Basic Audio Advice — These Are the Fundamentals of Good Sound
The highest quality vintage pressings are truly amazing if you can play them right.
That’s a big if.
In fact, it just may be the biggest if in all of audio.
Be that as it may. What do we love about vintage pressings like the Ted Heath’s Swings in High Stereo album you see pictured down below?
The timbre of the instruments is hi-fi in the best sense of the word.
The unique sound of every instrument is being reproduced with exceptional fidelity on this old record.
That’s what we mean by “hi-fi,” not the kind of audiophile phony BS sound that passes for hi-fidelity on some records.
Older audiophile records, typically those made by Mobile Fidelity in the 70s and 80s, suffered from a group of problems common to practically every record they released, at least those that were mastered by Stan Ricker, to wit:
A boosted top, a bloated bottom, and a sucked-out midrange.