another-listen

Sometimes it takes another listen to appreciate just how special the sound of our Hot Stamper pressings can be, something we hear from customers from time to time. Here are a few of their stories.

Letter of the Week – “The differences between all the copies was even far more obvious the second time I did the shootout.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Dire Straits Available Now

One of our good customers had this to say about a Hot Stamper pressing of Dire Straits’ first album he purchased a while ago. (Emphasis added.)

Hey Tom, 

I’ve got to admit that I was skeptical when I purchased your Hot Stamper Dire Straits album. I told my brother I just paid $400 CAD (shipping and duties included) for a used record. Of course he thought I was nuts! I have an original Mercury [?] copy that I bought in 1978 plus an audiophile copy mastered by Bernie Grundman from the original analogue tapes and plated and pressed at Pallas, Germany. [Back to Black reissue from 2013.]

I finally got the chance to do the shootout between all copies. The original totally sounded like shit. It was bright sounding, noisy and lacked bottom end and dynamics. The Grundman mastered copy was much quieter, it was much smoother and more dynamic but it didn’t sound great.

When I put on the Hot Stamper, within a few notes I knew it was far superior. It was far more dynamic as if I turned up the volume. It was also quiet and far more transparent but had that great bottom end.

My brother came to visit me a few days ago and I did the shootout between all the copies again.

The differences between all the copies was even far more obvious the second time I did the shootout. I can tell you that my brother doesn’t think I’m nuts any more. I hope I can purchase more albums from you in the future.

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Letter of the Week – “The Nutcracker set I’d previously asked to return is sounding incredible.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Tchaikovsky Available Now

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

Tom, I’ll have a couple of returns for you from recent orders:

Tchaikovsky / The Nutcracker (Complete Ballet)

Surprised to be returning this, but it just doesn’t do much on my system. Sounds like any old good discogs copy, not WHS for me. Cost wouldn’t have been a factor here for a copy that ’sang’ more.

He then bought some new, bigger speakers, because if you are going to play a work like The Nutcracker, you need big speakers if you want it to sound anything like what you would hear in a concert hall.

The good news is with my new speakers + amp setup, the Nutcracker set I’d previously asked to return is sounding incredible. Previously it sounded little different to your average discogs copy, but I can hear now how much body I was missing with the smaller Harbeths. The drums are slammin’, the sweet treble notes are dropping like luminous honey, the field is deep and rich. My only beef is that this performance is a bit ‘fast’, in terms of tempo, but this is by design. So, will hang on to this (which leaves $500 in your pocket).

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What Willie and Nat Can Teach Us about Heavy Vinyl

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Willie Nelson Available Now

This letter came to us many years ago. Updates have been added as of 2024.

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

Hello team,

I’ve been a little distracted here, I got married over the weekend! So, haven’t done as much listening over the past couple of weeks. However, I did have a chance to listen to Stardust and Love Is The Thing. They were both different than their Classic Records and Analogue Productions counterparts. Willie sounded a little smoother, more organic, and more integrated.

The strings on Love Is The Thing were very different, more pronounced and emotional, but Nat’s voice, and the sound overall, sounded a little strident, maybe “too” hot.

I’d like to send them both back to you, and if you have a chance to send back the discs I sent to you I’d very much appreciate it. All told, the two big sets of Better Records are really incredible, and only serve to make my want list grow. Here’s to you and the next set!

Doug,

We now have the update for those two titles.

I, along with the two other guys in our listening panels, sat down to play the Heavy Vinyl you sent us, and the long and short of it is that we were astonished that records that sound as bad as those two actually were approved for release.

Nat is wrong six ways from Sunday, and Willie is not so much wrong as just not very good.

Nat: “F,” one of the worst heavy vinyl disasters of all time, and Willie: “D” sound, more like a CD than a record. There are many pressings of this album that are not good, but this version is probably worse than most of them, hence the D grade.

The old Classic pressing is probably better, and it would earn about a C grade. [I honestly do not remember exactly what pressing Douglas sent us. All I remember is that it was on Heavy Vinyl.]

I suspect the CDs of both these pressings are much better sounding than this vinyl.

The DCC gold is definitely better by a long shot, and the plain old Willie CD is probably a step up as well. 

A Further Update

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Letter of the Week – “I took another listen to the Willie Dixon, false alarm, this is an absolute stunning sounding copy…”

Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Willie Dixon

Hot Stamper Pressings of Classic Blues Albums

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

Yesterday…

  Hey Tom, 

I finally played the Willie Dixon/Hidden Charms last night, I hear absolutely no difference whatsoever in sound compared to my copy, I’m sending this record back for a full refund.

Today…

“I took another listen to the Willie Dixon, false alarm, this is an absolute stunning sounding copy, definitely more analog sounding than my two copies.”

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Glad you took another listen!

