Just bought a few albums recommended by a mag. Party by Aldous Harding and Beautiful Jazz by Christian Jacobs. The first has that slight buzzing distortion and dirty noise in one channel for the entire recording. The second has a two small clicks every revolution thru most of a side. The recording quality of the first varies from song to song. From very good to fair. But mostly dull with processing. The second is an AAA recording and is fair at best. Recorded too low and too muffled with flattened soundstage and dynamics. I have hundreds of 60s jazz and blues records that trounce these. Should I send them back to Amazon?
I tried to get into vinyl with a couple modern albums - most notably Perfume Genius "Too Bright" (album name, not descriptor of SQ) which is an incredibly dynamic album. On cd it sparkles. On vinyl it sounded like i was listening through a tin can. I put the record player in the basement - didn't seem worth any time or investment.
I guess I need to listen to old records? I guess when I inherit my dad's vinyl collection I'll whip it back out...
I haven't bought new vinyl since the 1980s. Now, I can't afford the prices for "audiophile" pressings. I have hundreds, probably a couple thousand record show and garage sale LPs I have yet to listen to. Average price paid was around 2 or 3 dollars each. Some are near mint, all are at least in good to VG condition. A good cleaning is usually all they require.
Still listening, but I haven't bought NEW vinyl in a long time. After reading the above, I would be hesitant to.
I just watched Michael Frermer's "It's a Vinyl World After All" - a worthwhile program (DVD from Library). Michael sits in on a remastering, and takes you through the whole process to make a quality vinyl pressing. It's encouraging to know that quality IS out there.
I recently received three new LP purchases, Cecile McLorin Salvant's "Dreams and Daggers", and "For One To Love". Also Bela Fleck's "Flight of the Cosmic Hippo" (among the best recordings of any type I've heard). The Cecile McLorin Salvant recordings are just as good, Dreams and Daggers is particularly excellent for a live club recording.
This is why guys like Michael Fremer are so valuable---he regularly reports on the sound of new pressings, of albums both new and old. On new pressings of re-issued old albums, he often compares the new pressing to an original, when possible. Of course, he can only get to a limited number of them per month on his website. An ongoing thread here, with reports from consumers specifically on the sound of newly-released LP's, would be great.
I have thousands of LP's from the 50's & 60's ... mostly jazz and classical. One thing I've noticed is that when tape hiss is present the highs are extended. On newly pressed records, some engineers "de-noise" the reissue to get rid of the tape hiss. Get rid of the tape hiss and the highs are eliminated as well. Therefore the " muffling" of the sound. Typical of this are the Mosaic reissues. I have several where I also have originals to compare them with. No contest ... the original wins in SQ every time.
Many new releases and reissues are sourced from digital masters! So not quite 100% analog!
I'd rather an LP made from an excellent digital master than a poor analog one. And regardless of the quality of the master, if the LP is poorly pressed, or made from low quality vinyl, nothing else matters.
Because they aren't for portable use, an LP tends to have higher dynamic range than its equivalent digital counterpart. So again, whether the master was digital or not is not the most important consideration, imo.
Remember back in the day new records were JUST AS MUCH as PITA. With warps ...
That is exactly right - buying a really good LP was always a bit of a hit-or-miss affair. That's a big part of why the compact disc was such an immediate hit after its introduction, imo; many saw it as a remedy for those ills. Of course, the CD had its own issues, especially early on, so it wasn't the panacea many expected.
I'm still into LPs and still buy new ones, but that's mainly because I grew up with the medium. If I hadn't, I doubt I'd pursue it today, and I never recommend that a newbie buy a turntable and embrace LP. (I'm glad that they do, however; it keeps things such as phono cartridges in current production.)
I have a couple of new pressings that have muffled sonics and poor dynamics. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with them. I also notice a wide range of recording levels between different records.
Yes, veiled. Blanket is right. I thought there was something wrong with my rig. I just played Joni Mitchell Shadow and Light and it sparkled and felt just right. What on Earth are they doing to the music? I also bought three new remastered Roy H. records. Guess what? Blanketed compared to the originals. Newbies would think that was as good as it got. Search out originals. New vinyl is dead.
I purchased (for christmas) a new album from Music Direct, its by Kandace Springs a wonderful young artist, the vinyl is aweful (crackling sound on every revolution on every song...very annoying)! I wish they new how to press a record before they put a name like BLUE NOTE on it! I’m done as well, new vinyls are either warped or have some defect or just plain sound like a blanket is thrown over my speakers! I send these back ASAP and Possibly consider future selections from MOFI or RTI only!
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