Definitive Audiophile pressings

TheAcademy said:

I just heard about this forthcoming series. Pretty pumped for several of these titles.
They should be quite good, right?

I don’t know much about Optimal Pressings
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Optimal can be hit or miss. I haven't had many issues at all but people complained about them a little bit with some issues on the BN80 series. I'm a huge Kevin Gray fan though so I'm very excited about this series.
 
MikeH said:
Optimal can be hit or miss. I haven't had many issues at all but people complained about them a little bit with some issues on the BN80 series. I'm a huge Kevin Gray fan though so I'm very excited about this series.
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jamieanderson1968 said:
They should be good. Seems to be same pressing set up as the BN80s (Kevin Gray and Optimal) which were excellent for the price point
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I don’t have any BN80s, but sounds like a similar idea to Acoustic Sounds series: excellent quality that is reasonably priced.
 
TheAcademy said:
I don’t have any BN80s, but sounds like a similar idea to Acoustic Sounds series: excellent quality that is reasonably priced.
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The Acoustic Sounds series I think is trying to be closer to the Tone Poet pressings (heavy stock and gatefold) where the BN80 series was not has heavy cover and not gatefold (ironically they repressed an album that was a gatefold - Lonnie Smith - in a single sleeve) to keep the price down. But I think both series were on 180g vinyl.

Also the TP series was done at RTI vs Optimal for the BN80s
 
MikeH said:
Optimal can be hit or miss. I haven't had many issues at all but people complained about them a little bit with some issues on the BN80 series. I'm a huge Kevin Gray fan though so I'm very excited about this series.
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Maybe I've been unlucky but I've had very inconsistent quality on BN80 titles. My copy of Smoke Stack is warped and Basra is completely ridden with surface noise. I've bought many more TPs and haven't had a single problem on any of them.
 
dropsonde said:
Maybe I've been unlucky but I've had very inconsistent quality on BN80 titles. My copy of Smoke Stack is warped and Basra is completely ridden with surface noise. I've bought many more TPs and haven't had a single problem on any of them.
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I think I'm on the good luck side of the equation. I'm up to five or six BN80s and all have been good. Not Tone Poet quality, but at least no issues to report.
 
Just got an e-Mail to say that the Bob Dylan - Desire 45RPM is being repressed on super vinyl. If you didn’t get the original 45RPM press jump in this one, my one from the last set sounds epic.

PS: It’s a real pity there will only be 1,000 should be unnumbered, as should every other release ever...
 
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MikeH said:
I truly doubt it. I think they are doing only certain albums in that format. I can't see people regularly paying $50-$75 as their new base prices...
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Dunno now that they’ve released all the albums that Dads (actually probably Grandads by now) don’t hate and they’ve steadfastly refused not to modernise their A&R and instead will reissue them all again but with a tweak and for more money...
 
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Joe Mac said:
Dunno now that they’ve released all the albums that Dads (actually probably Grandads by now) don’t hate they’ve steadfastly refused not to modernise their A&R and instead will reissue them all again but with a tweak and for more money...
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Part of the modernization is that they really want to stick to AAA as much as possible. Which is something I can respect....but then you end up with a Train album as a "modern selection"...there are still plenty of more modern AAA recordings out there which I think they will have to dig up because I don't know that the same Miles and Dylan records will cut it.
 
MikeH said:
Part of the modernization is that they really want to stick to AAA as much as possible. Which is something I can respect....but then you end up with a Train album as a "modern selection"...
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I don’t because that puts a limit on where you can go, it’s not like great vinyl can’t be made out of digital recordings and even still there are whole swathes of the 70s and 80s that they don’t go near. Their selections are really staid, even if I like some of the albums and really like the quality of their product.

Also they did Brothers In Arms which both as dull as dishwater and DDD.
 
Joe Mac said:
I don’t because that puts a limit on where you can go, it’s not like great vinyl can’t be made out of digital recordings and even still there are whole swathes of the 70s and 80s that they don’t go near. Their selections are really staid, even if I like some of the albums and really like the quality of their product.

Also they did Brothers In Arms which both as dull as dishwater and DDD.
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Fair. I don't disagree that their A&R department sucks and is stuck in the past or just overall has kinda generic taste in music.
 
dhodo said:
I doubt it even costs that much honestly, we are talking vinyl, and increasing the cost by $5 and adding 200% of that cost on top of it is printing money.

It is relative, and while I have a good number of 33 MoFis from a few years ago, they have priced me out on this crap. MoFi was great quality before "Super Vinyl" and I'd much rather they release good stuff at 33 at their normal price point.

Unfortunately they have realized that in this era audiophiles don't care what you charge anymore apparently. They are making a killing on one steps.

I am afraid reasonably priced audiophile reissues from companies like MoFi and AP are rapidly disappearing and it is a bummer and purely due to people supporting these sorts of cash grabs.

We are talking a 43% markup for a different formulation of plastic!
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The price isn’t that bad considering the following:

Super Vinyl is the quietest currently available formulation that I’ve heard.

If they are cutting new laquers, availability of blank laquers has dropped substantially since the California fire.

Look at what VMP is charging for their offerings. Insane. They aren’t MoFi and likely never will be.
 
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