michel-l

Letter of the Week – “Here I was with all these copies at home… went through them all, and yes, yours came out on top.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Jethro Tull Available Now

This week’s testimonial letter comes from our good customer Michel, who was blown away by the Hot Stamper pressing of Aqualung we sent him.

Michel did a shootout of his own, comparing our Hot Stamper with everything he could throw at it. The result? Predictable, from where we stand anyway. If we can’t beat our copy, how can he expect to beat our copy?

Note that a well-known audiophile reviewer did his own shootout for the album years ago, in which he failed utterly and rather embarrassingly to come up with anything resembling a good answer. We are glad to report that our new customer, Michel, succeeded admirably.

To be fair, Michel had a lot of help.

He had a group of experts with many hard-won years of experience on his side.

Audiophile reviewers, without exception, at least to our knowledge, simply have neither the time nor the resources to figure out a title like Aqualung. When you’re a a one-man band, Aqualung is a puzzle you are not likely to solve.

We ourselves didn’t solve it until 2008, by which time I had been in the audiophile record business for more than twenty years. Without a staff to find, clean and help play the large numbers of copies needed to unlock  Aqualung’s secrets, not to mention a stereo that’s designed to be exceptionally hard to please, we would be just as lost as everyone else in the audiophile world, reviewers and forum posters alike.

Michel’s letter:

Thank You, Fred

I’ve got a LOT of listening to do ahead of me. Looking forward to it very much.

Reading on your website… omg… there is so much to read there… has been a real treat. I don’t read the intense notes on the LPs I buy until after I have listened to them, so as to be as objective as possible. It is really interesting to discover that LPs with the same stamper do not always sound the same. This is something I never really understood prior to discovering your company.

My sell pile of other copies, both reg. and fancy ‘audiophile,’ is growing. I don’t care what all the “experts” and youtubers say… if I can feel the music and it connects with me making me want to move my body around, then that is the best pressing.

Some of these titles are epic, like Aqualung for example. So here I was with all these copies at home… went through them all, and yes, yours came out on top.

I tried so hard to make it not so, but the proof is in the pudding as they say.

I am not a ‘high class audiophile’ with a mondo expensive system whose power amps costs more then everything I’ve got, but I’ve got a good set of ears, and I play it loud (no distortion) to expose everything… and I let me ears and my feelings do the selecting. All that gibberish people spout out is endless. I do not feel the need to justify how much I spent on this or that….just listen.

I have very much been enjoying my journey with Better Records, and yes I have spent of bunch of dollars, and yes if I tried to resell them I’d never get it back, but none of that matters…. only the sound is what matters to me…. and apparently to your company as well. Discovering BR has been a real blast!

Take Good Care,
Michel

Michel,

What can I add to anything you say? You totally get it.

You know exactly what your money is buying: the feeling you get from this music. You are not buying a collectible, nor an investment, nor anything but the rapture of a purely musical experience, one that you can repeat as often as you like for the rest of your life. What you have now is the beginning of a priceless collection.

Some might argue that the cost of the records you bought is excessive. I often read on forums that paying fifty or a hundred dollars for one record is a ridiculous waste of money. Some audiophiles think that having thirty Heavy Vinyl Jazz pressings that sound “just fine” is a much better use of your money than spending a thousand dollars on one exceptionally good vintage pressing.

We do not hold to that view, for the simple reason that when we play these modern records we feel next to nothing for the music or the musicians. (We feel contempt for those who make such shoddy products; I guess that that might be the strongest feeling aroused by most of the junk vinyl being pressed today.)

Oscar Wilde had a good take on it:

A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.

I think that speaks volumes for what some of us, like yourself, are trying to get out of this hobby. Thanks for writing,

TP

(more…)

Letter of the Week – “I feel like I’m right there … in the middle of analog heaven.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Miles Davis Available Now

One of our good customers had this to say about a Hot Stamper pressing of Kind of Blue he purchased recently:

Hi Tom,

It’s funny how, when the music sounds so good, a little surface noise here or there doesn’t bother me.

The sound of this SHS [Super Hot Stamper] is crazy good and very very engaging.

What an astonishing difference in what one feels when listening to the BR copy versus the Classic or the 33RPM UHQR.

