Hot Stampers from Better Records

[turntable]

9 parts bs 1 part truth.


I bought 4 lp's from Better records and Byran Ferry's US pressing of Boys & Girls is excellent.

However the pressings of Talk Talk - Its My Life and 2 Elvis LP's were crap. Noisy, scratches and unenjoyable.

All were used and had the same A+ vinyl grading.


Living in Australia is too much hassle to even bother trying to return -

Will never shop there again

[Down Under]

Originally Posted by turntable

9 parts bs 1 part truth.


I bought 4 lp's from Better records and Byran Ferry's US pressing of Boys & Girls is excellent.

However the pressings of Talk Talk - Its My Life and 2 Elvis LP's were crap. Noisy, scratches and unenjoyable.

All were used and had the same A+ vinyl grading.


Living in Australia is too much hassle to even bother trying to return -

Will never shop there again

Good community service stating your experience.
The "audiophile in the USA" experience can also be variable.As others have said cleaning lps can make a difference.Audiodesk makes a huge difference compared to the very capable VPI machines.

[wpascoe]

Originally Posted by turntable

9 parts bs 1 part truth.

I bought 4 lp's from Better records and Byran Ferry's US pressing of Boys & Girls is excellent.

However the pressings of Talk Talk - Its My Life and 2 Elvis LP's were crap. Noisy, scratches and unenjoyable.

All were used and had the same A+ vinyl grading.

Living in Australia is too much hassle to even bother trying to return -

Will never shop there again

You were aware that an A+ grade is actually the lowest rating Better Records uses, I take it? And you were aware that the rating given a record has nothing to do with how noisy it is, and everything to do with energy, transparency, openness, dynamism, and what they refer to as "Tubey Magic," etc? In fact, there's a whole separate grading for how noisy a record is. Based on my experiences there, I'd imagine any LP rated as low as A+ would probably have been listed at mint minus minus for noisiness.

Nevertheless, beauty is in the ear of the beholder. If they were unenjoyable to you, there's just no getting around that. Sorry to hear about that experience.

Sent from my iPad using A.Aficionado

[David.m]

I hadn't looked on the Better Records website before, just did so now and I noticed that they don't give any deadwax/matrix information for the records they sell, surprises me considering the prices. With the internet it isn't too difficult to research and learn what are considered the best pressings of various releases, then it is just a matter of patience and diligent looking to find the right pressing in the right condition.

[Maks]

Originally Posted by David.m

I hadn't looked on the Better Records website before, just did so now and I noticed that they don't give any deadwax/matrix information for the records they sell, surprises me considering the prices.

Isn't that information basically their IP? If they gave out that info, everyone could find their own "White Hot Stampers".

Or, alternatively as you mentioned, get the consensus from others on the Internet who aren't looking to profit off that information.

[David.m]

Originally Posted by Maks

Isn't that information basically their IP? If they gave out that info, everyone could find their own "White Hot Stampers".

Or, alternatively as you mentioned, get the consensus from others on the Internet who aren't looking to profit off that information.

I don't know that it could be classified as IP, it really is no more than their 'opinion' and one affected by business interests at that. There is plenty of money to be made from selling truly n/mint or better copies of the right pressings (you only have to look at ebay), if that is what they are selling I would have thought providing the customer better info would result in more buyers coming to them. If that is not what they are selling well that's another matter.
I would be happy to spend $3-400+ on a mint UK 1st press of WYWH or Meddle for example (& there are many others who will also), but if I'm going to I would want to know that it is the UK 1st press and not simply another early pressing from somewhere that someone thinks is the best sounding. My opinion anyway

[Whart]

I'm not even sure that Tom Port would regard two records with exactly the same matrix information/deadwax data as the 'same' for his purposes. For rock records, you're pretty lucky to find any that are mint-. You can do your own due diligence, using some well known sources on the web that discuss various pressings of rock and popular music and go hunt for yourself. I've had pretty good luck that way- and there are considerable sonic differences between different issues/ versions of the 'same record' including which pressing, country of origin, who mastered it, etc. Once you know what you are looking for based on your research, you can then troll the net looking for that copy. I haven't found too many unscrupulous sellers and I buy a fair amount of records, mostly old pressings rather than reissues/remasters. Obviously, you are vulnerable to the grading information provided by the seller- play-rated LPs are not typical on the net and visual ratings are largely meaningless, to the extent that the surface can look good, no scratches, etc. and the grooves still could have been chewed up on an old record player. And the known 'better' or 'best' pressings of a particular album are typically not cheap, from any source.
PS I have never done business with Better Records and neither support nor criticize what he is doing. In theory, he could save you the time and aggravation of buying a dozen copies of a given record to find one that is fabulous, but I don't mind doing my own work. As to same pressing variations, I'll reserve comment.