Hot Stamper Pressings of Abbey Road Available Now
Below you will find some of the letters customers have sent us after playing one of our Hot Stamper pressings of Abbey Road.
Click here to see more of album overviews.
Letter of the Week – “I am basically left without words, amazingly jaw dropping.”
Letter of the Week – “No one doubted your records after this listening session.”
More of the Music of The Beatles
Letters, Reviews and Commentaries for Abbey Road
Hello Gentlemen,
Today I listened to the copy of Abbey Road I bought from you last week. I am basically left without words, amazingly jaw dropping. Thank you so much.
Bennett
Bennett,
We love it when our customers’ jaws drop — it’s exactly the reaction we hope for when we discover killer copies in a shootout. They blow our minds and we’re glad they blew yours too.
More of the Music of The Beatles
There is a relatively simple test you can use to find out if you have a good Mobile Fidelity pressing of Abbey Road. Yes, as shocking as it may seem, they actually do exist, we’ve played them, but they are few and far between (and never as good as the best Brits).
The test involves doing a little shootout of the song Golden Slumbers between whatever MoFi pressing you have and whatever British Parlophone pressing you have. If you don’t have both LPs, this shootout will be difficult to do.
The idea is to compare aspects of the sound of both pressings head to head, which should shed light on which one of them is more natural and which is more hi-fi-ish sounding.
The Golden Slumbers Test
I’ve come to realize that this is a Key Track for side two, because what it shows you is whether the midrange of your pressing — or your system — is correct.
At the beginning Paul’s voice is naked, front and center, before the strings come in.
Most Mobile Fidelity pressings, as good as they may be in other areas, are not tonally correct in the middle of the midrange.
The middle of the voice is a little sucked out and the top of the voice is a little boosted.
It’s really hard to notice this fact unless one plays a good British pressing side by side with the MoFi.
Then the typical MoFi EQ anomaly become obvious. It may add some texture to the strings, but the song is not about the strings.
Having heard a number of audiophile systems (especially recently) that have trouble getting this part of the spectrum right, it would not be surprising that many of you do not find the typical MoFi objectionable, and may even prefer it to the good British copies. The point I’m belaboring here is that when it’s right, it’s RIGHT and everything else becomes more obviously wrong, even if only slightly wrong.
The Heart of the Midrange
For a while in my record reviewing system many years ago I had a relatively cheap Grado moving magnet cartridge. The midrange of that cartridge is still some of the best midrange reproduction I have ever heard. It was completely free of any “audiophile” sound. It was real in a way that took me by surprise. I played Abbey Road with that cartridge in the system and heard The Beatles sound EXACTLY the way I wanted them to sound.
Hot Stamper Pressings of The Beatles’ Music Available Now
One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently:
Hi Tom,
Just wanted to provide a little deeply appreciative feedback. A few months back, I ordered 2 White Hot Stampers of Abbey Road and MMT [MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR]. (the German press of MMT is amazing btw).
Abbey Road had a distracting level of surface noise, and it is the first time I have returned a record but I did send that one back. The other day, you had a Hot Stamper ++ copy of Abbey Road, and it was very reasonably priced at $170. It was delivered yesterday, and my goodness, it is truly wonderful. Demo Disc level fantastic. For my ear, it sounds better than the $750 copy I returned. A fine addition to my Beatles collection…Thank YOU!
Also in this order I purchased a Hot Stamper ++ copy of Tom Waits, Blue Valentine. It too is amazing, warm and deeply moving.
Have a great weekend Tom, and thank you to you and your team.
Best,
Rick
Rick,
Thanks so much for your letter!
Best, TP
Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of The Beatles Available Now
One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently:
Hey Tom,
Yesterday, I attended an audio event in Verona, NJ, where I had purchased my stereo.
I spent my time in the “analog” room. This room had the flagship equipment (Vandersteen 7 speakers, Aesthetix Jupiter series amps, pre-amps, phono stage, Clearaudio’s Goldfinger Statement cartridge, etc).
I listened for a while, hearing all the issues with almost every record they played. I then asked the store’s “turntable guru” to play some of the records I brought with me.
They thumbed through my boxes and asked me what the difference was between my two copies of Abbey Road. When I explained the superior side X on either copy, the audience found this concept amusing, based on their laughter. Any doubters would soon become believers.
They played Abbey Road‘s side 2 (3+ side, of course). While “Here Comes The Sun” was playing, Garth had his eyes closed. At the track’s conclusion, he exclaimed “Outstanding!,” and the record played on.
Next, we listened to ELP’s “Lucky Man.” Garth said it was the best he had ever heard.
I do not really know Garth, but I suspect he does not easily offer up such compliments in a room full of people. Others in the room, including the store’s turntable guru, were all very impressed. Several folks approached me, all pointing out parts of the music that blew them away.
There were comments about some folks hearing that Better Records was a scam, and others saying that you are the real deal. The discussion ended with “Hearing is believing.”
No one doubted your records after this listening session.
I scored points with these important folks, thanks to your records. I provided the source material to allow their equipment to shine.
Any doubt these folks had about your company was put to rest. All that listened were very impressed, and I thought you’d want to know.
Craig
Craig,
Thanks for your letter.
I have to confess I am of two minds concerning this demonstration of the obviously superior sound of our best Hot Stamper pressings.
Allow me to make one cynical prediction.
None of those in the audience owns or ever will own one of our records.
They like good sound all right, they certainly will tell you as much, but they just can’t wrap their heads around spending the money it takes to get hold of the kinds of records you played them.
But they absolutely love that $17,500 cartridge and are dying to own one.