Basic Audio Advice — 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?
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 mastered by Stan Ricker:
A boosted top, a bloated bottom, and a sucked-out midrange.
Nowadays that kind of phony “smile curve” sound is no longer in vogue. A new, but equally unnatural sound has taken its place.
What’s in vogue these days, judging by the Heavy Vinyl reissue pressings we’ve played over the last few years, is a very different sound, with a very different suite of shortcomings.