100 Recommended AAA vinyl...and why this industry is stagnant

KeithR

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First, thanks to Fremer for posting this up as having AAA vinyls in one place is always useful - but it is yet another reminder why the industry is still focused on aging boomers now entering their 70s. And as a friend of mine just quipped most of these are, "reissued to death." If the people running audiophile labels can't get music more recent than 40-50 years ago, we will continue to bleed a slow death.

https://www.analogplanet.com/content/100-recommended-all-analog-lp-reissues-worth-owning
 

c1ferrari

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Thanks for the link, Keith.
 

Cyclotronguy

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I own most of those (as do most of us) and about the only time they get played is when someone from the local "audio group" comes over..... otherwise..... not so much. I tell the guys to go to the local music emporium.... be that a "music store" or a "Musical Instrument" store and find the coolest looking kid there. When you do, ask them to show you that one piece of music that speaks to their soul.

If you like what you hear.... you just found your new "professional shopper"; and when it all "clicks" show the "cool-kid" what moves you.
You might be surprised!

I get the "deer in the headlights look" from most of the audiophile cognoscente......
That said, I think I may be having more fun

Cheers
Kent
 
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jeff1225

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I agree 100% with your assessment. How many reissues of these records to we need? The only reissues I purchase now are Analog Production versions of unobtainium classical.
 
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Folsom

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Well, what's the point of reissues if they don't sound nearly as good...

There's maybe 6 on that list I would listen to regularly, MAYBE, and probably not the version he picked out (ever).

What's funny is I expected it to be all recommendations of really old copies of music. But not, it's no copies of old stuff. I find original or old pressings are superior, so I can't agree at all with the list essentially. But your point is that there should be some new music on there. I agree. But I will complain that new music is way harder to get that sounds good. I have a few, but I've also gotten rid of so many and delegated them to car listening albums.

The industry should reach out to more studios, train more people, try and offer better deals on being able to set place up for recording better... They need to shame the people who record stuff and produce stuff that sounds bad by making most stuff WAY better. That'll help a lot.
 
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jazdoc

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The list is for reissues; by definition they are not current. I understand why the old warhorses are constantly reissued. They are proven entities with a guaranteed audience. Many of the originals are prohibitively expensive, especially for clean copies.

Lots of great sounding releases of current music like Janel Monae, Donna Missal, St. VIncent, Paul McCartney, Steve Mason, Brad Mehldau, Blood Orange off the top of my head...
 

hvbias

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Worth mentioning that to qualify for the video it had to be all analog, majority of recordings after the 80s aren't.
 
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Al M.

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Worth mentioning that to qualify for the video it had to be all analog, majority of recordings after the 80s aren't.

Fortunately I have digital. Most of the recordings I listen to are from the last 20 to 30 years. Just today, Haydn Symphonies #66 and #67, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Dennis Russell Davies. Terrific, released in 2009 (complete set of 104 symphonies).

By the way, a friend and I compared the Mobile Fidelity Sketches of Spain on Fremer's list with the CD remastering from 2009 (better than the 1997 one). The latter is far superior. The MoFi sounded fat, dull, undynamic, the CD lively and colorful, with better resolution.
 

hvbias

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Fortunately I have digital. Most of the recordings I listen to are from the last 20 to 30 years. Just today, Haydn Symphonies #66 and #67, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Dennis Russell Davies. Terrific, released in 2009 (complete set of 104 symphonies).

By the way, a friend and I compared the Mobile Fidelity Sketches of Spain on Fremer's list with the CD remastering from 2009 (better than the 1997 one). The latter is far superior. The MoFi sounded fat, dull, undynamic, the CD lively and colorful, with better resolution.

For some reason a lot of Mofi's vinyl reissues are on the dull side when their SACD sounds fine. I haven't heard their record for Sketches of Spain, I have heard enough of their vinyl to know I need to hear it by someone else in our listening group purchasing first before I will.

I love, love, love digital recording for classical as well. Some of the best sounding symphony/concerto recordings in my collection (and the closest I have heard to the various orchestras I have heard around the world) were done to hires PCM or DSD. Upcoming concerts for me- Trifonov playing Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto 3, Shostakovich Symphony 15 and Khatia Buniatishvili playing a program of mostly Schubert with some Liszt.
 
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Al M.

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For some reason a lot of Mofi's vinyl reissues are on the dull side when their SACD sounds fine. I haven't heard their record for Sketches of Spain, I have heard enough of their vinyl to know I need to hear it by someone else in our listening group purchasing first before I will.

Yes, obviously there are much better LPs of Sketches of Spain out there. Another friend has one, which competes better with the 2009 CD. I do find it curious that Fremer likes the MoFi reissue.

I love, love, love digital recording for classical as well. Some of the best sounding symphony/concerto recordings in my collection (and the closest I have heard to the various orchestras I have heard around the world) were done to hires PCM or DSD. Upcoming concerts for me- Trifonov playing Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto 3, Shostakovich Symphony 15 and Khatia Buniatishvili playing a program of mostly Schubert with some Liszt.