I guess now I’ve got more minty LPs to sell.

This SHS may only be a 2/2 but it kicks ass. It really does.

Turn it up all the way and it just shines…. I feel like I’m right there, on the mezzanine, in the middle of analog heaven.

I am so glad I took a chance on this one.

Many thanks,

Michel

Michel followed up the next day, apparently after he had spent more time listening to the album, with this missive:

I just can’t get enough of KOB.

I can’t believe it sounds so f***ing good.

It’s like a celebration here at the house… hearing this music this way is a completely different thing.

So really I’ve only just heard it.

I remember reading a letter you posted where a customer went to a friend’s house with his BR KOB and when they got to playing that one after some of his friend’s copies,the friend went “oh shit” within like a minute.

Well ditto here. Who would have known?

Michel,

Thanks for writing. The letter you are referring to is this one. It’s a short letter, the best part of which I’ve reproduced below.

I went to my dearest friend’s house yesterday, he was SO excited to play for me his deluxe UHQR version of Kind of Blue.

We listened for a while and then I brought out the Super Hot Stamper of KOB that I got from you and played it.

About 90 seconds in, he was like “uh oh.”  It was about 3 minutes into So What and his exact words were “oh…shit.”

We love it when our customers tell us that they can’t get enough of one of our records, that they can’t believe the difference in the feeling they got when they finally heard a record sound the way it’s supposed to.

An “astonishing difference” hits it right on the head.

Best, TP

P.S.

We never officially reviewed the Classic Records pressing of Kind of Blue, the one that came out in 1995 with the speed-corrected side two. We felt it was no better than decent, another Classic Records jazz mediocrity that could not begin to compete with a properly-mastered, properly-pressed Columbia, regardless of which of the first three labels it might have had. (More on Kind of Blue labels here.)

As a non-trumpet-playing audiophile, the corrected speed side sounded pretty much like the non-corrected speed side to these ears.

But neither side sounded very much like the good copies I had been enjoying starting sometime in the early 90s, which, I admit, was a case of me coming late to the game. But better late than never.

Kind of Blue is an album we admit to being obsessed with — just look at the number of commentaries we’ve written about it.

Some highlights include:

(more…)

Letter of the Week – “…this BR copy just lifted the veil.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Pink Floyd Available Now

One of our good customers had this to say about a Hot Stamper pressing of Meddle he purchased recently:

Hi Tom,

Just a quick note about Meddle WHS. I also had an A!/B! XXX which does sound pretty good and is quiet, but this BR copy just lifted the veil.

Once I dialed in the sweet spot it was a delightful experience.

This copy is the bomb!!

Many Thanks,
Michel

Michel,

Not all A!/B!’s are created equal!

Most copies of the album with the right stampers will earn a grade of Super Hot, A++.

Some will be White Hot, A+++.

Almost all the pressings we play will have the same stamper numbers, although you may have read that we did just find another stamper for side two that can win shootouts.

Some of the difference in sound is the result of our using The Prelude Record Cleaning System, in conjunction with the Odyssey record cleaning machine we purchased in 2007 (more on that here).

Clean records sound better than they otherwise would, and properly cleaned records often sound much better than they otherwise would, oftentimes a full grade better.

Glad you liked our copy. Lifting the veil is a good way to put it.  We have a list of records we found to be veiled, and you can find it here. We describe them this way:

(more…)

Letter of the Week – “So I know in my head what the AP 45 sounds like. It’s basically all I know…. except that I know I don’t ‘feel Jim’s rage’ on any of the AP 45 LPs.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of The Doors Available Now

One of our good customers had this to say about a Hot Stamper pressing he purchased recently:

Hi Tom,

What an incredible experience. I’ve never had anything close to an original of this one. Having heard some songs way too much on the radio didn’t help. I wound up with the AP 45, which compared to whatever I had, was better.

So I know in my head what the AP 45 sounds like. It’s basically all I know…. except that I know I don’t ‘feel Jim’s rage’ on any of the AP 45 LPs.

When I saw you guys had a copy, and it was a top notch one to boot, I was like, dude, you’ve gotta pull the trigger now without delay. What a terrific decision that was!

