Definitive Audiophile pressings

MikeH said:
I understand people not liking this but don’t know why there’s much hate for them otherwise. Prices aren’t cheap but their CS is excellent and they have the best record packing in the business. AP is still a great reissue label and I’ve never had any issues with sound quality (most are among the best sounding pressings I own). Speakers Corner is currently my favorite reissue label because I just like their curation a lot and their prices are good. But AP is no slouch. I like em better than current MoFi
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I don't think there is that much hate for them. I have just soured on them for a variety of reasons. Mostly based on a few purchases I have made that weren't what I expected. Ike Quebec "Blue and Sentimental" arrived with a blown out jacket (splits on all sides), glue that came apart on all the seams on the jacket, and huge warps on both discs (that was my first purchase from AS years ago, and I was like "I paid $55 for this?"). Muddy Waters AP album they pressed that had so much surface noise, just unlistenable. Then the Grant Green Blue Note reissues that had older inner sleeves that off-gassed onto the records themselves. That was a pleasant surprise. The customer service was good, and they handled all that. Just a hassle to have these problems with a "premium product." Plus I hate their sales on music, basically a joke. Then they're basically "flipping" records on their Discogs page from some unknown collector with street cred.

Their packaging/shipping is excellent. I can appreciate that.
 
MikeH said:
This usually happens at AS and MD when AP and MoFi records are down to the last few copies before being OOP. I saw some of the Nat King Cole APs had their prices raised too
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To add on to this, Norah Jones's CAWM has been in "limited stock" for a good hot minute now so I wouldn't be surprised if this is precisely the case. It's been a bit above her other items on there for a while so...yeah get while the gettin's good I guess.
 
I KNOW this will grate on a lot of people but MikeFromTheInGrooveArizona opened his Top 100 All Analog Records In Print video by giving a special mention to VMP. He slates them for their CS and quality at the beginning but goes on to say they have got better over the past couple of years and the quality of packages are decent. He says what really got him back on board was the Herbie box, which I have to admit is really killer (once a complete set with no damage was achieved).

Personally, I have had MORE issues in the past couple of years than ever before, especially warps.

 
zdkaiser said:
I don't think there is that much hate for them. I have just soured on them for a variety of reasons. Mostly based on a few purchases I have made that weren't what I expected. Ike Quebec "Blue and Sentimental" arrived with a blown out jacket (splits on all sides), glue that came apart on all the seams on the jacket, and huge warps on both discs (that was my first purchase from AS years ago, and I was like "I paid $55 for this?"). Muddy Waters AP album they pressed that had so much surface noise, just unlistenable. Then the Grant Green Blue Note reissues that had older inner sleeves that off-gassed onto the records themselves. That was a pleasant surprise. The customer service was good, and they handled all that. Just a hassle to have these problems with a "premium product." Plus I hate their sales on music, basically a joke. Their packaging/shipping is excellent. I can appreciate that.
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The off-gassed sleeves were a pretty widespread issue. MMJs had that too I believe. Might have been an RTI issue and I could see that being a thing that nobody would have realized until a few years afterwards when the offgassing started. They stopped using those sleeves luckily! I went through my collection recently to try to replace all those pink sleeves.

I can see why you don't like them now! I'd say your experiences seems more like an outlier than the norm. Luckily I have avoided all those issues. I have had the occasional undergrading on some of their used stuff on discogs but that quickly got fixed with sending them a pic and getting partial refunds. I got the Jack Johnson Miles MoFi from them used and it arrived with a small scratch on it. It looked like something was stuck in the outer sleeve that scratched it in shipping, but they still refunded me another 50% off so I think it ended up being about $20.

Surprised about the AP Muddy Waters too. It has pretty universally fantastic reviews.

Agreed on the "sales" nowadays. Can't say I'm surprised they don't include MoFi/AP/Impex titles since those all sell themselves, but the 10% off just basically gets their "normal" pressings a little closer to what everywhere else charges. I only really buy AP from them now if there's a title that gets restocked or one that I really like gets pressed. They were my go-to for awhile about 15 years ago because there wasn't nearly as much competition but it is hard to justify buying widely distributed titles there anymore.
 
Selaws said:
I KNOW this will grate on a lot of people but MikeFromTheInGrooveArizona opened his Top 100 All Analog Records In Print video by giving a special mention to VMP. He slates them for their CS and quality at the beginning but goes on to say they have got better over the past couple of years and the quality of packages are decent. He says what really got him back on board was the Herbie box, which I have to admit is really killer (once a complete set with no damage was achieved).

Personally, I have had MORE issues in the past couple of years than ever before, especially warps.

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When VMP gets stuff right, they are pretty great. The quality was still there in classics for me last year, I just didn't love the curation. It is funny to hear him talking about how they use QRP though....who should tell him??
 
MikeH said:
When VMP gets stuff right, they are pretty great. The quality was still there in classics for me last year, I just didn't love the curation. It is funny to hear him talking about how they use QRP though....who should tell him??
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The Classic series is fantastic, I have rarely had issues with it and always think the quality is great. Its the other stuff I have had issues with personally. Hahaha I thought the exact same about the QRP quote :ROFLMAO:
 
Selaws said:
The Classic series is fantastic, I have rarely had issues with it and always think the quality is great. Its the other stuff I have had issues with personally. Hahaha I thought the exact same about the QRP quote :ROFLMAO:
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mikefromtheingroovephoenixarizona seems to be a classics and anthology guy so that's probably why he likes VMP over the past year or so...he does caveat it by saying to look out for the AAA QRP pressed albums. And in terms of jazz and some blues, VMP does get some really nice reissues that are actual exclusives. I love that Yusef Lateef Before Dawn they did last year (i think it was last year...)
 
