A skeptical take on an old claim, using the Gold Standard of Double Blind Testing.
In the record shootouts we do during the week, we evaluate records using something very much like the double blind testing mentioned above.
It’s what makes us unique in the world of record dealers and collectors. We allow the records to speak for themselves.
With the evaluation process we use, there can be no influence or bias from the reviewer’s preconceived notion of what pressing should sound best, because the person sitting in the listening chair does not have any way of knowing which pressing is actually playing.
This is not quite true for audiophile pressings, since the VTA must be adjusted for their thicker vinyl. The way such evaluations are done is simple enough however. We play a top quality Hot Stamper pressing, typically one that received a grade of White Hot (A+++), check the notes for what the test tracks are and what to listen for, and then proceed to test the Heavy Vinyl pressing on those same tracks, listening for those same qualities.
It rarely takes more than a few minutes to recognize the faults of the average audiophile pressing.
When played head to head against an exceptional vintage LP, the audiophile pressing’s shortcomings become all too obvious. Again and again, the audiophile pretender is found to be at best a second- or third-rate imitation of the real thing, if not downright awful.