The fact is, finding great sounding copies of a particular title is not as easy as it may seem. This is the reason we have companies like MoFi and Analogue Productions. Companies such as these are trying to give audiophile record buyers what they really want, a reliable source for good sounding vinyl.
The trouble is, these companies fail more often than they succeed, and this leaves collectors that are serious about finding good sounding copies looking for better options.
Tom Port and the folks at Better Record are essentially saying, "let us do the work for you and we will deliver," which they do. And make no mistake, it is a ton of work to do shoot outs and find truly great sounding records. Who else plays so many different pressings of the same title? And if anyone does, who does shoot outs of so many different titles? No-one.
So many titles have a ridiculous number of releases and dead wax variations. Furthermore listings are so often not accurate, or a given listing may have several runout variations requiring many emails to grumpy record sellers with very few answers. IOW, even if you know the pressing that will likely sound good, it can be a big challenge just to get a hold of one, not to mention one that is graded properly!
The long and short of it is, you may or may not want to pay the premium that Better Records charges for their Hot Stampers, but I challenge anyone to make a strong case that the folks at BR are not earning every penny.
The trouble is, these companies fail more often than they succeed, and this leaves collectors that are serious about finding good sounding copies looking for better options.
Tom Port and the folks at Better Record are essentially saying, "let us do the work for you and we will deliver," which they do. And make no mistake, it is a ton of work to do shoot outs and find truly great sounding records. Who else plays so many different pressings of the same title? And if anyone does, who does shoot outs of so many different titles? No-one.
So many titles have a ridiculous number of releases and dead wax variations. Furthermore listings are so often not accurate, or a given listing may have several runout variations requiring many emails to grumpy record sellers with very few answers. IOW, even if you know the pressing that will likely sound good, it can be a big challenge just to get a hold of one, not to mention one that is graded properly!
The long and short of it is, you may or may not want to pay the premium that Better Records charges for their Hot Stampers, but I challenge anyone to make a strong case that the folks at BR are not earning every penny.