Vinyl quality? Huge and fascinating subject.
Back in the day, until the late 1970’s anyway, a lot of records were made to as high a standard as they could manage. Not all but you play them today and its just staggering to think back on what that must have taken back when they were recorded.
Nowadays, not only did digital not kill off vinyl but records are now into well over a decade of powerful growth that is, if anything, accelerating.
Unfortunately, in between (1970 to roughly 2000) the whole industry was decimated. A lot of equipment and skill that was once common is now scarce, just when we need it most.
That’s the view from space. The view from 10,000 feet is no two pressings are ever exactly the same. Listen close on a system good enough you may notice no two sides even of the same LP are quite the same. This appears to have always been the case.
The takeaway from this is you cannot judge "a" record by your copy of that record. I cold give countless examples, and if you come over play some for you, where two otherwise identical looking records sound completely different. I could play you some expensive audiophile reissues that sound like absolute crap compared to my $3 record bin copy. I also have two copies of the same LP, absolutely identical right down to the dead wax, that one of them sounds completely average the other so freaking beyond perfection you would swear I must have the studio Master if it wasn’t for the occasional bit of surface noise.
Vinyl records are capable of sound quality undreamed of by other formats, but the sad fact of the matter is it comes at the price of unpredictability. Inconsistency.
For myself, I have gotten so sick and tired of crappy reissues that unless one comes out with music I just have to have, AND the preponderance of reviews is they also did a superb pressing of it, then there is just no way. Pass. Better things to do with my time and money than chase long odds. Regular old run of the mill new vinyl? R U Kidding me? Forget about it.
No. If you are serious about sound quality then there are two and only two solutions to this problem. First, accept the fact that statistically speaking only one in 10 copies is pretty good, one in 20 great, and one in 30 demo quality. If that. Then you either play the odds, or pay someone else to do it for you. Take Your Licks or Pay The Man. That’s it. No other way. Anyone sees a third way let me know.
