1965-all

Prokofiev / Piano Concerto No. 3 / Graffman

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Prokofiev Available Now

UPDATE 2026

Not sure if we would still agree with anything we said in the 2008 review you see below.

Back then we only had the one copy to play, and we certainly hadn’t learned how to clean it the way we do now, so who can say what any random copy of the record would sound like?

If you see it for cheap in the bins, pick it up, give it a spin and see.

This Plum Label Original pressing is one of the TOP Victrola titles! The sound is excellent, with real weight to the orchestra, powerful dynamics, deep bass, and solid piano tone.

Add to that a wonderful performance by Gary Graffman and the San Francisco Symphony, and you have one truly OUTSTANDING record. (If you can add 1 or 2 db to the top end, it’s even better.) 

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A Good, But Not Really All that Great Pressing of Daphnis et Chloé with Martinon

Hot Stamper Pressings of Living Stereo Titles Available Now

LSC 2806 is not a bad sounding pressing — with grades of 1.5+ on both sides, it belongs in our section for good, not great sounding LPs — but there are other recordings which are substantially better in every way.

Our current favorite is the Decca recording with Monteux from 1959.

We’ve auditioned countless pressings in the 37 38 years we’ve been in business — buying, cleaning and playing them by the thousands.

This is how we find the best sounding vinyl pressings ever made, through trial and error. It may be expensive and time consuming, but there is simply no other method for finding better records that works. If you know of one, please write me!

We are not the least bit interested in pressings that are “known” to sound the best.

Known by whom? Which audiophiles — hobbyists or professionals, take your pick — can be trusted to know what they are talking about when it comes to the sound of records.

I have never met one, outside of those of us who work for Better Records. I remain skeptical of the existence of such a creature.

We’re looking for the pressings of albums that do sound the best.

You know, when you actually play them.

If you’re an audiophile with an ear for top quality sound on vintage vinyl, we’d be happy to send you the Hot Stamper pressing guaranteed to beat anything and everything you’ve ever heard, especially if you have any pressing marketed to you as an audiophile. Those, with few exceptions, are rarely better than mediocre, and a great many are just awful.

And if we can’t beat whatever LP you own or have heard, you get your money back.  It’s as simple as that.

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