Raw, powerful, energetic, lively, warm, punchy, dynamic, begging for top volume, tonal qualities of Jim’s vocals absolutely perfect, effortless, you could turn it up to a thousand and it wouldn’t hurt your ears.

(more…)

Letter of the Week – “The goosebumps were flowing madly during the amazing Guinevere vocals.”

More of the Music of Crosby, Stills and Nash

Reviews and Commentaries for Crosby, Stills and Nash’s Debut

Our good customer Michel wrote to tell us how much he likes his latest Hot Stamper pressing.

Hi Tom,

As another reviewer said… it’s Alive!!

It is so surreal to hear such beautiful warm massive lush bass while simultaneously hearing the highs so well that each of the voices are able to be clearly picked out of the soundfield.

Never have I heard this one of my very very favorite LPs in such a manner. Classic Records, MFSL, Atlantic 45, ERC can all go to hell!

This pressing I just got from you of CSN’s ‘couch’ album has brought much joy to my house. The goosebumps were flowing madly during the amazing Guinevere vocals. I was truly taken aback. My stereo gave it its all and this time it delivered.

Words just don’t do enough to explain this experience. I am still in disbelief. I bought a copy of this album from you before, and it did not float my boat….but this one really hit the spot. This NWHS is a true rare gem and now one
of my most prized LPs. It’s got it ALL.

Many thanks,

Michel

Michel,

Thanks as usual for your enthusiastic letter. We aim to please and we are glad to see we were finally able to find you the sound you were looking for.

Best, TP

P.S.

You say you are “still in disbelief.” That is exactly the state of mind an especially good record can put you in. We offer the discriminating and well-healed audiophile especially good records that have the power to do that.

The Classic Records pressing Bernie Grundman cut in the early-2000s is a nice record, it does many things right, and it’s clearly superior to every original pressing we’ve ever auditioned. However, I strongly suspect that no one playing it found themselves in “disbelief” as to the quality of the sound they were hearing, although of course I have no way of knowing that.

What I do know is that the three most important words in audio are compared to what?

Shootouts are the only way to answer that question, and that is why we encourage everyone to do as many of them as you can. You will learn more from doing shootouts than you will from any other method or approach. We tell you what we think are the best ways to do them. We leave the rest to you.

(more…)

Letter of the Week – “I must say this is being quite an experience which I am enjoying very much.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Jethro Tull Available Now

Our customer Michel wrote to tell us how much he likes some of his Hot Stamper pressings after doing shootouts with others he owns, including a number of audiophile pressings.

Hi Tom,

I finally was able to spend the time to listen and compare my last three purchases. I must say this is being quite an experience which I am enjoying very much.

First up was Aqualung.

So here I did something backwards, as I listened to yours first, instead of the other way around. At first I thought it sounded thin and lacking. I discovered that this particular lp needed the gain controls to be turned up almost all the way in order to reveal itself. This was key. I did of course match volume when I compared the other pressings.

The more I put on the Classic 200gm or the DCC or the UK first press, or the MFSL, or another early US pressing, the better your LP sounded!

This is the very best I have ever heard Aqualung. Truly a stunning experience. This is how it is meant to be heard. Super happy with this one. Thank You.

Second was Stand Up.

Here I went back to normal and listened to my copies first which didn’t include anything of note except for the AP 45rpm. I found that for a UK Jethro Tull pressing the bass was indeed more boomy and warm than normal, which is nice.

I did find it lacking in oomph, but more importantly for me is the tone. The US LPs of the time have that warm deep fuzzy bass that oozes out of the speakers. I couldn’t find that with this UK copy.

It reminded me of the UK first press Aqualung in this regard. I would like to return it.

Third up was Let It Be.

So I had previously determined that the SHS [A++] Let it Be I had purchased prior was indeed the best copy I’d ever heard. So now I bought the WHS and have finally put it to the test here in the mountains.

OMG the woods cried out “play it again, play it again”!

This indeed is one truly amazing pressing. Its like listening to the master tape. I don’t know what else to say… speechless.

Simply dramatic warmth, clarity, punch, dynamic range, and the vinyl is so quiet.

This is truly super worthy of the WHS badge… it just took all the good stuff from the SHS and dialed it all in perfectly and then gave it a little caffeine.

What an amazing discovery BR has made here. I’m so glad I was able to purchase this one.

