Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Bonnie Raitt Available Now
UPDATE 2026
We’re close to having enough copies to do another shootout, our first in four years.
In 2012 we did our first one for Luck of the Draw, at the end of which we found a pressing that was clearly superior to the DCC, our default favorite at the time.
That was 14 years ago, and 14 years is a long time in audio. Having done the shootout many, many times since then, I can tell you two things we have learned:
1) Yes, of course, the domestic copies are better sounding than the DCC.
I often mention that DCC’s releases had to fight their way through Kevin Gray’s opaque, airless, low-resolution cutting system (more here). That gives an advantage to practically any pressing not mastered by him.
His list of failures is surely one of the longest in the business. Of course, we can only guess about most of them, as we are not in the business of playing junk Heavy Vinyl. We much prefer the business we are in: selling the best sounding vintage pressings of the greatest albums of all time.
2) The domestic pressings are very unlikely to ever win a shootout.
They tend to earn grades of A++ or A+ to A++, and none of them lately has managed to earn a grade of A++ on both sides.
The imports are just too good. They are clearly better sounding, and it does not take a pair of golden ears to hear it. Why that is we have no idea, and we are congenitally opposed to speculating about the subject. (More on that subject below.)
Our 2012 Shootout
