Eye in the Sky is one of my most anticipated of the new titles (along with the Croz). I recently got the Speakers Corner which is really beautiful but a little smooth with less punch compared to the US Arista I am so familiar with. I noticed Robert Loverde cut the Speakers Corner, so wonder if he will do the MoFI too.
I started this thread back in 2015. If you go back to the first page and read the comments, it’s pretty amazing to see the shift in ultra premium vinyl demand since then. The original post, of course, referenced Abraxas, and most were saying “thanks but no thanks” to a $99.99 record. (Now it’s worth $2500 or so.) Fast forward to 2021, and companies like Electric Recording Co. are selling out extremely limited batches of LPs for $500. UD1S titles are practically sold out before they are released, even at 25% higher than when introduced. And multiple companies are doing their own one steps with titles you wouldn’t expect, and creating a frenzy with limited availability. What a difference six years makes!
Actually, the revival is over and vinyl has already peaked. Heard that in 2015... and 2o16... and 2017.... and 2018......
A freind who owns a record store selling mostly vinyl is up 32% this year. And really, I don't see any cooling off with a lot of other collectables skyrocketing as well.
The vinyl revival at its infancy was the opposite of the way things are now. There were 1.99 to 3.99 awesome vinyl finds all Day long at places like PREX and Vintage Vinyl. It’s double to triple that now for classic titles. And reissues were $15-$30. Now we are at $35 to $55 and we think $26 is a huge bargain. One of the things driving the crazy collector grade vinyl is the heavy media focus, especially on YouTube. There are so many channels, including Chad’s new channel, that not only focus on what’s new and how great they sound, but how collectible they are and how sorry you will be if you miss the boat. They also focus on how many titles go up to crazy levels on discogs as they go out of print. Of course, I am in that demographic and love the collector stuff, but with so many people also in the market all of a sudden, 5,000 to 10,000 copies of a popular title worldwide hardly seems like enough anymore. Then again, the market is over 34,000 and Toyota Camry can cost up to $50k, so I guess it’s all relative to the times!
When vinyl is no longer our little secret, and more people are in on it, of course the prices for used vinyl are going to rise. More people chasing the same amount of used records equals higher prices.
Read below I have made a post in this thread somewhere when SRV Couldn't Stand The Weather came out about hot records. I also think it was around Marvin Gaye WGO that I started to notice over the top gain used on mastering these records. I have my playback setup very hot, it plays 99% of my records just fine, but there will always be one record here and there that will push it into distortion. All our systems are different and the whole chain of gain from the cartridge, phono stage, preamp will handle a record differently as well as the resistance loading. By the time it gets to the preamp and power amp it's distorted and that's what our systems will putout. Any system can make a record distort it all depends on how much gain is in the mastering, our cartridge (mv), Phono Stage db gain, and the the db gain in the preamp. All these steps are accumulative and if a record is mastered out of the norm it pushes our systems into distortion while not doing it to most of our records. If you don't have any adjustability in the phono staging like loading and gain that a lot of us have you could use a different cartridge. Many people with a system that has a built in fixed phono staging might also have a turntable with removable head shells. You can always switch to a cartridge that has less mv than the one your hearing distortion from. I think MFSL is starting to master these records very loud (Hot), it gives a perceived (Better Sound Quality) to the listener. Many labels are starting to do this also and it's like the loudness war with CDs. I have my frontend phono system setup to be Hot/Loud in playback for the same reason with most other records. But when I put on a hot record I also have adjustability in my phono stage and can change loading and gain that one or the other will reduce the output and play the record good. I think some of it is the vinyl revival but most who are buying this type of records are the ones that have been around for awhile. Most of us already have some of the best old pressings and past OOP audiophile copies of these same titles. But we have also been through a time when even TOTL audiophile records where not as good as what's been coming out the past 10 years or so. We now have a competition between some audiophile labels that are really pushing the limits to be the top label to go too for the best records. Old timers that have been wanting the best they can get for a long time are sampling and buying these records. Then you have the new to the game wanting a easy rout to the best they can get, they read threads and recommendations on sites like this and end up just buying into this type records.
There was an email last week that said it was going to start shipping next week. I have no cards in the game though as i didnt order one
I just got billed for the One-Step of Blood Sweat and Tears - and my Music Direct order says shippable. So my assumption is BST will be shipping soon if not today!!!
I wish MFSL would just go to Chad and have QRP plate & press the records for them, they would have no surface noise to try and hide.
Is there some kind of link at MD to preorder Muddy Waters Folk Singer in the one step? Out of this whole batch of new one steps coming out it's the only one I'd really would get, at least as a preorder.
Maybe I'm lucky, but I don't find QRP to be any better or worse than MFSL from RTI with respect to surface noise. On the other hand, QRP is much more likely to be warped or off-center.
Oh I love the pressings from ORP even the ones they do that are $19 BTW Bruce your very local to me, I also live in San Mateo...
Pretty shocking that 10,000 Tapestry sold out. Love the record!! But I'll bet there's speculators buying copies to flip. I can see 5,000 true music fans buying the record...
