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New vinyl quality....

Recently I have purchased quite a bit of new vinyl. I am shocked at the poor quality control and inconsistency that I am getting. Anyone else?
Chris Stapleton Traveller 2LP: LP1 is flawless. LP2 is so beyond warped and is not even close to round!! Oh, and this is after I returned the 1st copy as there was an audible flaw through most of the first 2 songs of disc 2, side 1. Wish I had that copy back! 
Stones' new release, Honk: LP1 is so bad the center is damaged and won't even fit over the spindle! Additionally, there are visual marks all over it - looks like smudges. LP2 is fine.
I am seeing this a lot. Probably 30-40% of the new (sealed) vinyl I'm buying has some kind of an issue. Not even talking about SQ here - it's physical issues that I am seeing. 
What are you all experiencing? 
denjer1
denjer1 OP
45 posts
 
Fully agree. I recently purchased a Clearaudio vacuum cleaner and even some of those poor abused 1980's records sound incredibly good after a cleaning. Such a shame they can't get the overall quality of new vinyl to be better. But occasionally I do come across some new gems that sound amazing. 
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
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.



bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,806 posts
 

@winoguy17, I have the answer for how and why that dirty LP you returned ended up back in the rack. When a retailer buys an LP from its’ distributor, it is a 1-way buy; that is, the LP is non-returnable to the distributor, for ANY reason, including being defective! I guess the store manager decided there was nothing to do but sell the LP again, hopefully this time to a consumer who isn’t an audiophile, or merely attentive enough to notice fingerprints on a "new" LP. The only other choice is for the store to "eat" the LP, losing the money it spent to buy it.

I always look for evidence of the "factory" seal of the shrink wrap on LP’s. Having seen LP’s resealed in the back room of a Tower Records (every one of them had a resealing machine), I know what to look for: the wrap is sealed on the edges of the cover, and there is a rough melted bead in the plastic on those edges. Factory shrink wrap often has the seal in the middle of the cover, with the two ends of the plastic overlapping. Resealing machines can’t do that. I also so look for paper stickers on the plastic wrap, which won’t be on a resealed LP.

denjer1 OP
45 posts
 
Great post bdp24. Now I know what to look for in the shrink-wrap and MUST HAVE THE STICKER! 

Speaking of, tonight opened up a newly received Sly & The Family Stone, There's a Riot Going On. A 2007 reissue by Sundazed Music/Sony BMG. It is INCREDIBLE!! Side 1 is one of the most enjoyable sides of music I have ever heard. Blown away. This is why we can't leave this hobby well enough alone....

Back to the music now: Side 2.....
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,806 posts
 

@denjer1, Sundazed is a great label, I have a bunch of their albums (on both LP and CD). So is their counterpart in the UK, Ace Records. Their Everly Brothers albums are fantastic, and the sound is audiophile quality.

Let me correct one misimpression I may have created in my above post: While a "paper sticker" (containing any announcement to consumers from the record company) glued onto the outside of shrink wrap is definite proof of that LP being factory sealed, the LACK of any such sticker tells one nothing. Many, in fact most, LP’s leave the factory with no such sticker.

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