Who would have ever known it could get this good.

As an individual trying to figure this out, my experience says the chances of success are less than 4%, which is why your business model is working. Like one of your customers wrote “I now have twelve copies in total… eleven of them are useless”.

For every BR lp I’ve purchased there are multiple copies going in the sell pile.

Once again, many thanks!
Michel

Michel,

Glad you liked your Hot Stamper pressings of Aqualung and Let It Be.

As for Stand Up, it has been more than a decade since we played a domestic pressing of Stand Up that could do what the better imports can do. Here is an old commentary to that effect.

Down the road, as you continue to improve your playback, at some point you should probably try another one of our Hot Stamper import pressings of Stand Up. On our system it’s no contest.

And of course we stand behind the copy we sent you with a money back guarantee, so of course you can return it.

Best, TP

(more…)

Letter of the Week – “It has been a long time since I’ve connected with whatever it was that I connected with on this LP.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Stephen Stills Available Now

One of our good customers wrote us a letter recently about his Stephen Stills Hot Stamper pressing.

You can read his first letter here.

About a week later he followed up with this one. It seems he fell in love with it. That can happen when you play a good sounding copy after nearing nothing but junk your whole life.

Hi Tom,
That NWHS [more here] of Stills’ first is EPIC! It is now in my top ten desert island discs.

I no longer have words… it’s just f**king epic. Obviously, I had no idea… not a clue.

After closed eyes listening to the last song on side 1, I was like WTF, that was really really intense… vocals… guitars.

So when it was done I looked at the back of the cover to see what was what… aha… Clapton!

It has been a long time since I’ve connected with whatever it was that I connected with on this LP.

What a gift. Simply outrageous sound.

Michel

Michel,

You and I both know that the connection you speak of is the only one that matters when listening to music.

That Stills record is definitely going to my desert island too. I bought mine in 1970 and I listen to it to this very day.

I’ve written a fair amount about the album. Used to use it as a test disc, something I have not discussed on this blog because there are not enough hours in the day to talk about all the records I have used as test discs. But this album make a great test disc if you’ve got big speakers and like to play them good and loud.

Here is an excerpt from an older commentary discussing Bill Halverson‘s superb engineering.

Some of the most sought-after records in the world, as well as the most difficult to find with high quality sound, are those involving the various groupings of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

This album is no exception. It’s Stills’ masterpiece, a record I’ve been playing since I was in high school. The sound on the LPs I bought over the years has been pretty consistently disappointing. It’s refreshing to actually find a copy like this that lets you hear the album the way you remember it.

There’s a very good chance — bordering on a certainty — that the copy you played back then was no doubt just as poor sounding, but you remember it sounding good.

That, more than anything else, is why we audiophiles keep chasing after so many classic albums from our younger days. We’re trying to find the record that can give us the musical satisfaction in the present that we achieved so easily in the past, before we knew anything about audio and record pressings.

(more…)

Letter of the Week – “It’s crazy that once upon a time I thought it sounded really great.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Peter Gabriel Available Now

One of our good customers had this to say about a Hot Stamper pressing he purchased recently:

Hi Tom,
Just a note. I forgot I had Red Rain/Sledgehammer on a 45 rpm clarity vinyl from Classic.

So I compared them. What the fuck! It was absolutely, completely lifeless. I was amazed at how lifeless it was.

It’s crazy that once upon a time I thought it sounded really great.

The journey continues to amaze.

Take Care,
Michel

Michel,

Thanks for your letter. You are not the first person to notice that Heavy Vinyl and Half-Speed mastered records do not hold up well when played head to head with the Hot Stamper pressings we offer.

Bernie Grundman has a fairly spotty record in the modern era. Starting with the work he did for Classic Records in the 90s, it’s hard to think of too many BG-mastered titles that sounded all that good to us. If pressed, I might be able to name five, but please don’t press me, coming up with five would be more work than I’d want to do.

The record you played probably sounded a lot like the pressing of So he remastered for Classic in 2002. We didn’t like it then and we doubt it has gotten better with age. Flat as a pancake and dead as a doornail are our go-to descriptions for the mostly irritating records that the various audiophile labels were putting out in those days, and not too surprisingly, the records they are making now are no better.

