Art Rock – Commentaries

The Wall Sounds Terrible on these “Audiophile” Rip-offs

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Pink Floyd Available Now

This Japanese import is one of the dullest, muddiest, worst sounding copies of The Wall we have ever played. It is clearly made from a second generation tape (or worse!).

Is it the worst version of the album ever made? Hard to imagine it would have much competition.

And somehow this pressing, or one very much like it, ended up as on the TAS Super Disc List. I would hope that the copy Harry played sounded a whole lot better than this one.

The version on the TAS Super Disc list is EMI 4814, which I believe is the British original. Conventional wisdom? Is The Absolute Sound capable of any other?

And the CBS Half-Speed is every bit the mudfest that the Half-Speed is.

How is it that the worst sounding pressings are so often marketed to audiophiles as superior to their mass-produced counterparts? In our experience, more often than not they are just plain awful, inferior in every way but one: surface quality.

And the knock on these CBS Half-Speeds is that they are made from the same vinyl CBS used to press all their other records.

I remember buying them back in the late-70s at Tower Records. They were only $12.99 when Mobile Fidelity pressings were $17.99, garnering a premium price because they were pressed in Japan. Fool that I was, I bought plenty of both, not to mention those made by Nautilus, Direct Disk Labs and plenty of others too painful to think about.

Dear audiophiles, stop collecting crappy audiophile pressings with quiet vinyl and just switch to CD already. You’ll be getting better sound and saving yourself a lot of money to boot. You simply cannot defend analog with this kind of junk.

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A MoFi Disaster to Beat Them All

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Genesis Available Now

UPDATE 2026

This review is fairly old, probably from 2005-2010.

Not long ago I played the MoFi pressing of A Trick of the Tail and could not believe how ridiculously compressed it was.  Rarely have I heard sound as squashed as that which is heard on this LP.

On top of that, the midrange is badly sucked out (as is the case with most Mobile Fidelity pressings) making the sound as dead, dull and distant as can be.

Is it the worst version of the album ever made? Hard to imagine it would have much competition. I have the CD and it’s fine. It sounds like a digital version of the British pressings we favor (the domestic pressings having been made from dubs of course).  The MoFi is bad enough to have earned a place in our Mobile Fidelity hall of shame.

You think Modern Heavy Vinyl pressings are lifeless? Play this piece of crap and see just how bad an audiophile record can sound.

And to think I used to like this version! I hope I had a better copy back in the 80s than the one I played a few years ago. I’ll never know of course. If you have one in your collection give it a spin. See if it sounds as bad as we say. If you haven’t played it in a while (can’t imagine why, maybe because it’s just plain awful), you may be in for quite a shock.

If you are still buying these audiophile pressings, take the advice of some of our customers and stop throwing your money away on Heavy Vinyl and Half-Speed mastered records.

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Letter of the Week – “I couldn’t be happier. I confess I am a little emotional now.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Supertramp Available Now

One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently (emphasis added):

Hey Tom, 

Just received by delivery this afternoon. I am just about beginning to realize what a good pressing really means…

I have only been able to listen to Supertramp [Even in the Quietest Moments] and The Final Cut until now. While Supertramp is excellent, the Final Cut is simply astounding!!

I really am at a loss of words so I will just say that I really am listening to completely new music.

I can’t come to terms with the fact that there is so much information buried in those grooves that I am listening to, honest to God, for the very first time… And the Final Cut is my favorite Floyd!

I couldn’t be happier. I confess I am a little emotional now. By no means, is this a casual purchase but boy… I think this is worth its weight in gold!

I’ll be back for more!!

Sujay

Dear Sujay,

Thanks for writing. So glad to hear you couldn’t be happier. That is exactly the reaction we were looking for.

Best, TP

P.S.

Sujay hasn’t bought any Hot Stampers from us since 2016. We doubt he went over to the dark side — that almost never happens — but anything is possible. Nevertheless we wish him well.

