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Japanese Vinyl Pressing

I just returned from Japan and I must say I have fun at the Disk Union stores in Tokyo. They have a Disk Union store for all Genre. I spent hours at Jazz and R&B stores. I also like the fact that they clean the records and add new sleeves, at least the ones I went through. I ended up buying 30 LP's after going to the stores three days straight. But here is the interesting thing. It seems to me that the Japanese pressed records sounds better than most of the ones I bought here in the USA. The Japanese pressing sounds clearer and crisper, no darkness in the sound, and the bass not bloated at all. I am wondering if anyone have any comments on this, or have the same experience with Japanese pressing.......
almandog
fromunda
148 posts
 
I have a japanese pressing of Blood On The Tracks that sounds shrill and sibilant in comparison to the domestic release. Just my 2 cents.
inna
7,296 posts
 
Agreed on Japanese records; almost always better. German vinyl can sound very good too by the way.
t_bone
1,182 posts
 
Justlisten,
If you have the obi (or sometimes on the back side bottom right of the cover), you'll note that they ranged from roughly 1500 yen +/- a bit in the late 60s to 1800-2500 yen in the 80s. All media (books, magazines, records) had artificially high prices at the time because of a byzantine set of regulations and distribution practices which meant that costs were high so prices were high. Enforced capitalism with socialistic aspects.
gundam91
506 posts
 
How much were those LPs? I was in Tokyo about 3 years ago, and visited pretty much all of the disk union and audio union stores. I saw a lot of US pressing Jazz LPs but not too much of Japanese pressings. And the US presings were all over US$100. Most of my Japanese LPs sounded detailed, but somewhat leaner than their respective US presings. Less noise, but also not as full bodied. I am kicking myself for not picking up the Shelter 9000 cartridge at that time. The exchange rate was $1 to 105 yen. Now it's $1 to 80 yen. Guess we won't be going back to Japan any time soon.

FrankC
xiekitchen
821 posts
 
Japanese Vinyl: mixed bag... sometimes better in some ways, sometimes not... mastered a little 'dry' and sometimes lacks inner detail and spacial information found on other pressings. Vinyl itself is better quality though. Some Jap. pressings have better treble extension, better detail, but usually still lacks soundstage depth... probably due to 2nd gen. master tapes used (?) ... also Jap. pressings sometimes a bit harsh and hard sounding, inner groove cuts are hashy distorted abit sometimes.. I find though, that Jap. pressings of early 60's recordings on Verve, Columbia, Impulse labels are clearer, cleaner, better treble, better detail... quieter background.
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