Here are some examples of customers who took another listen and became more aware of the superior sound of their Hot Stamper pressings the second time around.

TP

FURTHER READING

New to the Blog? Start Here

Basic Concepts and Realities Explained

Letter of the Week – “After returning to the 45 RPM there was no enjoyment, so I dropped the needle on the stamper one more time, and then I heard it…”

More of the Music of Kenny Burrell

Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Kenny Burrell

A good customer had this to say about a recent shootout:

By the way, side 2 of Midnight Blue bested every other copy I played including the 45 RPM Blue Note AP reissue. The 45 RPM is very good. You know that technically it is right, but at the same time it’s missing something.

When I listened to the [Hot] stamper copy you dug up for me I found it a little noisy at first and wasn’t sure if I could live with it. However after returning to the 45 RPM there was no enjoyment, so I dropped the needle on the stamper one more time, and then I heard it…

I know what you mean about these modern reissues “missing something.” No matter how well mastered they may be, they’re almost always missing whatever it is that makes the analog record such a special listening experience. I hear that “analog” sound practically nowhere else outside of the live event (and, of course, the vintage LP). 

Thanks for your letter. 
TP

Our Classic Records Review

Pretty flat and lifeless. You would never understand why audiophiles rave about this recording by listening to the Classic Records pressing.

We played it up against our best, and as expected it was nothing to write home about. Since Rudy has remastered and ruined practically all the Blue Note CDs by now, you will have your work cut out for you if you want to find a good sounding version of Midnight Blue. This sure ain’t one.

Of course we would be more than happy to get you an amazing sounding copy — it’s what we do — but the price will be five to ten times (or more) what the Classic costs. In our opinion it’s money well spent.

Since the Classic conveys very little of what the musicians were up to whilst recording the album, our advice is to cross it off your list of records of interest. It’s thirty bucks down the drain.

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Letter of the Week – One Customer’s Story of Listening in Depth and Seeing the Light

More of the Music of Fleetwood Mac

Reviews and Commentaries for Fleetwood Mac

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

Hey Tom, 

Sorry to say I will be returning this White Hot Stamper. Did a lot of research before ordering, understand and fully appreciate what you’re doing, seriously sad to not be keeping it. Pretty obviously you are crazy dedicated to this so wanted to fully explain why. Especially since there’s still good odds I would like to try again.

First let me say it was quite the experience unpacking and seeing a cover still in its original shrink wrap. Probably quite a few would consider that alone worth the price. I never even slipped it out of the excellent plastic sleeve you shipped it in, that’s how much instant respect I have for the unbelievably unlikely existence of this thing. It truly is amazing. I bought it for the music not the cover, but still….

The reason I will be returning this is Side 1. Monday Morning was a disappointment, but I really think we are kind of at the mercy of the master here. Warm Ways is a whole lot better, and yes quite a bit better than my copy, with a fair bit more inner detail and palpable presence but overall not much more than I have got from some good 45 or heavy vinyl pressings.

Just so you know, yes I do follow all your suggestions. Warm up, demagnetize, anti-static, all of that and more. Have a demagnetizer much more effective than the Talisman. Been doing all this stuff over 20 years now. Because I hear and appreciate. Cables elevated off the floor. Every wire from the breaker to the speaker been cryo’d. Yes I pulled the wire out of the house, drove it down to Cryo One, had them do it all.

Part of the problem. I hear how much better Side 1 is, it goes into that frame of reference. For over $300 it needs to be at least as great an improvement over my copy as I can get from warm-up, demagnetize, etc. Its not. Well your rating did say Side 2 was a bit better. Frankly, I think you could stand to correct that. Side 2 is a whole lot better. Right from the first track its just way more lively, present, dynamic, punchy, you name it. Not sure why you say Say You Love Me is “rich and sweet and tubey” probably that is one of the stock phrases you use throughout the site because this track offers, relative to the others on this side, less of this.

Which brings me to Landslide, and World Turning. These two tracks totally deserve all the most glowing Better Records accolades! Simply superb sonics. Better even in some ways than my MoFi 45 of Brothers in Arms. Now this is what I was hoping for! The spellbinding sound of these two tracks is almost enough to make me forget Side 1.

Almost. And its not like the rest of Side 2 is bad. Honestly, when it gets to this level (of pressing quality) you can hear so deeply what’s going on it becomes inescapable we are at a level where we are at the mercy of the mastering engineer. Or if not him then someone even further along up the recording chain. You know what I mean. I know you know what I mean. Because, in reading one of your glowing reviews was the comment, basically, “but get real, its Springsteen.” Because for whatever reason he could never be bothered to turn out a good recording.

So I know. You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. It might very well be no copy of Fleetwood Mac ever pressed gonna have a Side 1 that sounds as good all the way across as this Side 2. But I figure if anyone would know that it would be you.