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Universals’s Reissue of 10cc’s Masterpiece – Is Anyone in Charge Here?

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of 10cc Available Now

This review was written circa 2005.

This Universal Super De Luxe import LP appears to be the regular vinyl version that, for all we know, might actually still be in print in Europe. It appears to have been specially pressed on heavy vinyl for our domestic market as part of the new Universal Heavy Vinyl series.

Either that or it’s being made from the old metalwork for the LP that would have been available most recently in Europe (and out of print by now I should think).

Which is a very long-winded way of saying that it is not in any real sense remastered, if such a claim is actually being made for it, or the series.

Rather it has simply been repressed on Heavy Vinyl in Europe and imported to the states.

None of which is either here nor there because the record is an absolute DISASTER.

The top end is so boosted, after the cutter-head-emphasis gets done with it all that’s left is pure DISTORTION. No one with two working ears and even a halfway-decent stereo can fail to notice how awful this pressing sounds. How a record this poorly mastered (or pressed, perhaps it’s a manufacturing defect) could get through the Quality Control department at Universal is beyond me.

Wait a minute. Who say they even have a quality control department? 

They, like every other company that produces records these days, could apparently not care less whether the records they make are any good or not. There is not an iota of evidence to support the contention that anyone at any of these companies knows what the hell he or she is doing.

This is a classic example of a phrase that is widely misused, that phrase being “begging the question,” which typically refers to assuming something that one should be required to prove.

If you assume that any modern record label had a quality control department, you should be required to provide evidence of its existence. I am not aware of any.

Oh, but it’s ANALOG.

Folks, take it from me: because it’s on vinyl, heavy or otherwise, doesn’t have a whole lot to do with whether it sounds any good or not. The Hoffman-mastered DCC Gold CD is a million times more analog sounding than this piece of crap. Unlike this LP, the tonality of his CD is right on the money. It’s still a CD, and the Hot Stamper pressings we sell will trounce it sonically, but it’s worlds better than this Analog Vinyl.

If any record ever deserved a failing grade, it’s this one. After a few minutes you simply will not be able to be in the same room with it.

This link will take you to some other exceptionally bad records that, like this one, were marketed to audiophiles for their putatively superior sound. On today’s modern systems, it should be obvious that they have nothing of the kind and that, in fact, the opposite is true.

Letter of the Week – “I needed a day to fully pick up my jaw from the floor after hearing Revolver and Dark Side…”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Pink Floyd Available Now

One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently:

Hey Tom, 

I needed a day to fully pick up my jaw from the floor after hearing Revolver and Dark Side of the Moon.

Now that I‘ve given them both a few listens to fully absorb how revealing these recordings I thought I knew so well really are, I just have so many questions. 

How much better sounding can the respective White Hots really be?????

As far as Dark Side, I’m finding out for myself. Just ordered the white hot stamper. Most likely will be returning one of them, but I hope that after this, I will finally be able to stop looking for “the better sound” on this one….

Regarding Revolver, will the A++ side of my Revolver Super hot sound the same as the A++ side of the WHS? Or is the A++ grade on the WHS relative to its A+++ side, and still better than the SHS? What I am getting at is, will both sides blow me away in comparison to my SHS, or is it better to be patient and hold out for a two-sided A+++? Btw, regardless of your answer, you cannot have this copy back, it is simply fantastic!

I know these kinds of questions are quite relative to a number of variables, but any enlightenment you can provide is welcome…. I appreciate what you do, you have gained a very happy customer. (more…)

Are All MoFis Created Equal? A Pair of Pink Floyd LPs Proved They Aren’t

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Pink Floyd Available Now

[This commentary was written about twenty years ago.]

Many audiophiles are operating under the misapprehension that Mobile Fidelity managed to eliminate pressing variations of the kind we discuss endlessly on the site.

That is simply not the case, and it’s child’s play to demonstrate how misguided this way of thinking is, assuming you have the following four things: good cleaning fluids and a machine, multiple copies of the same record, a reasonably revealing stereo, and two working ears.

