fifteen seconds after playing track one, you better check your pulse, cuz, as the famous song has it: Jack, You Dead. Amazingly good sound, courtesy of a fabulous and painstakingly difficult remix by the mastering guru himself, Steve Hoffman. This is popular music for the previous generation — but why should we be denied these long forgotten treasures?