Among my 28,500 LPs, I have several dozen $300 to $500 (maybe more now) classical records of the Better Records variety. An example is Backhaus plays Brahms on the original Decca versus the London and London STS later releases, a Japanese Decca and a CD release. The original Decca has the best sound. It sold a dozen times for $400 to $800. I paid $1 back in late 1980s. I would never have paid more than $35 for it. It is not 35X better than the other versions. Same with Reiner's early Also Sprach Zarathustra (original NM RCA). No way over $35, now sells for $400-$700.
Better records chooses the best pressing at a high cost for their number of LPs they had to purchase to find it, cleaning, listening time and labor. Tom has brought over a few of his hot stampers decades ago when my system was in it's infancy and those LPs slaughtered my copies.
My best friend has a rare jazz collection. 100s of his LPs are worth $100s-$500. He paid $5 to $50, mostly $15-$25 back in the 2000s. He is so glad to have those great LPs although now his digital copies are sounding very close to them at a fraction of the cost.
No streaming for any of my friends, it's LPs and/or CDs.
