$750 LPs Are Hot Sellers at this store.

[Scott Dolan]

Vinyl is a fetish more than an experience. Music is the only thing you're listening to. You either prefer it clean and clinical via digital, or you prefer an extra helping of harmonic distortion for that "warmer" sound.

I like that warmer sound.

Fine, then say that instead of the ridiculous pronouncement you started this thread off with.

I prefer the clinical accuracy of digital, but have nothing against the warm and fuzzy distortion you get from LPs.

It's simply a matter of personal preference. Not some given fact.

[Noj]

I laugh at Atomic records in Burbank and their $30 price tags on most plates. The price gouging turned me away from vinyl collecting a long time ago. My bargain spots, where I'd dig through crate after crate of junk and find $3 gems, have long since closed up shop. I've splurged on some vinyl reissues here and there, but at reasonable rates. My cap is at $20 now, and that better be for something special.

$750? That record better come with a stereo system.

[GA Russell]

It's all in the mastering.

The End

Sure, but are we comparing a $100 CD player with a $100 turntable, or are we comparing a $1,000 CD player with a $1,000 turntable?

[Scott Dolan]

It's all in the mastering.

The End

Sure, but are we comparing a $100 CD player with a $100 turntable, or are we comparing a $1,000 CD player with a $1,000 turntable?

What does it matter?

[sidewinder]

But what never seems to get mentioned when extolling the virtues of vinyl are the clicks, pops, warps, off-centre pressings and inner groove distortion that bedevilled so much vinyl when I was buying it in the 70s/80s. The first play of an LP was agony as you sat on tenterhooks, praying it was a decent pressing.

I hear what you say on that one. If possible I will always look for LPs that are 'pre oil shock/3 day week'. They are usually thicker and with 'virgin vinyl', not the recycled rubbish that the majors in the UK and US (honourable exception - Japan) used in the late 1970s. Comparing something like a Decca 1960s pressing and e.g. a Pye from say, 1976 is no contest.

[Dave Garrett]

As everyone at this board is well aware, vinyl just sounds better than anything else

Really?

Similar silliness here:

'My number plate could have cost £1m'

The dealer that bought the plate clearly aims to use it to bump up the asking price of the car it's affixed to in the photo. It's a Ferrari 250 SWB, and the current average market value for one of those cars in top shape is north of $12 million, but vintage Ferraris have been on an insane upswing over the past couple of years, so it could very well go for more. This particular one was apparently owned by Clapton:

http://www.talacrest.com/Ferrari-Sales/Ferrari-250-SWB/4240.htm

[clifford_thornton]

The hot stamper shit is next level insanity.

[Scott Dolan]

Unfortunately, there is so much next level insanity in the audio world that it's hard to award such titles anymore. And some people have made small fortunes off of those desperate enough to buy into their bullshit.

[AllenLowe]

1) in the last year or so I have had significant hearing loss in the 4-6k range; prior to this, however, I could hear overtones and ambience above 25k;

2) to me the battle is not vinyl vs CD; the battle is the original method of recordings; things are way better at 24 bit, but NOTHING sounds better than a good, tape-recorded session if the tape and the recorder are good; every once in a while I hear something that was a tape original and I instantly understand that it is basically the depth of field which makes tape superior (especially without noise reduction; I also hate DBX, but Dolby S was excellent) -

[B. Clugston]

This is nuts. $299 for Dave Mason's Alone Together? I could get you 4 for them for a dollar at my local thrift shop.

It's weird they don't specify what pressings they are actually selling. For example, Lee Morgan's The Cooker apparently sounds real good, but is it an Blue Note, Liberty, Scorpio? For the price they are asking, you'd think they'd be more forthcoming.

[Scott Dolan]

But at that price, does it really even matter? I mean, I can see if it's some kind of incredibly rare item, or isn't available in any other format. But you can buy that album on cD for $8 from Amazon, for example.

[Deepak]

Nothing sounds as real as analog done right, and I wish it weren't that way.

(Born in the digital generation)

[clifford_thornton]

This is nuts. $299 for Dave Mason's Alone Together? I could get you 4 for them for a dollar at my local thrift shop.

It's weird they don't specify what pressings they are actually selling. For example, Lee Morgan's The Cooker apparently sounds real good, but is it an Blue Note, Liberty, Scorpio? For the price they are asking, you'd think they'd be more forthcoming.

With Hot Stampers the idea is to get a mix of stampers on an earlier pressing, each of them fresh, to get the best sound. So it would likely be a US pressing very early in the run. But it doesn't have to be a true first - firsts off of worn-out stampers would theoretically sound less good. It's probably 99.9% bullshit but who knows. I just buy stuff that looks and smells clean and try to be happy with that.

Oh, checking the Morgan - it's a rechanneled Liberty stereo from no earlier than 1968.

[kh1958]

I can't decide between the $139 copy of Red Clay or the $269 copy.

[Scott Dolan]

Nothing sounds as real as analog done right, and I wish it weren't that way.

(Born in the digital generation)

Again, absolute foolishness. I wasn't born in the digital generation, and you're suffering from Golden Age Fallacy.

Recorded and mastered properly, you'd never be able to tell the difference.

[Hot Ptah]

I read the Steve Hoffman Forum sometimes, and I am struck by how this discussion is incredibly different from the discussions there about CD v. vinyl, and sound quality of recordings. It's two different worlds.

[.:.impossible]

That's awesome. I love that.

[clifford_thornton]

I doubt I can ever recapture the first experience of hearing Black Woman and being so incredibly stoned I could hardly walk afterward.

Take that, Steve Hoffman!

[jcam_44]

You can read customer testimonials on the Better Records website. Number 7 made me laugh out loud - the one about the Sgt Pepper causing the listener to be unable to eat his dinner, and have to go home to be alone to contemplate what he had heard.

Thanks for bringing up the testimonials. Hilarious. "I put on my serious listening ears" is an awesome quote.

[clifford_thornton]

if you've only ever known sex with a condom, you have no idea how much better sex is without.

[colinmce]

Sad.

[.:.impossible]

Are there nerve-endings in my ears that I am unaware of?

[clifford_thornton]

I think it's called your E-spot.

[.:.impossible]

Looking for recommendations on music that will hot-stamp my E-spot.

[Homefromtheforest]

Nana Mouskori