audiophile-joy

“I started leaving notes and assessments which I frequently check later and often correct, since I keep learning more and more what to listen for.”

Our Guide to Record Collecting for Audiophiles

One of our customers wanted to give us his reactions to the first year’s worth of Hot Stamper pressings he had purchased, starting in 2022 and hitting 31 by 2023. (He has since put in more than 200 additional orders. Turns out he really likes our records.)

What you see below is just a small excerpt from the longer letter he sent. Apologies for not having posted it sooner. (Emphasis added.)

Dear Tom

I learned already a lot from your website by constantly following your new entries and digging into older ones.

I listen to my records at a far louder level than I used to and can appreciate the advantages of bringing the music really to life (while hopefully not hurting my not very young ears :-).

More importantly, I listen to my large collection more than I ever did.

I started leaving notes and assessments which I check frequently later and often correct, since I keep learning more and more what to listen for. I never did this before and it is great fun. And I keep scribbling a list of records which I may be interested in to buy from you.

There are also lots of reissues I bought and never really compared to originals, taking for granted the kudos they receive frequently in the press. Some are good, some are respectable, some are really bad, and none was as good or even better than a good original or one of your SH stampers at hand for comparison.

The One step Mofi Michael Jackson is almost a bad joke compared to your Super Hot stamper. So I stopped buying reissues and started putting aside still sealed reissues which should sell well anytime in the future.

To sum it up: I never had more fun listening to my collection and to your records thanks to you guys. Keep up the good work.

Christian

Christian,

Thanks for your letter. We love to hear from customers who actually take the time to read what we say about records and, even better, follow our advice (wherever possible) regarding their playback.

When you listen critically to records, taking the time to compare pressings and actually making notes about what you are hearing, you will certainly end end up understanding and enjoying the music you play on a much deeper and more emotionally powerful level. As you put it so well:

“I never did this before and it is great fun.”

Which means you get what we have been saying for more than twenty years:

When you do the work needed to get good sound, and the work it takes to find better records, the effort you make is work, but much more importantly, it is fun.

If it wasn’t fun, who would do it?

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“I felt wonderfully uplifted and clear-headed, and all the noise in my head had vanished. It lasted for hours. All that remained was a smile.”

New to the Blog? Start Here

One of our good customers recently wrote us an especially touching letter about two debut albums we share a love for: Led Zeppelin’s and Jeff Beck’s. After listening to them at length, he felt the need to put into words the deep and powerful feelings our records had given him. (Emphasis added.)

Dear Tom, Kenji, and the Better Records Team,

I am writing to share my absolute astonishment after listening to the Hot Stampers I recently acquired. To give you some context, I set up a rigorous shootout against my own collection.

For Led Zeppelin, I prepared seven of my finest vintage vinyl copies:

    • One UK “Turquoise” First Pressing
    • Six US copies (cut by RG or GP; pressed by Presswell or Monarch with △12703 / △18257 matrix codes, spanning the Broadway to Rockefeller eras)

For Jeff Beck, All from my brain memory not real records:

    • Two “Japanese” First Pressing and reissue
    • Two UK “Blue Columbia” MONO & STEREO Pressing and one EMI reissue

If the seven Zeppelin records that rivaled the HOT STAMPER were like 8mm film, then the HOT STAMPER was 70mm Cinemascope!

A vast, rich space—stretching from wall to wall, floor to ceiling—appeared right before my eyes, and the sound that burst forth passed right through me.

I was so astonished by the sheer difference in scale that I couldn’t believe it.

I kept turning up the volume, bathing in the sound like a shower.

When I played the UK Turquoise and GP/MONARCH records again at the same volume, the sound was so blindingly bright and overwhelmingly loud that I had to lift the needle after just a few seconds.

As for Beck, ever since I was a teenager, no matter how many times I listened to *TRUTH*, I could never be satisfied with its sound, so I ended up selling it. I’d concluded that while *TRUTH* is a matter of personal musical taste, it wasn’t a record that sounded good. However, after seeing *SKEPTICAL AUDIOPHILE* recommend this record, I decided to give it one last challenge.

When I turned up the volume, it was as if the band was right there in front of me, in the fifth row. I was sharing that space with them, and the sound came straight at me without any barriers.

It was as if I were actually there at the concert.

This was my first time having an experience like this with my home audio system.

This is what a “WHITE HOT STAMPER” is! What a blissful time I had! Warm, Rich, Dynamic, & Transparent!

P.S.

1. After finishing both records, I felt wonderfully uplifted and clear-headed, and all the noise in my head had vanished. It lasted for hours. All that remained was a smile; my wife even remarked, “You look so happy.”

I can say with certainty that this was due to the chemical effects of the HOT STAMPER. I believe it resulted from a decrease in stress hormones like cortisol and an increase in the secretion of “happiness hormones” such as dopamine and serotonin.

Furthermore, after I finished listening and was tidying up the room where the records were scattered—something I’ve experienced several times before—my digestive system became more active. I attribute this to the relaxation effect of the HOT STAMPER. It’s likely due to the “brain-gut axis,” where my favorite music and the superb sound quality triggered parasympathetic dominance, stimulating intestinal peristalsis.

2. Considering the time, energy, and money spent tracking down this rare Zeppelin record, this is no ordinary man’s job. There is a Bible verse that says, “Ask, and it will be given to you.”

I offer my deepest respect and admiration, as well as my boundless gratitude and love, to the treasure hunters led by Tom, who have successfully completed this mission—a mission truly bestowed upon them by God.

