That’s exactly what I did buy, ‘Mint’ or ‘Near Mint’ original Decca and EMI of some of finest performances ever recorded. They had no groove damage but did need a clean.
What aspects of vinyl do you prefer above good digital? In my system, pace, rhythm, timing, dynamics and micro-dynamics, sound stage, imaging, noise, detail resolution and even life-likeness and listener involvement are all superior when played through a digital system where ALL power supplies and ALL clocking have been fully optimised. Where that is the case I can’t identify a single attribute where vinyl is superior. Its noisier, less dynamic, less spacious and airy, less focussed and less involving. Take horns for example....they never sound as real on vinyl as they can with digital...similarly piano....vinyl simply does not have the instantaneous dynamics required to make them sound completely lifelike.
Now I agree that a Michell Orbe, SME Type IV and Ortofon Cadenza Black aren’t the very best in vinyl replay, but their designs allow them to be set up very precisely and they compare well to other TTs of similar price, so aren’t exactly chopped liver. Nevertheless, as soon as I played any record I knew immediately that I was listening to vinyl, with the same limitations that I’ve heard over many years, regardless of which TT, cartridge and phonostage I was using (Linn LP12, Well Tempered Reference, Troika, Te Kaitora, etc). I will say that this preference for digital is a fairly recent phenomena based on the Innuos Zenith SE and Statement. Up to that point I’d never heard digital outperform good vinyl but now I have, there’s no going back(wards).
I would entirely agree that remastered vinyl is, generally speaking a waste of money. They may have been remastered but they certainly don’t sound better than good clean copies of the originals