Beware poor sounding media

a politically incorrect opinion to follow - to hell with what the artist or producer wanted. i've heard some atrocious excuses for "music" that had the worst, most obnoxious things done to the sound, such as brickwall limiting, insertion of extraneous faux-phonographic surface noise, excess tube emulation et al. what RCA did to the latest Elvis reissues is a case in point. and what is with these people who have "gone back to mono"? also just as bad, is poorly applied noise reduction/inept audio restoration of old recordings. i spend much of my retired-geezer spare time trying to ameliorate these issues using the near-miraculous digital tools on my audio workstation. 

There is more music out there than one can listen to in 100 lifetimes. Since I started streaming rather playing physical media I can access wonderful music that is also, at the bare minimum, well recorded.

I found nothing more frustrating than shelling out $40 for a piece of vinyl only to get it home and find it a poor recording. Music that is relevant to me and not well recorded gets delegated to the car, where I don't listen  as critically.

Another agreement; I have purchased new vinyl that was either physically flawed or reflective of a mediocre mix.

Other than QA flaws, some pressings are just better than others; hence the genesis of Betterecords.com. My first reaction was who’d pay the prices they ask for used vinyl? After trying a couple of their curated selection, I can concur they sell some really good pressings that out perform the best half-speed masters or special editions. I guess the advantage / disadvantage of higher end rigs is that you’ll know if you have a strong recording and know if you don’t.

I used too, but now that I have my system where I want it, not so much any more. 

Socalm, I have bought some new remastered vinyl only to find out it sounds similar to a CD.  Kinda takes the fun out of vinyl for vinyl's sake, doesn't it?