LP/CD/Download Audio Rating System?

Proverbs 11:14 KJV. "Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counselors there is safety."

Not to start a religious discussion/argument but this verse does give me an idea when looking for the best versions of recordings on the market. I love the SHMF and I never buy new recordings (usually CDs)without checking out what other forum users recommend. Only problem is that it can be cumbersome and time consuming to do this with several or lesser known releases. I highly respect the recommendations that our host gives as well as other members. If someone here has a particular version of a CD and says it's bad because of being overly compressed for example, and I have that CD and agree, I would see what other album versions that they recommend. With this in mind, I wondered if there was rating system for the different pressings of released CD/LP/Download? Discogs is great to give the historical,value and technical stats of a released recording but little in the way of the warmth,loudness,clarity or harshness of each version. There could be a great system that music lovers could refer to when trying to determine the version that would best suit their ear. It would also help weed out the worst versions and save us some money from not buying hyped or inferior versions unless that is what we're looking for. I'll use The Beatles and our host for example since they are the best known. If I usually concur with Steve H's recommendation, I would simply see which version of Rubber Soul he rated well and which he rated poorly for example. If Joesmiling1234 (totally made up user name) is usually 180° from my liked/disliked versions, I know to avoid his picks for example. Most of us have gotten burned with poor quality recordings in the past. A ratings system could help greatly reduce disappointing purchases. It might also make the labels a bit more thoughtful when putting together releases that are aimed at the audiophile/collector. Thoughts?

 

I'm not aware of any all-encompassing rating system/site for different versions of releases; sometimes Discogs users create reviews to address some of these aspects, and the DR database, for example, is a site that addresses one particular aspect of many versions of recordings. Frankly, while it may be cumbersome, I feel that this forum is home to the best "multitude of counselors" you're bound to find. If you're seriously shopping for a release, especially a more obscure one, and it's not offered through an auction that ends in five minutes, it always has the possibility to be time-consuming, but you can partially take care of that upfront by carefully creating item search alerts online. For some, that is part of the appeal, if they live/breathe music and/or collecting. Personally, I've been burned far more by over-graded vinyl than by poor quality releases, the latter of which over time I've come to "know" to avoid, mainly by searching/reading exhaustively here.

Finally, I think the labels (majors, anyway) are generally driven by a different set of priorities that most audiophiles tend to have. I'll leave it at that.

 

I would be in favour of a system which, like the DR database and possibly an augmentation thereof, is based on measured analytical considerations.
These would have to be limited though.
So much is subjective, but I can see where a guide to source and authenticity of reproduction would be helpful in addition to knowing DR rating.

 

I think it would be interesting and valuable to have a rating system. There are rating systems for record condition (eg. look at the very detailed StroryVille rating system for 78rpm disks detailed over the first few editions of the magazine).

A LP/CD/Download Audio-quality Rating System would need to have well-defined criteria.
A disc could be rated on aspects like compression/dynamic range, clarity (bass/treble/midrange), detail, degree of digital processing if relevant (eg. CEDAR, NoNoise, etc).

Perhaps a rating system and guidelines could be developed over time here.