With all four the reality of pressing variations for ALL pressings is both obvious and incontrovertible.

The discussion below of a Hot Stamper pair of Dark Sides from long ago may shed light on some of the issues involved.

Remember Classic Records Comparison Packages?

This is our first Hot Stamper Comparison Package.

For those who remember the 45 RPM/ 33 RPM Classic Records comparison packages, this is somewhat in the same vein. Of course, we don’t know that they kept the EQ the same for the 45 versions compared to the 33s of the albums included in the package, so the comparison is suspect at best.

You’re not really comparing apples to apples unless you keep the EQ exactly the same. I rather doubt they did, because on Simon and Garfunkel the sound was noticeably worse at 45 than it was at 33. This is the main reason we don’t carry the 45 versions of Classic’s records: they are a lot more money, and who knows if they’re even any better?

[This one sure wasn’t better. This guy liked it, but he is rarely right about any of this record and equipment stuff, as I hope everyone knows by now.]

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Letter of the Week – “Your hot stampers forced me to work on my stereo and on my room.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Pink Floyd Available Now

One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently (italics added):

Hey Tom, 

Many thanks for your efforts.

Things can sometimes really be easy. I [purchased] medical water from the drugstore, hopefully the best available here in Austria.

Now I know the difference between a Super Hot and a White Hot. After half a minute it was clear.

The Super Hot of Dark side is really, really excellent but the White hot makes (at least) a step up on every aspect. Will send the Super Hot back shortly.

What I like to mention is:

Your Hot Stampers forced me to work on my stereo and on my room.

Tom is totally right when he says, only work, work and even harder work gives you benefit in HI-FI. I think it´s the Dopamine in our heads that drives us for better and better, it´s a great feeling.

I will never be an expert in HI-FI or Hot Stampers, that’s your business. But I can become mediocre or even good, can become a listener who has developed listening skills and has a stereo which is reasonably OK.

The first benefit (beside the sound of your Hot Stampers) I already got: improving my stereo and my listening skills just a bit gives me a lot more listening pleasure on my existing records, and there are a lot, especially in Metal and extreme Metal.

Kind regards from Austria,
Hans

Hans,

Thanks so much for your letter. We are glad to have encouraged you to work on your system and listen more closely to your vinyl, the same areas of effort that changed everything for us and appear to have done so for you. Congrats on that!

I have written the following or something very much like it to a number of customers over the years. I mostly talk about the amazing Hallographs we use, but solving room problems is at the heart of what we are trying to convince audiophiles to do. Please to enjoy.

Thanks so much for your letter. When your system is cookin’ and you’re hearing all your records sound better than ever, that’s when audio is FUN. You had to do a lot of work to get there and the good sound you are able to enjoy now is your reward.

It’s amazing to me how little audiophiles are interested in actually making their stereos sound better. You reap what you sew in this hobby. Mediocre sound is easy; good sound is very very hard — that’s why I so rarely hear anything outside of my own system that strikes me as any good. Most audiophiles haven’t worked very hard on their stereos and they have the sound to prove it.

We write a lot about the ENERGY and POWER found on the best pressings of some recordings; the BS&T record we sent you is a perfect example. It’s the kind of recording with so much going on that it is guaranteed to bring practically any stereo system to its knees. When a record such as this gets loud, all the problems of your stereo become impossible to ignore. (One reason the turn up your volume test is such a great test; the louder the problem, the harder it is to ignore.)

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The Domestic Stampers of 10cc’s Masterpiece Had Us Fooled for Years

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of 10cc Available Now

I haven’t run into many audiophiles who own a copy of The Original Soundtrack, or any other 10cc album for that matter.

It’s the rare person who has the the kind of system that can play a recording with such explosive dynamics.

As I have an uncontrollable habit of saying, this is the kind of record that is guaranteed to bring any audiophile stereo to its knees. 

