More Entries from Tom’s Audiophile Notebook
We think that sitting down to play a Hot Stamper pressing — one you find yourself through the shootout process, or one we find for you — is the only way to appreciate its superior sound quality.
A great sounding LP, played on a top quality system, is an immersive experience hard to recreate with anything other than a properly-pressed, properly-mastered vintage vinyl LP.
For those who want to dig deeper into the mysteries of vinyl, consider the three commentaries we’ve linked below:
The uses and abuses of rules of thumb
Some audiophiles use the following rules of thumb when targeting higher quality rock and pop records:
If it’s an English band, get the UK import pressing. If it’s an American band, the master tapes should be here in this country, so the original domestic pressing will be the best.
As rules of thumb the ones above are not actually all that bad. Most of the time they will turn out to be correct. They’re just wrong so often (Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Peter Gabriel, The Eagles, Black Sabbath, etc.) that you must be very careful how stringently you rely on them.
Many audiophiles will never bother to test them, since such tests require money and time, often in very large amounts. He will more than likely be content to leave his prejudices intact rather than seek out disconfirming evidence. (Just ask John.)