And that’s kind of where I am. The copy I have right now is worth to me only a fraction of the price. If the whole thing sounded like Side 2 though, then I would be a happy camper. The price would still be dear, but worth it. Find me a copy like that, same price, don’t bother posting it, its sold. Or credit this one down a whole lot. I’d prefer the first option. If it even exists.

Sorry for the email. Guy like you I would love to get on the phone. Which with my schedule, no chance until Wed or Thurs, and I didn’t want to wait. But I still would like to talk. You know the records and now you know a little about me. Maybe you can help me find the few select copies I just can’t live without. I got the feeling if anyone can, its you.

Best regards,

Chuck M.

Chuck,

A few quick thoughts:

Since every stereo plays every record differently, it’s hard to know why our copy did not sound as good to you as it did to us. When it comes back I will personally play it against our 3+ ref copy and see how it holds up.

2.5+ means it came in second in the shootout. Maybe it didn’t deserve that grade, I will find out!

The other issue is a much more subtle one. We play all the side ones against all the other side ones, so comparing side one to side two is something we would never do. It’s apples and oranges in a way, many side ones of albums simply do not sound as good as their side twos, and vice versa, and we note that in some of our listings.

We could honestly say that about a great many records if we took the time to do it.

On F Mac’s self-titled album I am not aware that that is the case, but it could be.

We play tracks one and four on side one to test with. They are the hardest tracks to get right in our experience.

Monday Morning has huge amounts of bass and a slightly gritty vocal, so it’s very difficult to get that song to sound right and easy to spot when it does sound right.

Warm Ways is a piece of cake and sounds at the very least “good” most of the time, so it’s not much of a test for us, although richness, intimacy, space and transparency are obviously better on this track on the better copies.

Anyway, I will check it out when it comes back and hopefully get back to you before too long.

Thanks for taking the time to write.

Best, TP

Tom,

Had Fleetwood Mac all packed to send back, couldn’t quite do it. Last night I pulled it out for a second listen. This time, instead of going head to head with my other copy I had a more normal listening session of playing increasingly good SQ records. I have a pretty good memory for these things which is probably what was bugging me and keeping me from sending it back. Sure enough, listening again one can clearly hear much deeper into the recording than probably anything else I have. (more…)

Letter of the Week – “I took another listen to SRV, this time at VOLUME. Oh boy…”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Stevie Ray Vaughan Available Now

A customer wrote us about his experience with Stevie Ray a while back:

There seems to be a threshold level for this record at which it sounds congested below, but which it comes alive above (and how).

I also noticed that my previous observations about the ratings of sides A and B were reversed at this volume level; there is more bass on side A, which was resulting in it sounding more congested at lower levels, but which is delicious when played loud; side B sounds a bit thin at louder volumes comparatively.

I guess this is more in line with what you heard when reviewing.

C

Conrad,

You hit the nail on the head with your newfound appreciation of the sound of the two sides at louder levels.

We don’t know what our records sound like at moderate levels.

This is true for the electric blues albums of Stevie Ray Vaughan, but just as true for rock, jazz and even classical.

We don’t play them at moderate levels, and we don’t want to hear them at moderate levels.

There are at least two very good reasons for our position:

The first one is the most obvious — we don’t think music played at unrealistically low levels is very enjoyable.

And two, lower levels interefere with our ability to properly judge the sound of the pressings we play in our shootouts.

Playing records quietly too often obscures their faults.

It also reduces their energy, as well as whatever dynamic contrasts they might have, their ability to play clean in the loudest climaxes or choruses, and on and on down the list.

Further Reading

Letter of the Week – “It sounds f*cking atrocious.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of Miles’s Albums Available Now

One of our good customers recently moved his stereo into a new house.

Hey Tom, 

Interestingly, the electricity and spatial characteristics are so much better in the new place that I’ve had a complete sea change regarding the MoFi Kind of Blue. If you recall, I previously found this oddly EQ’d and unrealistic, but also wasn’t as hell bent against it as you are (though I certainly have been against other crappy heavy vinyl from MoFi, Analog Productions, Blue Note, etc.).

Well, now I can’t stand it. It sounds fucking atrocious. The difference between it and my humble hot stamper copy is night and day. Whole collection sounds better, and is awesome to rediscover again, but this one really stood out. Onwards and upwards!

Conrad,

That is indeed good news. That record is Pass/Fail for me. If anyone cannot tell how bad it is, it’s a sure sign that something is very wrong somewhere. Glad you are hearing it as I am hearing it. It is, as you say, atrocious.

TP

Conrad followed up with these remarks:

The MoFi KoB never sounded right or real, but now it sounds downright puke. Will hang onto it and use as a test record for fun on other systems. As bad as it is, as I’ve said before, you have no idea how much worse their Junior Wells Hoodoo Man Blues is. My god; you’d suspect your system is broken, playing that.

Bloated asphyxiated subaquatic delirium.

Cheers, C

Well said!

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