Sincerely yours,
Nobu

Dear Nobu,

Thanks for describing so elegantly what it feels like to finally hear music you have treasured for decades sounding the way you always dreamed it could. I know well the feelings of bliss, exhilaration and joy that coursed through you. I’ve experienced them countless times myself since I first got into home audio fifty years ago.

There is a joy that cannot be expressed when music sounds so good there are no words to describe it. This is what audiophiles such as you and me live for.

Few have had the pleasure of experiencing it outside of a live musical event. We were able to do it with records, but they were very special records, the kinds of records few audiophiles know exist, or have any reason to believe exist. Fewer still have ever experienced such records. Indeed, we must count ourselves fortunate to have had the privilege.

You describe us as treasure hunters, which is a very good way of looking at who we are and what we do. We have been hunting for treasure for more than 30 years. Our dedication increased dramatically over the last twenty or so. By then we had finally given up on the false promise of the modern remastered record. (Fittingly, it was a exceptional straw that broke the camel’s back.)

You played our Hot Stamper pressings (Super Hot for Zep 1, White Hot for Truth) against all the copies that the conventional wisdom told you were sure to have the best sound. Now you know something not widely understood by the audiophile community, which is simply that when it comes to records, the conventional wisdom is not very good at predicting which pressings will turn out to have better sound.

This blog has well over a thousand commentaries detailing chapter and verse (to make use of a phrase associated with the bible) how this is simply a fact that cannot be denied by anyone who has carefully studied the matter.

You proved it for yourself. You did your own shootout. Who can gainsay the insights you acquired? Certainly not those who have never played one of our records. What evidence do they have to support their views?

Do they have a theory to base their objections on?

Is it more than a conjecture? A feeling? Some intuition? A form of knowledge beyond our understanding?

As you now know better than anyone, whatever they think they have to disprove the possibility of the Hot Stamper pressing, it is surely a crock.

I very much enjoyed hearing about the happiness you felt when playing such exceptional pressings of these wonderful albums. The joy of music is in many ways the greatest joy there is. It is the one thing that has driven me to pursue our hobby more than any other — in fact, to dedicate much of my life to it — and I have never seen reason to regret a moment of it.

Thank you for writing and brightening our day here at Better Records!

Best, TP

Letter of the Week – “The consistent results you’ve given me has turned this into a certifiable hobby that I can really enjoy.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of Rubber Soul Available Now

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

 Hi Tom,

I just bought a copy of Rubber Soul from you which sounds amazing. That will cover all the most important Beatles records I have to have on hand. (Beatles for Sale, Help, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Yellow Submarine) that I can afford right now anyway.

Coming across your blog and business has been such a game changer. If I hadn’t run into you, I would just not understand why some records sound amazing, and others don’t and why it matters to clean them (even if brand new), and how to clean them really well.

(Even if I had understood the importance of cleaning them, you’re the only one who cracked the system to get them cleaner than anyone else by a mile. You really figured it out then shared how to clean them. I have my VPI device just waiting on the labels and packaging so I can clean the records most important to me. )

The consistent results you’ve given me has turned this into a certifiable hobby that I can really enjoy. No more mystery as to how this all works, why some records sound amazing and why some records are mediocre despite being an original pressing that cost a lot and appear clean, yet sound mediocre. I appreciate you sharing your 20 years of research and knowledge. This whole thing wouldn’t work without you generously sharing your hard won knowledge.

Andrew,

Thanks for your letter.

Yes, it does indeed all make sense if you don’t listen to a word the self-styled experts of the record world say.

If you play enough records for long enough, eventually you learn something, and we did!

Good to hear that your musical enjoyment has benefited. That is what it is all about.

Best, TP

P.S.

Music can be a source of great joy in your life.

Music that doesn’t sound “right” — however you choose to define that term and whatever the cause of that judgment may be — is frustrating and joyless.

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Letter of the Week – “No amount of anything can replace the joy in my being upon listening to these sounds.”

More of the Music of The Beatles

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

Hi Tom,
I just had to shoot you this quickie email. I just put on side 2 of my recently purchased WHS of the White Album.

When “I’m So Tired” came on, I found myself standing there in disbelief, mouth wide open, going are you fucking kidding me?!!

Such a simple song sounded like I have never heard it before. Unbelievable… I had not idea it could sound that good.

Simply and absolutely amazing. I am so stoked to be listening to these amazing sounds.

Thanks Again,
Michel

P.S. No amount of anything can replace the joy in my being upon listening to these sounds. I feel so lucky to be experiencing this. Never will I take any of this for granted, as it is really special. You and your team deserve a medal or something!

Michel,

Glad you liked our White Album as much as you did! We feel lucky to be able to play amazing recordings like The White Album and get paid to do it.

We never knew any copy could sound as good as the one you bought either, not until we started doing shootouts for the album around 2005, and it took us until about 2015 before we stumbled upon the right combination of stampers for all four sides. As I wrote to another letter writer:

It’s amazing how good it sounds once you know which pressings are the good ones and which to avoid.

Hint: it’s the originals that are to be avoided, but don’t tell that to the average record collecting audiophile. They will think you have lost your mind.

Thanks for your letter. By the way, no medals needed. We’re just doing our job. Once you catch on to how records work, then finding the best sounding pressings ever made is just a matter of applying the needed resources. It took a staff of half a dozen about ten years to unlock the secrets of The White Album, so if you are trying to do this on your own, you will need something like 10 times 6 man-years, or a total of 60 years if my record collector math is right.

The relatively high price you paid, $1100, covers the costs of running a business with more than ten people dedicated to buying, cleaning, and critically auditioning the greatest recordings of all time, as well as the ten years of research we had to do before we could dare to price “common rock records” for more than a thousand dollars.

The result is the record you now own and can enjoy for the rest of your life.

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