What does it mean when the vinyl pressing is labeled 'audiophile'?

[walpurgis]

IMV VTA is not that important to the point that record thickness will play any part. Just my 3 penceworth.

There are those who may have palpitations from the shock of reading what you just said Grant. Not me mind you!

[Barry]

An observation that the cartridge/arm VTA setup is only an approximation that will vary for different record thicknesses. I doubt that many people will adjust their arm height setup for each record. It is a possibility that subtle variations in VTA could well account for a thicker record sounding a bit dull relative to a thin record. My suggestion would be to try a thinner mat to see if that helps.

Oh, I'm sure there are some fanatics out there who do that: noting the approved VTA setting on the rear of the LP sleeve. Of course they will use an arm whereby the VTA is easily adjustable.

[alphaGT]

I'm having palpitations! No not really, usually, the 180 gram vinyls are the ones that are supposed to be the "Audiophile" versions, so I tried to get my VTA perfect for those. And it leans a bit forward on the thinner records. So I try to break even, it's not very far really. Depending on the length of your arm, short arms are more greatly affected. But I guess if you've got one of those VTA towers on your arm that allow for quick adjustment, than changing record thickness gives you a reason to fiddle with it! That's why we play records isn't it? So we can make our adjustments and tweak the sound? That's what makes it better than CD right?

I jest, but if you do have an arm with the VTA adjustment with big numbers printed on the top, you'll probably know by heart what number to adjust to depending on the record thickness. So it's not that big a deal for them. My old record player, the Project Debut, playing a 180 or 200 gram record and the arm would almost touch the edge, visibly running up hill! One of the reasons I upgraded to an outfit that had adjustable VTA.

I have heard that how important VTA is greatly depends on the cartridge. Or perhaps the cut of the diamond? Some may have a wide window of correctness, while others a narrow margin. You will be making the adjustment during playback, and suddenly the sound comes into focus, highs and lows stretch out, sound staging opens up. On some that comes in gradually and never gets but so great, while others are bad right up until they are great! They quickly pop into focus and the difference is night and day! So, it could depend on what cartridge you own as to whether it's worth making the adjustment for a record's thickness?


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[Haselsh1]

Agree about Audiophile pressings. Can be great, no guarantee. Just like all vinyl. What pisses me off is the way that some very thin old albums sound better than their audiophile reissues. I'd cite "Ziggy Stardust" as a good example. My original "Dynaflex" copy - so thin you can almost see through it - still sounds better than my recent copy. And that's despite its having been played many, many times over with all sorts of crude equipment, and in smokey boozy parties. For all the modern tech, I wonder if the cutting of decent masters is becoming a lost art.

Yes, totally agree with you there regarding the Ziggy album. My ultra thin and flexy copy sounds sublime.

[Joe]

Anyway, what's your opinion on what qualifies as 'audiophile' issue?

If my limited experience of hifi shows is anything to go by, it's either 'safe' jazz music, usually with a breathy female vocalist, or the same old Pink Floyd/Dire Straits stuff that everyone knows off by heart, so they can spot where Roger Waters clears his throat on track 3 of DSTOM.

[struth]

Yes, totally agree with you there regarding the Ziggy album. My ultra thin and flexy copy sounds sublime.

Got n old thin copy too. Someone wanted to buy it earlier lol. Had that for many years, and yes it does sound excellent

[magiccarpetride]

Got n old thin copy too. Someone wanted to buy it earlier lol. Had that for many years, and yes it does sound excellent

Haha, another thing that sounds curious to me is the claim that holding a thick, beefy 180 gram LP in your hands gives you that feeling of quality. No! It's the opposite for me. When I'm holding that heavy hunk of plastic in my hands, I actually feel like I'm dealing with some dull carelessly hobbled product. It is those flexible, sexy LPs from the days of my early youth that give me the sense of care and craftsmanship.

It takes all sorts, I s'pose.

[alphaGT]

Just as with CD's, I never bothered to replace any of my original collection. Any 180 gram records I own are albums I never owned previously. So I don't have the old copy to compare. I do have a new copy of Rainbow on red vinyl that looks very cool when taking pictures of my record player!

I read an article a few years ago concerning the fact that all the old companies that supplied vinyl to the pressing plants were long out of business, so the pressing plants got together and made a whole new formula. The article claimed that the original recipe was lost to the ages, but I find that hard to believe.


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[magiccarpetride]

Just as with CD's, I never bothered to replace any of my original collection. Any 180 gram records I own are albums I never owned previously. So I don't have the old copy to compare. I do have a new copy of Rainbow on red vinyl that looks very cool when taking pictures of my record player!

I read an article a few years ago concerning the fact that all the old companies that supplied vinyl to the pressing plants were long out of business, so the pressing plants got together and made a whole new formula. The article claimed that the original recipe was lost to the ages, but I find that hard to believe.


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So far, all the brand new 180 gram pressings I've purchased sound dull to me. It must be the thickness of the record messing with the VTA, or it is true that the new pressing plants were forced to invent new ways of producing LPs. Could it perhaps be that, in the effort to demonstrate how different vinyl sounds compared to digital files, the new way of pressing LPs intentionally leans toward the darker, duller, more muffled sound?

(I remember my buddy, who was at the time working in a hi fi store, relating to me the story about one of his patients... er, customers: he went to the customer's home to install some expensive new component, and then the guy started bragging how his ultra pricey digital rig sounds so 'analogue'. My friend noticed something's odd, in a major way, with the sound. When he checked, turned out that the tweeters got totally disconnected for some reason. So the customer thought that, due to the lack of highs in the sound reproduction, it had more analogue quality?)

Maybe it's that line of reasoning that is informing the new practices in the LP pressing?

[Cas]

Generally it means that they can charge you more for it, whether it's crap or not.

Yup quite right.