(To be honest, we were fooled plenty of times ourselves and have the embarrassing catalog entries to prove it.)

You were amazed by how lifeless it was, yet you used to like it.

Aren’t other audiophiles in exactly the same boat you were in until just a few days ago? Until you paid all that money to us for a copy that blew your Classic right out of the water?

Without knowing it, what you actually bought was a copy that sounded the way the Classic should have.

You thought you were getting top quality sound with Classic’s releases, especially when it has the advantage of being one song on a 12″ disc mastered at 45RPM. That record should have been killer, a Demo Disc of a great song guaranteed to blow your own as well as your audiophile friends’ minds.

Maybe it would have. Maybe, like you, they would think the Classic sounds amazing.

What’s amazing most of the time is just how relative “amazing” can be.

So, now you own the record that is a true Demo Disc, and one that can demonstrate not just top quality sound, but how inferior these modern-mastered titles really are up against the real deal — the real deal being a plain old mass-produced record that everybody and his uncle could have bought for relatively cheap in 1986. No fancy packaging, no high price tag, no virgin vinyl, just a record properly-pressed and properly-mastered. The world is full of them.

Audiophiles may be incredulous at the thought, but all it would take to show them how wrong their approach to collecting better pressings has been is the right pressing. Those are the ones we sell.

(more…)

Letter of the Week – “I was truly beside myself. I felt like I was in the studio.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Stephen Stills Available Now

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

Hi Tom,

I need to write you about the Stephen Stills LP I just listened to. I picked up a copy one day long ago in the past, and it never wowed me.

So later, following the crowd, I purchased the Classic. I remember cranking Black Queen. It sounded audiophile-ish. But I was not taken aback by the sound, filed it, and then virtually never listened to it.

Down deep I knew that it was no good, but I figured it was the music, not so much the pressing.

Now for BR. So once again my mind is totally blown with no wiggle room.

For me this album is really about the last 3 songs on both sides. I have never heard this music how it was intended to sound, ever!

But now I have.

Church was better than phenomenal. Old Times Good Times — the organ on this one is through the roof good and Go Back Home — the guitars and the vocal had such beautiful tones… simply amazing.

Black Queen — Holy Cow… I am just speechless… the guitar tones, the grit in it along with the grit in the vocal… so raw and powerful I found myself making faces… I was truly beside myself. I felt like I was in the studio. Truly an amazing experience for me as I have loved this song for a very long time but never liked how it sounded on my LPs.

But wait there’s more.

Cherokee… Massive instant major warm bass filled the air and the room expanded from the super boomy tubey horns etc… I was screaming (yelping) with joy! What an unbelievable experience for me…. truly amazing. Words just don’t do the experience justice.

You can take that Classic Records copy and chuck it! Some ‘audiophile’ dude will be very happy to buy it when I start selling LPs again which I need to do since they are piling up.

Once again…. so many thanks to all at BR as these sounds are some of best joys in my life.

(more…)

Letter of the Week – “The copy I bought from you 100% blew my mind, with no wiggle room….completely blown!”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Led Zeppelin Available Now

One of our good customers had this to say about a Hot Stamper pressing he purchased recently:

Hi Tom,
I’ve been waiting for the right time to play the RL WHS LZII. It finally happened last night. I do have a LZ II with RL on side 1, and I was previously quite happy with it. I did prefer it over all the other copies, both regular and audiophile.

However, the copy I bought from you 100% blew my mind, with no wiggle room….completely blown!

JB’s drum kit is coming right out of the speakers like there is no tomorrow. I think I lost my mind while listening to Heartbreaker, a song I like but never really fully enjoyed……until NOW.

The room is never big enough for this one. Those punches of sound were so punchy, like George Foreman hitting Ali… massive.

Side 2 of this album is nothing short of phenomenal. I’m not sure if I own another LP that rocks like this RL one does. No wonder you made a top ten list just so you could put this one on it.

Someone will ask me or comment…why on earth would you spend $2400 on a record? To that person I will say… I am not buying a record. I am buying an experience that I can repeat as many times as I like, over and over again. To me, listening to this music in this way is priceless.

I truly don’t have the words to express what utter joy my being felt while listening to this. Can’t wait to do it again.

(more…)