Quality of today's LP pressings - are they really that good?

ack

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May 6, 2010
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I wonder if I am the only one who is somewhat disappointed with today's pressings, despite all the effort put into it and the marketing claims. I have bought quite a number of LPs in the last few years, with only a few with no ticks and pops out of the box. QRP is not necessarily fairing any better than any others. By contrast, just about every single used LP from the 80s or early 90s I have bought has been crystal clear, and in particular I am comparing Reference Recordings from back then to what I get today - just not the same. Just last night yet again, I got a Chesky from the early 90s and I felt it was dead silent as digital... not a single hiccup, and the LP was used... On the other hand, I'll grant that today's pressing are perfectly centered with very low surface noise.

Anyone else in the same boat?
 

PeterA

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Dec 6, 2011
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I agree in general. I have some new pressings, nice 180g etc and within a few plays, there are quite a few pops/ticks. Some are quiet, but some not. Very inconsistent. In some cases they were silent when new, but after a few plays, it seems they deteriorate quickly. Some older pressings are dead quiet and stay that way, despite many repeated plays. It is almost as if the new vinyl is softer or something, and stuff gets impeded in the grooves. I don't really have an explanation, but I agree with your observations.
 

MadFloyd

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May 30, 2010
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Depends on the era. You won't find any quiet LPs from the 50's and most jazz LPs from the 60's are also pretty darn noisy.

Reissues from ORG are terribly noisy - constant snap/crackle/pop (too bad because they have top notch mastering). Speakers Corner has non fill issues on many pressings.

I've bought a number of sealed Pablo's from a few decades ago and they are the worst.

What surprises me is that many $20 new Pop releases can be incredibly quiet. It definitely varies.
 

PeterA

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Dec 6, 2011
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Depends on the era. You won't find any quiet LPs from the 50's and most jazz LPs from the 60's are also pretty darn noisy.

Reissues from ORG are terribly noisy - constant snap/crackle/pop (too bad because they have top notch mastering). Speakers Corner has non fill issues on many pressings.

I've bought a number of sealed Pablo's from a few decades ago and they are the worst.

What surprises me is that many $20 new Pop releases can be incredibly quiet. It definitely varies.

Yes, my new Lorde LP is CD silent and has stayed that way. Incredible sounding.
 

Folsom

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Oct 25, 2015
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Don't include Adele in silent. I returned 25, it was warped and useless. My copy of 21 has some weird ass sounds, and even a build in bump on half of a track.

They're Columbia. Barnes & Noble associate told me they've had more returns on 25 than anything else ever in the music department. It's on Columbia "XL". My Bob Seger from Columbia plays fine however.

In general I've been disappointed with several new releases. I have some older silent ones, and older noisy ones. About the mid 80's the quality stepped up very significantly in general because record stores were struggling with batches of nasty dirty records.... I guess late 90's that fizzled and they went back to so-so.

The industry could use a kick in the butt. Clearly some know what's going on, others haven't a clue.

My recommendation is to clean your records before playing, when new, and ideally with a sonic cleaner.

The one disc I have that's 100% silent with no cleaning is the Ultimate Analog setup disc.

Someone should invent a stylus that cleans up the top of the record groove where there's no information but burs get left that push the needle. I've seen pics where people do it by hand and make scratches no longer appear in playback, but that's not easy!
 

Don Hills

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Jun 20, 2013
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Someone should invent a stylus that cleans up the top of the record groove where there's no information but burs get left that push the needle. I've seen pics where people do it by hand and make scratches no longer appear in playback, but that's not easy!

De-horning should be part of the process of making the stampers. You'd need to look under a microscope to see if it was done properly.
 

XV-1

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May 24, 2010
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Most US pressing plants are crap and quality control non existent. the Love & Rocket QRP reissue pressings are excellent I will say.

I dread buying US pressings as return rate is much higher than Euro pressings ( including GZ). United pressing plant should be burnt to the ground - it is the poster child of everything that is crap about US manufacturing.

Euro pressings from MPO, Optimal, Record industry, Pallas and alike are superb.
 

sbo6

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Fiddle Faddle

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Aug 7, 2015
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My experiences of the main players (having now bought over 200 of them in the last 4 years):

Pallas: prone to fill issues and other extraneous noises. When you get a good one, however, it is superb but I'd say a good 25% of them these days are significantly flawed. This company seems to go through periods according to vintage. Over a decade ago the quality was excellent but maybe about 4 years ago the quality started to go downhill. The latest pressings, however have (touch wood) been very good. But if I get a title that is New Old Stock and pressed a few years ago, chances are it will have problems.

