180/200g Vinyl master recordings. Opinions?

[Kieron]

Looking at replacing some vinyl with the new 180g / 200g master recordings. One of my favourite records of all time - Sinatra at the Sands is available in a 180g version.

Expensive though at almost £50. I'm led to believe that the quality is a step up from the old pressings. Anybody have an opinion on the audiophile versions of old albums.

I'd also be looking at the Queen and Police 180g's too.

Have quite a decent set-up for replaying them.

Cheers all!

 

[Kieron]

I should add that I haven't used my vinyl collection for many years (probably early 90's) - from searching around the 'net I find that these 180/200 pressings have been around for some time.

 

[cwilson]

Sorry to say, there is no hard rule for re issues, or weight of the vinyl. Some of them are well mastered, well pressed and sound superb, others sound worse than the lighter original, and the pressing quality on some leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[alexs2]

If you have a system that's up to the job,some of these are superb.

Sinatra at The Sands is supposed to be just that.

 

[formbypc]

I'd suggesting googling for reviews of any that you might purchase, see if there's any comment on forums like these, because, as has been said, merely being a 180g or 200g pressing is no guarantee of quality.

The ideal is for the vinyl to be mastered from the original master tape(s), as per Mobile Fidelity's Original Master Recording series, but you could find that the 180g has been taken from second-gen or possibly worse

Even if the 180g HAS been mastered from the original master, if that master has been 'well-used' over the years, it could be in a worse state than it was in... 1965 or whenever. Through general wear and tear, it could have lost the top end, or generally be less distinct then when it was first made. In this case, you could well find that an original pressing, whilst not a 180g heavyweight, could trounce the original.

In summary, try and gain a picture from online reviews and other sources the 'provenance' of any pressing you're interested in, and base your judgement on that rather than merely the weight.

 

[Kieron]

Thanks chaps. have ordered Sinatra at the Sands.

I'm really looking to purchase the best possible versions of my favourite albums to start with - Thriller (of which there is a 180g version) and more etc.

I'll certainly read reviews before purchasing. Will take a good look at the rest of the Mobile Fidelity range too.

 

[coruja]

As mentioned by others, you need to check whether these 140/180/200g vinyl pressings are actually analogue pressings from a stamper made from the original master tapes. For £50 I hope they should be!

There are numerous re-issues for Jazz vinyl and almost all of them are digital pressings from CDs. They cost £15 - £20 and, although they sound OK, when compared to an analogue re-issue from say the 70s they don't come up well at all.

I think there is a lot of money being made from this last hurrah of vinyl, from a generation who remembers it and now have the money to spend on luxury re-pressings. But most of the time you can get better sound from a good second-hand copy.

As formbypc said 'Provenance' is the key!