Annoying trend? New vinyl equalization and compression

Shame. So glad I held on to my LPs for over 50 years. It was a real pain with every move but so worth it.

+1 dogberry

+1 atmasphere

My son and his girlfriend are around 40 and have one of those junk suitcase players.  She is so proud of the expensive lps that they buy from Barnes and Noble.  One time I couldn’t refrain from expressing my true feelings instead of just politely sitting through the sonic dreck and she hasn’t spoken to me since (yes, there were other issues, this seems to have been the straw).

  Are 90% of new lps being played back on such systems?  And is compression being used to accommodate them?  I listen primarily to Classical so I am out of touch as to what transpires in other genres.  One never sees the Audiophile press, when they crow about the triumph of vinyl over CD, mention any of this.  They assume that all purchasers are connoisseurs such as inhabit this site, not the gullible 

The Suits know their consumer base, and they aim for that. Anything above that percentile is a lucky bonus, any thing below, well, that's what's expected. Don't feel left out because you don't fit a marketing profile. You should feel excluded. The person that's about to be replaced by a robot at Taco Bell, is still making payments on the USB TT, yet manages to drop $30 (or more) on a vinyl "album". Think back to 45's in the fifties and sixties, those slabs were lucky if they found even a worn conical in the groove... usual fate was a sharp steel "needle" and waiting in a pile on the floor for the next "listening session"    It's numbers, baby, only numbers

My friends and I often look over at each other while listening and say "these guys knew what they were doing" (meaning the engineers recording skills). 

Perhaps better mastering to retain dynamic range was/is part of it, never thought about that. I don't think superior imaging, proper choice of mic type and placement is related to this issue.

This DVD

https://www.ebay.com/itm/355010922942?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20201210111314%26meid%3Deb9dbb715f484bc181f2a6bc12aeab7e%26pid%3D101195%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D294905875433%26itm%3D355010922942%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D4429486%26algv%3DSimplAMLv11WebTrimmedV3MskuWithLambda85KnnRecallV1V2V4ItemNrtInQueryAndCassiniVisualRankerAndBertRecallWithVMEV3CPCAuto&_trksid=p4429486.c101195.m1851&amdata=cksum%3A355010922942eb9dbb715f484bc181f2a6bc12aeab7e%7Cenc%3AAQAIAAABUObhgc4Nk8%252BdtAwOww4FKLaj%252FQ5qqgDlQCuqZA43WcPFUWDERCUugbbOk7XQv0JXlBfqCg2xKF3WcPghxGMFw2oSlXvfExEaMYr7I7LmrHcP6czY1wIMt0ORyKiCWt95xldincyyBx3g%252BNDW%252B%252FhWUgTaBhK6xAm%252BJIbCOMehu%252BdwouRdzCQM8hUb16%252F5r8r3M6d3FoiE04ilKIBPss60e6NSlDLmYj5pavYT%252FSU7LjCOpnzQvfoTKERbGaXXC4%252B7LOfcFq%252BdcAWLZO4yrza5NGBazCZeOUG6EnYXvwT6c%252ByR0bLsoPQJaXDx9EfG6A3tdjUUPNDetUciuFs7R6eU91PGOUZnBkMjSnHyTIaVmj3RykOKiIjlvdeGja%252F12PmvegYK49HSpiw0gvKxNgzbO%252FmjndubM6VOktjI1b6c2YFJ1ny3PKLH9386Y7O1Th6hhQ%253D%253D%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A4429486&epid=30906902

Buy it NOW.

Video Quality is scary, but the sound quality is quite enjoyable.

He plays one of the largest pianos I have ever seen (don't know which Bosendorfer model)

They have 6 mics on that piano, and his separate vocal mic.

Interestingly, at some point, one of the recording staff creeps up and changes his vocal mic, his voice changes for the better (he talks, no singing).

I shake my head at such excellent recording skills.