MoFi v/s UHQR

Thanks, @bdp24. I haven't been able to find that video but I'll keep looking.

bdp24 - QRP (Quality Record Pressing, ... is making the best LP's the world has ever seen...

That simply nonsense...

Perhaps, in some, more limited LP collections AP is best, but not in mine. I own, or have owned, LPs from most of the common labels, (~4,000 titles) and AP/QRP LPs are NOT the best in my collection (though many are excellent).  To say so would be a lie.

Three/four labels that are almost always BETTER than AP: Harmonia Mundi, ERC (rare and expensive), Windham Hill (Stan Ricker, 1/2 speed mastered), as well as some Mofi, Impex and Sheffield Labs recordings.  Many LPs from 'boutique' European labels are nearly as good. Even some of my original pressings have better SQ than some of my AP pressings (EMI, Mercury, some Columbia and even one very special Philips release).   

dhite71 - with so many contributions giving specific examples of, in their opinion, other labels being preferrable to AP - your 'its unanimous' comment seems to deny reality.

Sorry for calling-out these issues, but such hyperbole should be addressed.

bdp24

The information regarding the Dolby issue came from Bernie Grundman, Chad Kassem, and Michael Fremer. Fremer posted a video on his Analog Corner website telling the story, which was subsequently further discussed with Grundman in another video.

I couldn't find the video, but I did find this:

“Both albums [Jakon and Tillerman] were recorded onto 3M or Studer machines on 16-track two-inch tape at 15 inches per second,” Samwell-Smith explained in the liner notes to the 2008 2CD “Deluxe” edition of Tillerman, “with Dolby noise reduction and mixed onto quarter-inch tape at 15 IPS with Dolby [noise reduction]. “ According to Sound on Sound’s Joe Matera, Samwell-Smith “played with the Dolby system during mastering to add compression and treble to the entire mix.” (Exactly how he did this isn’t clear, though producer/engineer André Perry has speculated that Samwell-Smith didn’t decode the Dolby noise reduction in order to create “a very present, dynamic, bright sound.”)

I also found this:

“The tapes are in still excellent condition, the Dolby A encoded BASF tape used has held up very well compared with other formulations used in the mid 70’s and later. The tapes sound excellent. I’ve done no limiting or compression on these files at all. Playback was done on an Ampex ATR100, and the A/D converter was a prototype MSB unit that David Chesky was good enough to loan us.” — Ted Jensen, Sterling Sound

Perhaps the truth here is lost to time.

@cleeds: It wouldn’t surprise me if Fremer also covered the Tea For The Tillerman subject in his Stereophile column. This would have been quite a few years back now, but may be available in the mag’s archives.

I have a lot of Harmonia Mundi LP’s (my favorite Classical label), and just about all the original Sheffield’s (I’m a big fan of direct-2-disk LP’s). Only a few Windham Hill’s (I don’t care for Stan Rickter’s mastering. He applied the "smile" equalization to his MoFi records), a lot of RCA Living Stereo and Mercury Living Presence LP’s, but no ERC’s (silly pricing, variable quality). Another great label is Bear Family Records, a German company.

When I speak of the quality of an LP pressing, that is not the same as the sound quality of any given title.