Hot Stamper Pressings of Prog Rock Albums Available Now
Here is how we described a Hot Stamper pressing of I Robot that went up recently, our first in five years:
An early UK pressing (and the first copy to hit the site in years) with seriously good sound throughout.
Many copies tend to be overly smooth, but this one has the kind of clarity that allows the natural textures of the instruments to come through.
Transparency is key to the sound of the better copies, and that is precisely where the dubby domestic pressings fall apart.
Even many of the early British pressings fell short. Good luck finding top quality sound on this one. At the very least you are going to need a big budget — these early UK pressings are not cheap to find in audiophile playing condition.
As you can see, we weren’t kidding about those UK pressings falling short. Here’s two that did, with their stamper numbers posted for all to see.
Side two of the first copy is being held back by sound that is smeary, dry and hard.
Side one of the second copy is murky and hot (bright).
Note that these are early UK stampers, which some in-the-know audiophile collectors will tell you are clearly the best.