That sounds like nice concerts! Shostakovich Symphony 15 must be spectacular live. I heard Shostakovich Symphonies # 11 and # 4 live at the Boston Symphony with Nelsons conducting -- wow.

I do love my digital recordings of Shostakovich symphonies with Maris Janssons as well.
 
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Blackmorec

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Few months ago I bought a Michell Orbe TT with SME arm and Ortofon Cadenza Black cartridge. As I’d sold all my records some years ago, I bought roughly 25 180g re-issues of my rock and blues favorites and roughly 170 original mint Deccas and EMIs of all my favourite classical pieces.

I had really high expectations but on the whole, the re-issues were no better than the originals and certainly nothing special. The 170 Deccas and EMIs generally sounded better although a lot of them needed a good clean.

I then bought an Innuos Zenith SE server which completely blew away the TT in term of SQ, so when Innuos announced the Statement I traded the Zenith SE plus TT and I now enjoy SOTA SQ, leaving me with a second, unused record collection. I honestly thought all these 180g vinyl reissues would be something special but found out to my cost that its mostly hype. In essence they sound like records always did, which in a word, I would describe as ‘old’ or ‘dated’. These days, unless you’re spending multiple tens of thousands on a vinyl replay system, Quboz can provide superior sound quality at a fraction of the cost.
 

Jeffy

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Get the original Haitink recording on Decca/London of Shastakovich #15, one of the best and its all analog. I agree original pressings that are clean with no groove damage are usually way better than reissues.
Few months ago I bought a Michell Orbe TT with SME arm and Ortofon Cadenza Black cartridge. As I’d sold all my records some years ago, I bought roughly 25 180g re-issues of my rock and blues favorites and roughly 170 original mint Deccas and EMIs of all my favourite classical pieces.

I had really high expectations but on the whole, the re-issues were no better than the originals and certainly nothing special. The 170 Deccas and EMIs generally sounded better although a lot of them needed a good clean.

I then bought an Innuos Zenith SE server which completely blew away the TT in term of SQ, so when Innuos announced the Statement I traded the Zenith SE plus TT and I now enjoy SOTA SQ, leaving me with a second, unused record collection. I honestly thought all these 180g vinyl reissues would be something special but found out to my cost that its mostly hype. In essence they sound like records always did, which in a word, I would describe as ‘old’ or ‘dated’. These days, unless you’re spending multiple tens of thousands on a vinyl replay system, Quboz can provide superior sound quality at a fraction of the cost.
You should have bought clean original vinyl from ebay not reissues. I don't agree a good table and arm still sounds better than the best digital.
 
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Blackmorec

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Get the original Haitink recording on Decca/London of Shastakovich #15, one of the best and its all analog. I agree original pressings that are clean with no groove damage are usually way better than reissues.
You should have bought clean original vinyl from ebay not reissues. I don't agree a good table and arm still sounds better than the best digital.
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
 
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XV-1

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May 24, 2010
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First, thanks to Fremer for posting this up as having AAA vinyls in one place is always useful - but it is yet another reminder why the industry is still focused on aging boomers now entering their 70s. And as a friend of mine just quipped most of these are, "reissued to death." If the people running audiophile labels can't get music more recent than 40-50 years ago, we will continue to bleed a slow death.

https://www.analogplanet.com/content/100-recommended-all-analog-lp-reissues-worth-owning

oh yea baby, ain't it so.

Fremer should perhaps now do a top 100 of the last 10 years - there is more than great new music around and a lot of it sounds pretty darn good.
 
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Al M.

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Few months ago I bought a Michell Orbe TT with SME arm and Ortofon Cadenza Black cartridge. As I’d sold all my records some years ago, I bought roughly 25 180g re-issues of my rock and blues favorites and roughly 170 original mint Deccas and EMIs of all my favourite classical pieces.

I had really high expectations but on the whole, the re-issues were no better than the originals and certainly nothing special. The 170 Deccas and EMIs generally sounded better although a lot of them needed a good clean.

I then bought an Innuos Zenith SE server which completely blew away the TT in term of SQ, so when Innuos announced the Statement I traded the Zenith SE plus TT and I now enjoy SOTA SQ, leaving me with a second, unused record collection. I honestly thought all these 180g vinyl reissues would be something special but found out to my cost that its mostly hype. In essence they sound like records always did, which in a word, I would describe as ‘old’ or ‘dated’. These days, unless you’re spending multiple tens of thousands on a vinyl replay system, Quboz can provide superior sound quality at a fraction of the cost.

I agree. You can get superb quality from digital at a much lower price. Some modern digital, including mine, even can get the elusive "woodenness" of solo strings right. There is no way that you can get from similar priced analog the quality that I get from my digital rig: Simaudio Moon 260 CD transport > MIT SL Matrix Plus AES/EBU cable > Schiit Yggdrasil 2 DAC ($ 6.5K total including Tripp Lite medical grade isolation transformer). And it can compete with vinyl rigs multiples the price.
 

Al M.

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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

You *can* get horns and piano to sound realistic on vinyl, with instantaneous dynamics. But it comes at a very expensive price.
 

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