LP's... Do they sound better now than 30 yrs ago?

My experience,
All things been equal ie. good condition and played on the same good system for comparison with best set up.
1. many 60's 70;s  1st - 2nd pressings - excellent
2. a few 70's repressings of 60's vinyl - excellent and surpass no1
3. some modern first pressings - good
4. mostly modern repressings - terrible
5. some 60's amd 70's 1xt-2nd pressings and repressings - terrible

If you would like to have a comparison then we might be able to have aget together with a few Lp's we have in common. I'm in Melbourne Australia

Harold re: Doobies’ LP. Could not agree with you more. Another great sounding one in their canon is Toulouse Street...particularly the title cut.  Spectacular sound on my first pressing.  Those olive green label WB LPs are hard to beat.  

No doubt about the original US pressings, Wices is my only US though.
I´ve Nautilus Half Speed of "The Captain and Me", another fantastic album, and it´s great as well, all others are German editions and they also are great. Cheers

Most of my records are original US pressing and i have never had any problems if the condition if fine. What i can say for sure is that the Japanese pressing from the 70s is superb. Pallas pressing plant in Germany is fine for new releases, but United pressing plant in US is also fine. I bought that Doors LPs from Analogue Production and they are fine, but that’s the only one rock band i used to listen in high school, bought it for curiosity to check what is an audiophile pressing @devilscucumber Some of my farovite records from the 70s are much better engineered, especially those library LPs recorded to use in cinema and on tv (mostly mid 70s jazz-funk stuff) and pressen on normal vinyl in USA and in UK, so i do not support that hype about audiophile reissues for the prices they are asking for.

Great thread.

I have a collection of almost 10,000 records and, honestly, there is no unifying truth to old vs. new. Old Blue Note vinyl played with a mono cartridge sound incredible. Much maligned RCA flexibly-discs often sound incredible, too. Lots and lots of inferior labels/pressings are out there. For me, the biggest issue has been groove damage. Most average record players from the 50s-80s pulled on the grooves as it moved closer to the center, permanently damaging the record and giving the dreaded ‘frying bacon’ sound. But, for the most part, i’ve had great luck with old records. 

All that said, the Music Matters 45rpm reissues of the Blue Note catalog and the Analogue Productions 45rpm pressing of Ben Webster’s Soulville are quite possibly the finest sounding records I have ever heard in my life.

And your gear does matter. I have a Sota vacuum turntable with an Ortofon 2m Black cartridge going into Mac tube gear and out Harbeth speakers and it really brings out the best of my vinyl. Before that, I had a lower-quality cartridge and the difference between the two is like being in the front row of the show vs in the hallway. Gear matters.