Selaws said:
I KNOW this will grate on a lot of people but MikeFromTheInGrooveArizona opened his Top 100 All Analog Records In Print video by giving a special mention to VMP. He slates them for their CS and quality at the beginning but goes on to say they have got better over the past couple of years and the quality of packages are decent. He says what really got him back on board was the Herbie box, which I have to admit is really killer (once a complete set with no damage was achieved).

Personally, I have had MORE issues in the past couple of years than ever before, especially warps.

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I find it funny that one of his big gripes is the resealable sleeve they use. They are generally fine for shipping but then don't people just toss them and replace them for their favorite sleeve? I think the AS and MOFI sleeves are fine for new records but I don't keep them. Does he keep the MOFI sleeves after he removes the perforated edge? Those are kind of shitty.

I do hate that the Classics come packaged with the booklet inside the record sleeve, but this has been talked about for more than 3 years now.
 
MikeH said:
mikefromtheingroovephoenixarizona seems to be a classics and anthology guy so that's probably why he likes VMP over the past year or so...he does caveat it by saying to look out for the AAA QRP pressed albums. And in terms of jazz and some blues, VMP does get some really nice reissues that are actual exclusives. I love that Yusef Lateef Before Dawn they did last year (i think it was last year...)
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Yeah don't get me wrong, I buy my fair share of VMP releases and do so because for a lot of their releases the sound quality is great as are the packages. However, ever since the price hike I have found that I get a lot more warped records from them compared with before. I thought I was being more critical at first but every "old" release of theirs that I have played since has been flat.

This is obviously been discussed here 100 times over, I just thought it interesting that he thinks the quality has increased.
 
Selaws said:
I KNOW this will grate on a lot of people but MikeFromTheInGrooveArizona opened his Top 100 All Analog Records In Print video by giving a special mention to VMP. He slates them for their CS and quality at the beginning but goes on to say they have got better over the past couple of years and the quality of packages are decent. He says what really got him back on board was the Herbie box, which I have to admit is really killer (once a complete set with no damage was achieved).

Personally, I have had MORE issues in the past couple of years than ever before, especially warps.

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Maybe VMP gave him some copies to sell.
 
Selaws said:
Yeah don't get me wrong, I buy my fair share of VMP releases and do so because for a lot of their releases the sound quality is great as are the packages. However, ever since the price hike I have found that I get a lot more warped records from them compared with before. I thought I was being more critical at first but every "old" release of theirs that I have played since has been flat.

This is obviously been discussed here 100 times over, I just thought it interesting that he thinks the quality has increased.
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I have a feeling that he just never subscribed in the "good ol days" haha. Lots of people like him and folks on Hoffman laughed anytime you mentioned VMP a few years ago, thinking their stuff was just a gimmick for the Crosley crowd.
 
Colonel4Bin said:
Did you place multiple individual backorders for them, or just one order? Wasn't sure if they would ship individually if they're part of the same order.
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Called Acoustic Sounds and they said that if you have multiple backorders in a single order, they will all ship individually when available. They said they no longer offer an option to hold them to ship at once.
 
MikeH said:
Probably hard to keep facts straight when he's busy making 30 minute long videos complaining about ERC!
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This is one of my big problems with the vlogger culture. If you're going to present yourself as some sort of authority on something, whatever it may be. DO YOUR FUCKING RESEARCH. And that research better not be from Wikipedia. Every time I see one of these rambling inane 45 minute videos from him or many other vloggers all I can think of is this:

 
Mather said:
This is one of my big problems with the vlogger culture. If you're going to present yourself as some sort of authority on something, whatever it may be. DO YOUR FUCKING RESEARCH. And that research better not be from Wikipedia. Every time I see one of these rambling inane 45 minute videos from him or many other vloggers all I can think of is this:

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Yep the truth is that vlogger culture has enabled the stupid, loud and obnoxious man in the pub with all the opinions and none of the clue to have a portal to spread those shitty uninformed opinions with the rest of the world with an unearned sheen of authority.
 
Joe Mac said:
Yep the truth is that vlogger culture has enabled the stupid, loud and obnoxious man in the pub with all the opinions and none of the clue to have a portal to spread those shitty uninformed opinions with the rest of the world with an unearned sheen of authority.
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I still find it funny when the 45RPM audiophile guy and his buddy were interviewing KG and the topic of Prince came up. The two guys jumped and said "we wish they would let you cut Prince's albums!!" And KG said.... "i did recut a lot of them already..." I loved how awkward it instantly became haha.
 
Mather said:
This is one of my big problems with the vlogger culture. If you're going to present yourself as some sort of authority on something, whatever it may be. DO YOUR FUCKING RESEARCH. And that research better not be from Wikipedia. Every time I see one of these rambling inane 45 minute videos from him or many other vloggers all I can think of is this:

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If there is one thing I've done correctly in my life (likely a small number)...it's having watched 0 minutes of a vlogger ranting about anything. ....or more importantly, knowing what a vlogger is.

Maybe this counts as a n&glogger rant though?
 
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