Since that is the case, and audiophiles who build the kind of big systems in heavily-treated custom rooms to meet the challenge such recordings present are thin on the ground — very thin it seems, as I am the only one I have ever known — it stands to reason that practically no audiophiles have ever experienced the size and power of the recording as it was meant to be heard.

I thought I was doing a very good job reproducing the sound of the album, but recent research has proved that, once again, I was mistaken. Previously I had written:

The recording itself is a tour de force, the main reason I’ve been demonstrating my stereo with it for more than thirty years. The extended suite that opens side one, One Night in Paris, has ambience, three-dimensional sound effects, and incredibly dynamic multi-tracked vocals at the climax that will leave you with your jaw on the floor.

All true. But I had been playing both domestic pressings and British pressings over the course of those thirty years, and I don’t remember clearly preferring one to the other.

With our latest shootout the British pulled away from the pack in a big way, with no British pressing being beaten by any domestic competitor.

The domestic pressings ranged from very good — 2+ on both sides — to passable at best — 1+ on both sides.

I honestly used to think they were close, that they would be hard to tell apart. Those days are gone. We are operating at a whole ‘nother level, and I am glad that we are. We want to give out only the most accurate information and sell only the best sounding records.  What I had thought was true ten years ago turns out to have been off the mark.

When reality turns out to be dramatically different from what you thought it was, and you can prove it — you actually have the physical records to back up your newer, more correct understanding — that’s audio progress.

You might try proving yourself wrong more often.

Most audiophiles I have run into like having their biases confirmed, but look where that has gotten some of them — stuck in a rut. Break out of that way of thinking and you may very well find that you have broken through to another level.

Because if you don’t go out of your way to prove yourself wrong, who will?

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I Robot Is a Tough Nut to Crack, Even If You Have Plenty of Early British Pressings to Play

Hot Stamper Pressings of Prog Rock Albums Available Now

Here is how we described a Hot Stamper pressing of I Robot that went up recently, our first in five years:

An early UK pressing (and the first copy to hit the site in years) with seriously good sound throughout.

Many copies tend to be overly smooth, but this one has the kind of clarity that allows the natural textures of the instruments to come through.

Transparency is key to the sound of the better copies, and that is precisely where the dubby domestic pressings fall apart.

Even many of the early British pressings fell short. Good luck finding top quality sound on this one. At the very least you are going to need a big budget — these early UK pressings are not cheap to find in audiophile playing condition.

As you can see, we weren’t kidding about those UK pressings falling short. Here’s two that did, with their stamper numbers posted for all to see.

Side two of the first copy is being held back by sound that is smeary, dry and hard.

Side one of the second copy is murky and hot (bright).

Note that these are early UK stampers, which some in-the-know audiophile collectors will tell you are clearly the best.

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Letter of the Week – “I feel I own and can listen to something that a king or a millionaire would own…”

Hot Stamper Pressings of Pink Floyd Available Now

One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently: 

Hey Tom,  

Thank you so much for the Dark Side of the Moon White Hot Stamper. It is everything you said. I feel I own and can listen to something that a king or a millionaire would own, not an old codger like me!

Regards,
Peter D.

Peter,

You are very welcome. We like to say that a White Hot stamper pressing — of any album — is the one that takes the music to another level, typically beyond where the listener thought it could go, and it seems like that was the experience you had playing the record.

A king or a millionaire would have been very unlikely to get hold of the pressing of Dark Side that you played. It’s a pressing that is not well known in audiophile circles. Neither is it especially expensive.

It just happens to have the best sound for the album we’ve ever heard, and we’ve heard most of the expensive audiophile pressings, the ones that reviewers and posters will tell you will handily beat any and all comers, especially our humble import, and of course they never do.

If these audiophile pressings actually were better, why would anyone keep our Hot Stamper LP for ten times the money?

No, those who say these things about audiophile pressings are usually operating as a One Man Band, using a very small pool of data. It is very hard to do it that way.

I should know. I was a one man band for many years, and I was wrong a lot.

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