revelation

Hot Stamper pressings can come as quite a shock to their new owners.

Hearing a record with sound they had no idea was possible drives some of them to help others understand what that very special experience was like.

It happens to us regularly — it’s the nature of our business to find amazing pressings — and we love hearing that our customers are having their minds blown the way ours were when we played that same copy in one of our shootouts. These, then, are their stories.

Letter of the Week – “Here is where the life and groove of the music is!”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Crosby, Stills, Nash and (Sometimes) Young

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

What a batch of records! I just finished playback last night.

It only occurred to me afterwards that some of these titles I had only heard on compact disc or streaming, I thought I knew this music but the Hot Stampers – particularly Aja and CSNY So Far – defied me.

Here is where the life and groove of the music is! The digital formats have been calling my attention to all the wrong details.

I could go on and on. All eight titles are a knockout. Close To The Edge is a monster – the presentation is massive, and I’m sure my system isn’t doing it full justice, but I love this record and it’s by far the best I have ever heard it.

Thanks again to the Better Records team for everything you do – for this music lover it’s manna from heaven.

Cheers,

Austin

Austin,

Yes, you are so right about the digital formats. They get the sound of classic albums wrong by drawing your attention to recording details at the expense of the flow and drive and energy of the music.

As for So Far, I am a huge Crosby, Stills and Nash fan — the first album being life-changing to a 15 year old music lover such as myself, on 8-track tape in the car no less — and my ardor never flagged in all the years that have gone by since then.

It seems that there are some albums that will last you a lifetime — the first two albums, produced in 1969 and 1970, are still right at the top of my All Time Favorites.

Close to the Edge is a monster and always has been. I listen to it regularly, along with The Yes Album and Fragile. What a run of albums they released before hitting a wall with Tales of Topographic Oceans in 1973.

Aja is record I have been writing about for decades. It’s often an overblown mess, on vintage and modern pressings alike.

The copies that do well in our shootouts are the ones that are coherent, where the over-production suits the songs and does not draw too much attention to itself.

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Letter of the Week – “I am blown away with the White Album you sent.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of The White Album Available Now

One of our good customers had this to say about some a Hot Stamper pressing of The White Album he purchased quite a while back:

Hey Tom, 

I am completely stunned. I am blown away with the White Album you sent. It is as if I am there in the studio. The music has so much more shading, tone, and phrasing that gives it much more meaning and enjoyment — which has been lost on me for 40 years.

I can now hear it and I get it. Wow! You guys never cease to amaze with what you find. Thanks as usual.

Mike H.

Mike,

Glad you liked our Hot Stamper pressing of The White Album. It’s amazing how good it sounds once you know which pressings are the good ones and which ones should be avoided.

Hint: it’s the originals that are to be avoided, but don’t tell that to the average record collecting audiophile. They will think you have lost your mind.

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Letter of the Week – “I kept putting the volume up little by little and it just got better and better and better.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Pink Floyd Available Now

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

Hey Tom, 

I got around to listening to The Wall last weekend, a 3+ / 3+ / 2+ / 3+ copy. It was yet another of those cannot-concentrate-on-anything-else experiences, simply astonishing.

I kept putting the volume up little by little and it just got better and better and better.

The quality is mind-blowing.

I want you guys to know how much pure pleasure you’re able to generate, and it’s priceless. Thank you all.

Rich 

Rich,

So glad you liked the pressing we sold you as much as we did!

Of course we agree with you wholeheartedly about the joy of turning up the volume on a record that sounds as good as the one you played.

The Wall has long been a member of our Top 100 and a true Demo Disc, especially if you can play it on big speakers at loud levels.

One obvious reason that the turn up your volume makes such a great test is that the louder the volume, the more obvious the problems with the sound become, and the harder it is to ignore them.

If you turn up the volume on the copy of The Wall you now own and it gets better and better, I think we can safely say it passed the turn up your volume test.

Some folks complain about our pricing, a subject we discuss here, but the question our detractors have the most trouble answering is, “What’s a priceless record worth?”

Thanks for writing,

Best, TP

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Letter of the Week – “I never owned a copy that had as much bottom end along with vocals that seem to jump out of my speakers.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Jethro Tull Available Now

One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased a while back:

Hey Tom,   

Just a quick note to express my complete satisfaction with my latest purchase from Better Records.

I just received my copy of the WHS of Jethro Tull’s This Was LP. Needless to say, I have several copies of this album, both domestic and UK versions. One is a Pink Label UK which I purchased from you a while back*.

I was so completely blown away at how much better this LP sounds. Both are great, but this one is simply unbelievable.
I never owned a copy that had as much bottom end along with vocals that seem to jump out of my speakers.