The Old Vinyl Factory Hayes: Worst of the lot hands down. Even makes RTI look good. This company should be making plastic buckets, not pressing records. I've begged the record label that uses this company (HiQ) to go elsewhere (to no avail obviously). So bad that I now routinely buy two copies of any record pressed here, because the chances are about 90% that one of them will have significant fill and other assorted issues including whole sections of terrible clicks and pops - but fill problems are the biggest problem with this company. When I buy two copies, I digitise them and spend many hours fastidiously editing them so as to have a seamless performance without flaws (since sadly the label does not release high res digital versions of its titles).

RTI: As bad as they have ever been. The ORG reissues have terrible problems. I'd say half of them are badly flawed.

Quality Record Pressings: A breath of fresh air. Having bought about 35 of these, only two have ever warranted a return and one of those two was their very first pressing that had an acknowledged "official" issue. The second one had about 200 loud clicks on one side (one per revolution but there were no visible flaws to the naked eye and it was ultrasonically cleaned on an Audio Desk Cleaner before I purchased it. That said, whenever I know a title is coming out on QRP, I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that the chances of getting a dud are very low.

Optimal: My favourite alongside QRP and about the same in terms of quality and consistency.

I suppose I should add that I rarely ever return a record. I've probably returned about 4% of my purchases. If record has significant issue but I believe they can be rectified with my advanced editing skills, I will prefer to digitise it at high resolution than return it.
 

Hi-FiGuy

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Feb 23, 2015
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Its been a mixed bag for me, Some I paid a lot for that are supposed to be the shiz to the nit, and have been highly disappointed. Others not so much and have been blown away.

I will say I was looking at a local record shop for some Dire Straits and found 4 or 5 that obviously came from a collection as they all have Last stickers on them and they are super clean and dead quiet.
 

Folsom

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I love finding Last stickers, usually mean it's something worth listening too.
 

DaveyF

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Jul 31, 2010
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It still amazes me that there are companies that are selling new vinyl in ---shrink wrap!!!! Yikes, don't these guys ever learn!!:eek::eek:
I recently bought two new LP's from B&N...the new Peter Frampton acoustic compilation and the David Bowie Blackstar, BOTH are in heavy shrink and g--d knows the condition ( what's a good warp between friends, lol). Anyhow, we shall see when I open them.
As to surface noise, generally is seems that the new Mobile stuff is quiet, but it is a crap shoot with most everything else!! Including, the newly released Music Matters 33's....which I really think are fab, but you may well get a crappy pressing. Luckily, the reps are pretty good about swapping them out for less noisy pressings.
 

Folsom

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B&N allows returns if there's a problem with it. If any albums are known to come in poor shape and you can buy from them go for it... But you have to be careful they have some weirdo bargain prints of things like Frank Sinatra.
 

asiufy

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Jul 8, 2011
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We take returns too, even though our distributors won't... It's very telling that now, with the so-called "vinyl revival", the distributors won't accept returns, even with defective product.

Fortunately, we've only got a few back, but the ones that we did get back had pretty obvious problems in them. One had a piece of the label on the vinyl itself. Another was incredibly off-center... And so on...
 

lasercd

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Oct 28, 2010
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We take returns too, even though our distributors won't... It's very telling that now, with the so-called "vinyl revival", the distributors won't accept returns, even with defective product.

Fortunately, we've only got a few back, but the ones that we did get back had pretty obvious problems in them. One had a piece of the label on the vinyl itself. Another was incredibly off-center... And so on...
I don't know of any distributor that won't accept returns of defective vinyl. I deal with them all.
 

Folsom

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Oct 25, 2015
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Two of my local record shops also can't return bad stuff. It's sort of sad when they come trashed. Luckily the rate is WAY less than say in 1982 that something comes horrible. One store I think straight takes the return, the other gives some credit.

I think it would be wise for a record store to have a sonic cleaner. You can buy the parts to make one for no too much actually, but you really want a vacuum setup for drying. That way if something comes with a lot of noise they can try to revive it, and offer a service to people for reviving old discs that have too much stuff stuck in the grooves. Well, I think it'd be neat.
 

Johnny Vinyl

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May 16, 2010
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My personal experience has generally been good and I've had to return only the odd piece of vinyl now and again. I think that many people demand too much and will return a product for the most minute of reasons and they also tend to be the most vocal complainers. The complexities of making a finished vinyl product are huge, and as long as this process includes "human" handling the odds of receiving a bad product on occasion will not be reduced. As long as the music on a record is not affected I can live with a slightly off-centred disc or a very slight warp or a scuff mark.
 

andi

Well-Known Member
Apr 9, 2012
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Hi,
the situation in Germany is not really better.
I stopped buying new releases 2 years ago. From time to time I buy some used ECM records.

As a hard core vinilyst, I bought a labtop and a DAC to enjoy new releases.
I never thought that would happen.

But I have fun with my 5000 records from the good old times. :D

BR
Andreas
 

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