What is considered a good starter copy?

I am trying to understand what is a good starter copy. Took a 30 year break from vinyl
and started back in 2016.

I admit it took me sometime to catch up on the various pressings and audiophile offerings. I have purchased some used records and discovered flaws that made listening unpleasant to the point I never play them again. Usually I buy VG+ or NM and they are all over the place in playability.

On the other hand the more expensive used records I have purchased that have flaws but the quality of the music makes me overlook them. For example I recently purchased Trane’s Lush Life OG and it has visible tics on one track yet the remainder of the music is wonderful.

I guess I’m really asking is what should one expect from buying a starter copy?

 

music

 

@Gdgray Gary, welcome to the crux of used Vinyl buying on the web. As far as I'm aware there's only acceptable to keep and over-graded and unlistenable which requires returning and all its inconveniences. I would suggest starting a thread asking experienced Vinyl buyers their preferred sellers with no hassle purchasing guaranteed and proven reliablility. Just thinking out loud here as I have no skin in the game myself being a strictly CD/SACD guy.

 

Thanks for suggestions. Until four

Dave, much thanks for observations.
Basically CD/SACD guy myself until my wife gave me turntable upon retiring in 2016. I don’t buy that many used records because frankly when I reached a certain age I realized I don’t have the patience. I only buy from a few sources and have learned what you suggest about developing preferred sellers. I have bought a few things through this site and all have been great. I learned the hard way when I bought things on a hunch. I am good about returning records that don’t match grading.
Thanks again

 

You're most welcome Gary and enjoy your turntable.

 

I think a "good starter copy" is one that might have some noise that really kind of gets in the way a little bit, but it does allow you to hear the music and enjoy it without really annoying stuff like skips or jumps or long sections with a repeating tic, etc. A "good listening copy" I think can have some low level noise you can hear in between songs or faintly in quiet parts of music or maybe a few scattered non-repeating tics or other mild faults, but basically you can listen to and enjoy without too much thinking about the faults. A "keeper" copy is either one with essentially no important faults (maybe a few very quiet scattered tics that barely register but nothing else) or, alternatively in cases of very poor pressings which you just won't be able to find perfect copies because of the pressing itself, a "keeper" copy could be one with faults but which is as good as you are going to get. That's my little thoughts.

 

A good starter copy is something you get for a killer price and that you can sell when the better copy comes around

 

A good starter copy is anything cheap and in really great condition. Go for condition and lowest price for starters. Get the titles you like, and then upgrade as needed.

 

In my opinion a "starter copy" is a relatively inexpensive record due to some condition issue that you will eventually want to replace with a better copy. Basically at the other end is a "final upgrade copy" that will be at the top price due to the condition being hard, if not impossible, to be bettered.

 

I think this depends. A starter copy precludes that it will be eventually replaced. So, generally something that sound ok just to have the music that will hold you until you can locate either a higher graded copy or a better sounding pressing. They're good to have because you have some kind of reference to compare the eventual copy.

 

In my experience, a “starter copy” is dollar bin junk that happens to be a rare album so people think they can get a premium for it. If it’s an album you really enjoy I wouldn’t recommend buying a “starter” copy because it probably wouldn’t be worth it

 

Yep, a starter copy means someone is trying to recoup their losses and pass on a piece of junk that they should not have bought in the first place.