Definitive Audiophile pressings

In the spirit of making good decisions: when @Jbraswell was kind enough to send me the Doobie Hi-Fi, that led to the following

1. Feeling of joy, gratitude, “yay humanity!”
2. Listen to record — gosh I love records, what a great thing
3. Log on
4. Look at other available Hi-Fi and promptly buy Television, Jaco, and Ornette — of which the Television I only weeks ago posted saying I really didn’t need and the Jaco I’ve really only heard once…

Because why let a generous thing actually let you come out ahead in this hobby? :)
 
HuddieLedbetter said:
In the spirit of making good decisions: when @Jbraswell was kind enough to send me the Doobie Hi-Fi, that led to the following

1. Feeling of joy, gratitude, “yay humanity!”
2. Listen to record — gosh I love records, what a great thing
3. Log on
4. Look at other available Hi-Fi and promptly buy Television, Jaco, and Ornette — of which the Television I only weeks ago posted saying I really didn’t need and the Jaco I’ve really only heard once…

Because why let a generous thing actually let you come out ahead in this hobby? :)
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Awesome!

I gotta say that Ornette will blow you away.
The insert with the mike details of the recording is simply amazing and adds a lot of context to why it sounds so good.

I love the TV. Never even heard it before now. But it jams.
 
So to follow up on the Violent Femmes box, I ended up buying a Kevin Gray pressing from a fine fellow in Canada on Discogs. Paid a bit more than I’d like but I’m incredibly glad to say that this is how the record should sound.

Comparing the KG cut to the box cut is light and day. The KG has an edge to it and in true KG fashion has good separation, strong bass and drums. The box just sounds so wimpy compared to this. The Boom Boom cut sounds very similar to my original pressing too. I’ll have to do more of a comparison but it’s very very good.
 
mitchwagz said:
So to follow up on the Violent Femmes box, I ended up buying a Kevin Gray pressing from a fine fellow in Canada on Discogs. Paid a bit more than I’d like but I’m incredibly glad to say that this is how the record should sound.

Comparing the KG cut to the box cut is light and day. The KG has an edge to it and in true KG fashion has good separation, strong bass and drums. The box just sounds so wimpy compared to this. The Boom Boom cut sounds very similar to my original pressing too. I’ll have to do more of a comparison but it’s very very good.
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Great....now I have to get up and check the deadwax on my copy.
 
Gave this a few spins over the weekend. Atlantic 75 45rpm version of STP - Core from AP. While this was never going to be the most dynamic listen, it definitely has that classic "lifted the blanket off the speakers" sound. Dead silent, crisp, detailed, and loads of power that just begs to be turned to 11. 10 out of 10 on this one.

STP.jpg
 
snoops said:
Gave this a few spins over the weekend. Atlantic 75 45rpm version of STP - Core from AP. While this was never going to be the most dynamic listen, it definitely has that classic "lifted the blanket off the speakers" sound. Dead silent, crisp, detailed, and loads of power that just begs to be turned to 11. 10 out of 10 on this one.

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Nice! I ordered mine from music direct and I’ll get it in two weeks.
 
snoops said:
Gave this a few spins over the weekend. Atlantic 75 45rpm version of STP - Core from AP. While this was never going to be the most dynamic listen, it definitely has that classic "lifted the blanket off the speakers" sound. Dead silent, crisp, detailed, and loads of power that just begs to be turned to 11. 10 out of 10 on this one.

View attachment 197394
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I cannot wait for mine to arrive. I don’t live 45 rpm but am excited to hear the sonic implement in this one!
 
snoops said:
Gave this a few spins over the weekend. Atlantic 75 45rpm version of STP - Core from AP. While this was never going to be the most dynamic listen, it definitely has that classic "lifted the blanket off the speakers" sound. Dead silent, crisp, detailed, and loads of power that just begs to be turned to 11. 10 out of 10 on this one.

View attachment 197394
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Do you happen to have the ROG box of this one to compare?
 
MikeH said:
Do you happen to have the ROG box of this one to compare?
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My AP just arrived tonight - so I'll be able to compare to the ROG, the 2020 Walmart Optimal repress (2017 box set plates were used), and the 2013 3 sided MOV

The only one I don't have is the more recent Bellman cut that Walmart had in 2022, but I heard it wasn't very good pressing quality wise.

It's a fairly long album to only be over 2 sides.
 
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waruv said:
Given how tough originals are and the lack of much on represses (I have a Japanese one), I'll be interested to see how it turns out

(It seems like it's out so I'll report back even though I bet you're right)
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Re: Ruth Brown. I had to give it a shot, Rock and Roll is one of my favorite records from that era and Ruth is a gem.

@mitchwagz is pretty on point - there's just not enough in the original recording to do much of anything new here...but what was different was really interesting to me.

The MoFi does what a lot of modern mastering does - there's a bit more space between the vocals/instruments, bit more of an emphasis on the band (the piano and sax came to play), and on the whole it just feels more robust than my 70s repress or the Spotify phone speaker experience, but to Mitch's point there's only so much you can do with a 1950s straightforward R&B recording.

But Ruth's voice is a lot less, I guess, in your face.

On both the Spotify version and the 1970s repress I have, Ruth's voice is the clear focal point of pretty much any song. It makes sense as she's a dynamic, entertaining, emotive singer who is going to be the highlight of most recordings she's on, and some of that is a blues shouting approach. Ruth can sing and we can't get that twisted, but on a song like 5-10-15 Hours it verges into speaking stylistically. The MoFi feels like it does a much better job bringing that back in - it doesn't fundamentally change the voice or do anything too weird but they made a deliberate choice to not have it be as punchy and abrasive at points. I don't personally think they go so far to diminish her but they get a bit close IMO.

The best way I can describe is is that the MoFi feels lot more "jazz brunch" to me - you're not going to get struck upside the head by what was a vocal forward spike. There are moments where it almost feels like a really good cover band. It's really well done but you're getting a more cohesive experience and less the more forward Ruth.

Whether you prefer that is probably to taste. I'm a boring person so I think if I want to listen to this I'm going to put on the MoFi, it's a more enjoyable listening experience and the surrounding elements are just cleaner. But I can see someone really used to Ruth or the original recordings really not liking this treatment. It leads a bit to thinking about how much mastering and recording choices really change the core of how we expect music to be.
 
Curious what others think, but where does one's system need to be to actually hear a considerable improvement with supervinyl? I have less than 5 one-step pressings and the surface noise is not vastly better (sometimes worse) than some of the standard QRP or RTI pressings I own.

I'm using a $1500 Rega turntable with a $350 cartridge.
 
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