Welcome to Better Records... a different kind of record store. We specialize in finding used vinyl LPs, in every area of music, judged solely on the basis of one criterion: every record we sell must have exceptional sound quality. (Most of the time the music is great too of course.) We're so convinced that our records are superior to other pressings that we proudly offer a Full Money Back No Questions Asked Guarantee on each and every record we sell. If you are not completely satisfied with either the sound or the music, send the record back within 30 days and we will refund your money.Many of you may not be aware that no two records sound alike. Most record dealers ignore this fact, if they are even aware of it at all, and for good reason: it would present a logistical nightmare for them. Record dealers the world over simply do not have the resources (not to mention the expertise) to play, clean and evaluate the records they sell. They can tell you about the label. They can give you the visual grade. Some may play the record for surface quality. But none, repeat none (outside of ourselves of course) can tell you how a specific record sounds. For us, evaluating how a record sounds is all in a day's work. After 25 years in business I guess you could call it my life's work. You see, we actually like playing records. That's how we find the hundreds of Hot Stamper pressings you see on our site. Over the last ten years or so we've managed to get our record shootouts down to a science. Our staff of five devotes its time to cleaning and playing as many pressings of an album as we can find. We then make the best sounding copies -- we call them "Hot Stampers" -- available to those looking for the ultimate in analog sound. We encourage you to try your hand at a shootout or two on your own system. You might be surprised at just how different two apparently identical-looking records can sound. Our Testimonials section is full of letters from customers who were more than a little shocked at just how much better our Hot Stamper LP sounded when played against the one (or more!) they owned, especially if what they had on hand was a modern audiophile pressing.Our best records often go in our weekly mailer first, which is sent to our active customers. With any LP purchase you will automatically be added to our mailing list, which gives you first crack at many of our hottest Hot Stamper pressings.The links below should help you get acquainted with our site. We know it can be a bit overwhelming so be sure to drop us a line if you have any questions about what we do, how we do it, how to find specific records you may be interested in, or anything else you may have on your mind.Thanks for visiting. Please consider trying out a few of our Hot Stampers. We think you will find the sound quality of these very special pressings more than justifies their price.
Sonic Grades The sonic grades for our Hot Stampers are determined after cleaning them and playing them against our reference copies, other pressings and modern "audiophile" reissues. A+++ is our normal top grade, awarded to the record that gets everything right. We sometimes refer to it as Master Tape Sound, and we are quite fond of the abbreviation AGAIG, which stands for As Good As It Gets. (We have been known to award an occasional "Four Plus" A++++ grade to a record that goes far beyond anything we've heard before.) more Info
The sonic grades for our Hot Stampers are determined after cleaning them and playing them against our reference copies, other pressings and modern "audiophile" reissues. A+++ is our normal top grade, awarded to the record that gets everything right. We sometimes refer to it as Master Tape Sound, and we are quite fond of the abbreviation AGAIG, which stands for As Good As It Gets. (We have been known to award an occasional "Four Plus" A++++ grade to a record that goes far beyond anything we've heard before.) more Info
The sonic grades for our Hot Stampers are determined after cleaning them and playing them against our reference copies, other pressings and modern "audiophile" reissues. A+++ is our normal top grade, awarded to the record that gets everything right. We sometimes refer to it as Master Tape Sound, and we are quite fond of the abbreviation AGAIG, which stands for As Good As It Gets. (We have been known to award an occasional "Four Plus" A++++ grade to a record that goes far beyond anything we've heard before.)
The Better RecordsRock and Pop Top 100
Not Just The Usual Suspects
Click on any of the albums below to find the Hot Stamper copies that may currently be in stock. You can see all of our in-stock Top 100 titles here.
Originals vs. Reissues
Incidentally, just a couple of days ago I conducted my own shootout between the Red Label "Mingus Ah Um" I bought from you a few weeks back and my pristine, Six Eye White Label Promo original. To my surprise, you were absolutely right about the greater clarity of the former (starting with the snare drum on the first track). If I had to choose between them when selecting half a dozen "desert island" LPs (and "Mingus Ah Um" would definitely be one), the Red Label version would be the pick. Much obliged for the edification.
If you find this in any way hard to believe -- and how could you not? -- we encourage you to read our commentaries, many of which can be found by clicking on the link above. (There are literally hundreds of commentaries discussing the shortcomings of specific audiophile pressings peppered throughout the site, but the ones we've linked should do for a start.)
The Four Pillars of Success
We discuss each and every one of them in scores of commentaries and listings on this very site. Although none of it will come as news to anyone who has spent much time reading our stuff, we cobbled together this commentary to help formalize the process and hopefully make it easier to understand and follow.
Hard Work and Challenges Really Do Pay Off
For years we have been writing in-depth commentaries about the sound of specific records that we've auditioned in order to put them up for sale on the site. By now there are literally hundreds of pages of commentary in which we've tried to explain, often in great detail, exactly what we listened for and exactly what we heard when playing these pressings. We've tried to be as clear as possible about precisely which qualities separate the better sounding LPs from their competitors -- what they do right, and how you can recognize these qualities.
And Why You Shouldn’t Care
We like to say it’s not about the audio you have, it’s about the audio you do: how you set up your system, what you’ve done to treat your room, how good your electricity is and all the rest of it. Our current system is described below.
How Many Does It Really Take to Find One?
Yes, It's Taking Much Too Long
So Sorry!
Let me take this opportunity to give a more comprehensive answer, since the concept of Hot Stampers is not particularly well understood by the audiophile community outside of our admittedly rather small customer base. Only those who have spent a great deal of time reading the reviews and commentary on the site are likely to understand the importance of stampers. This is partly my fault, as this issue of stamper variability and quality is spread out all over the place, exactly where no one really knows.
No Two LPs Sound the Same
But wait a minute. That’s giving much too much credit to audiophile record dealers. Only a handful actually review the records they sell in the first place. Most cut and paste a review from the manufacturer and let it go at that. And the few that do write reviews are so far off the mark that they might as well be talking about another record entirely. I rarely see much relation between the sound they describe and the sound I hear when playing the same album.