Thank you again for your work finding these superior copies of albums I never thought could sound this good!

Hope to purchase again soon,
Regards
D B

Dennis,

So glad you enjoyed this copy as much as we did, and you even had a Pink Label to play against it, a record not many audiophiles own.

Stand Up and Benefit are the same way, the original pressings are not the way to go, but try telling that to the average audiophile who covets only first pressings.

They can read labels and they know which are the earliest ones, but they rarely have the equipment and the listening skills to know that the right reissues are CLEARLY better, something you heard right from the start I suspect.

UPDATE 2024:

Allow me to apologize for the patently unfair nature of the above characterization.

The truth is much more complicated than my remarks would lead you to believe.

Most audiophiles, even those with high-quality equipment and reasonably good listening skills, simply do not have the resources — time and money — to acquire another half-dozen pressings of This Was in the hopes that one of them might beat the original they struggled to find and had most likely paid good money for.

Our story for this album makes it clear just how hard it is to discover the pressings that are clearly superior to the ones most collectors and audiophiles have been led to believe are the best.

Not one out of a hundred has the resources to do what it takes to find the best pressings for more than a few dozen titles.

There is, however, one group of dedicated music lovers that has been able to achieve success in this regard for literally thousands of titles.

That group, you will not be surprised to learn, is made up of the ten or so individuals who work at Better Records.

Without a dedicated staff and a major league record-buying budget, it would simply be impossible to find out what we have been able to find out since we did the first Hot Stamper shootout two decades ago.

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Letter of the Week – “I have never heard this album sound so big with such deep and solid bass!”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Yes Available Now

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

Hey Tom, 

BTW, Close to the edge is amazing. I have never heard this album sound so big with such deep and solid bass! It is really a “tell all” about my setup as you stated in your write up. Jon’s vocal’s can be a bit bright in the title track when turned up loud, so I know where to focus my attention on my setup.

There are are so many things that make playback of the record tricky, your room, electricity, equipment, everything. The better you can play that record, good and loud, the more progress you are making! Thanks again and I am sure I will write again soon.

Rob,

Thanks, looking forward to it.

TP

P.S.

We talk a lot about these kinds of challenging records all over the site. This commentary goes into the subject in more detail.

Here is another typical excerpt you may see on listings of records that present a challenge to the audiophile regardless of how advanced he or she may be:

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Letter of the Week – “It was so good that I got transported somewhere and back and didn’t even realize it.”

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 he purchased recently:

Hi Tom,

Last night I had a ticket to a very special show.

It was my first ever listen to a 3+ Side 1 of Dark Side of the Moon.

It was so good that I got transported somewhere and back and didn’t even realize it. I had the gain turned all the way up. Perhaps it would have been better for the vocals on the first track to turn the gain down a little, but not for the music.

I have heard a 2.5+ before on my other copy which has a 3+ side 2, but the 3+ completely takes the cake.

What a pleasure it was to listen to. The vinyl was pretty darn quiet too.

I mean… over the years… Japanese, Japanese Pro Use, MFSL, UHQR, UK, UK A2/B2, UK A3/B3, US 30th Anniversary…

And you mean to tell me it all comes down to a variant of a [redacted] with several deadwax configurations. Only the super lucky might have ever figured it out. I didn’t have a chance in hell!

Take good care,
Michel

Michel,

Think of all the money you spent chasing one copy after another of Dark Side of the Moon, only to be disappointed time and time again.

Somehow none of those pressings, the ones that have been idolized by in-the-know audiophiles for more than fifty years — promoted again and again as the only possible solution to your problem, the true answer you seek — could take you to the places our humble mass-produced import reissue took you to.

This is absurd. It flies in the face of everything we know! Do you really expect other enthusiasts to believe your story that all the most highly-regarded audiophile versions couldn’t get the job done?

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Letter of the Week – “It just came to life in a way that left the MoFi pressing in the dust in every way imaginable.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of The Cars Available Now

Ray, a new customer, here relates to us the experience of playing his first Hot Stamper pressing:

Pardon the language, Well f**k me!

My brother bought me The Cars, Heartbeat City Super Hot Stamper. And I got it on June 17th.

I opened the well-packed box, and behold! a rather common looking version. I took it out of the well made sleeve and it looked unimpressive.

I then put it on my turntable. And WOW!!! It just came to life in a way that left the MoFi pressing in the dust in every way imaginable. EVERYTHING sounded better, and my speakers SANG!!!

I am beyong impressed with this record and have absolutely no intention of getting rid of it.

I always felt like Tom was being overly harsh with “audiophile” pressings, But DAYUM!!! He is right.

I would gladly pay $100 again to get a record as good as this. I’m hooked!!!

Thank you folks for doing all the work.

Ray, thank you so much for your enthusiastic letter. A few thoughts come to mind.

Indeed, our records are rather common looking. They often look like the standard issue pressing that came out back in the day, because in most case that is exactly what they are.

We are not trying to make fancy good sounding records. Those that try to make good sounding records these days have a failure rate that borders on 100%. Why would we want to follow in their footsteps?

No, all we do is find the copies that were mastered right, pressed right, and therefore sound right.

It sounds like it should be easier to do, and in many ways it is. It is still a lot of work, but we don’t mind, we actually enjoy it.

As for the MoFi, it is not the least bit surprising that our copy smoked their pressing.

No, the surprising thing is how on earth that ridiculous company is still in business. We asked the question here and it is unlikely we will ever get a good answer.

We’re glad to know that a hundred dollars can indeed buy a good record. We have 119 of them in stock at that price as of this writing, and almost as many for $75 and under.

Many of them punch well above their weight sonically because they have condition issues or are titles that are may not be as popular as others we offer. Either way, many of them are great records that deserve a home, preferably a home with a nice turntable. Won’t you help?

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Letter of the Week – “I’m stunned, flabbergasted, and amazed.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Yes Available Now

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

Hey Tom,  

Got my albums today, and I’m stunned, flabbergasted, and amazed.

I purchased a “Hot Stamper” Yes Fragile, and immediately spun Side B. For the first two minutes, listening to “Long Distance Runaround,” I sat there with jaw slack, repeatedly shouting expletives. My son finally came downstairs to see what was going on. I simply couldn’t believe my ears. I have never, ever, heard as good a recorded rendition – and I’ve heard (and owned) numerous copies over the years.I literally heard stuff I’ve never heard before – for example, in the last chorus of “Heart of the Sunrise”, I could for the first time ever clearly hear Wakeman’s Minimoog layered on top of Anderson’s vocal. I knew it was there in the front part (“Sharp…Distance”) but never knew it was there on the “How can the wind with its arms…” part. Amazing.

I’ve been doing the audiophile thing for 20 years now – exclusively analog. And for the last many years, I’ve read your website, but remained skeptical. This is my first purchase! But it most certainly won’t be my last. My only lament is that I lack the funds to buy all of the albums that I now realize I MUST have! So, THANK YOU – for your dedication to finding and making available high quality recordings; and for bringing such incredible music into my home space!!! I look forward to doing much business with you in the future!   (more…)

Letter of the Week – “I’m so blown away with this Hot Stamper that I think it’s a bargain at $500.”

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,

I must confess, that like most audiophiles, I was not a believer in Hot Stampers. I thought my DCC Compact Classic and my 180 gram Box Set was the best. Boy was I dead wrong!

I have been buying Hot Stampers from you on a regular basis for the past two months. They truly allow me to hear what was intended in the recording studio and, man, is it breathtaking.

I received the Doors – LA Woman a couple of days ago and never in my wildest dreams did I ever think a record could be this realistic.

I couldn’t believe the amount of information I was hearing coming out of the groove of this LP — the biggest, most realistic staging and largest acoustic space I have ever heard in my life.

The highs were sweet and extended, the midrange was as natural as a midrange could ever be, and the bass was tight and rich with incredible weight down to the lowest region. Transparency and resolution on this LP are simply out of this world. I’m so blown away with this Hot Stamper that I think it’s a bargain at $500.00.

I truly believe you really have to experience a Hot Stamper, especially one like this, to see why I’m losing my mind. I’m slowly but surely replacing all of my favorite records with your Hot Stamper versions.

Thank you for this masterpiece! (more…)

Letter of the Week – “…this record knocked my socks off.”

More of the Music of Neil Young

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

Hey Tom, 

I just played your hot stamper pressing of Neil Young After the Gold Rush, and WOW! I don’t always agree with everyone else on which record pressings sound best, but this record knocked my socks off. 

No doubt about this one. I compared it to a recent German/Dutch reissue, which I remember sounding better than the crappy US pressing I previously had, and the difference was amazing. The soundstage was huge, I heard instruments playing right in front of me, dynamics were great, the bass drum on Only Love Can Break Your Heart was deep and extended, guitars were full, and so on.

I hadn’t played this record in a while mainly because it was, well, a lousy recording, which is a shame because it is one of my favorite records. I am sure I will be playing this version a lot more. Too bad for those who haven’t heard this pressing. (more…)