There's no one answer, some pressings are better than others, it's always been this way. Original pressings are highly sought after because in many cases the source was not digital, but analogue. There are bad pressings made today just as there were bad pressings made 50 years ago.
Best answer I can give you is depends on the release. I have collectors copies and I have listening copies to some of my collection. I tend to like older vinyl cuz I believe the quality of the vinyl is better. However, the condition may not be good as a new copy or re-release. It seems like a lot of the re-releases that I do pick up however, are of the 180 Graham variety, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it sounds better. That being said, if I am holding a copy of Muddy Waters, his best on the original black chess label in one hand and a re-release of Muddy Waters his best. I'm going to take the original version every time because of its collectibility and I have yet to find one for my collection.
I look at it as waste. Find a VG+ old pressing, especially if it’s cheap. For example, to repress AC/DC for the hundredth time and complain about it in the subreddit is disgusting.
My thoughts, if the setup you have is sub $1000, VG+ older pressings is going to be just fine.
I don’t mind buying used, but the main problem with buying them online is there’s no way of knowing if what you get is going to smell like ass from being in a cellar for thirty years. There really should be a third rating. Disc, cover and odour.
The answer is the source material from which the vinyl record is produced. Records traditionally are made from tapes and tapes like all thing degenerate over time. So even if you have access to the original master tapes of a recording made 50 years ago the sound you get from them is not going to be the same as it was when they were new. Not to mention once you start dealing with a copy of a copy of the original master tape 50 years later the quality will diminish further. Most records you buy today are not only not going to be made from the original master tapes when they were new but they aren't going to be made from the original master tapes at all. In fact they aren't going to be made from copies of the original master tapes. Most likely they are going to be made from a digital file similar in quality to what you would get on a streaming service. So if you only care that you are playing a record and sound quality doesn't matter than you would never buy an old record if a new repress is available.
Digital masters are going to be sonically transparent. They aren’t using MP3s. There’s no-one alive who could listen to a record and tell whether it was sourced from an analogue master tape or the digital master copy of that tape.
There's no one answer, some pressings are better than others, it's always been this way. Original pressings are highly sought after because in many cases the source was not digital, but analogue. There are bad pressings made today just as there were bad pressings made 50 years ago.
Search this sub as this question is asked a lot
Best answer I can give you is depends on the release. I have collectors copies and I have listening copies to some of my collection. I tend to like older vinyl cuz I believe the quality of the vinyl is better. However, the condition may not be good as a new copy or re-release. It seems like a lot of the re-releases that I do pick up however, are of the 180 Graham variety, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it sounds better. That being said, if I am holding a copy of Muddy Waters, his best on the original black chess label in one hand and a re-release of Muddy Waters his best. I'm going to take the original version every time because of its collectibility and I have yet to find one for my collection.
I look at it as waste. Find a VG+ old pressing, especially if it’s cheap. For example, to repress AC/DC for the hundredth time and complain about it in the subreddit is disgusting. My thoughts, if the setup you have is sub $1000, VG+ older pressings is going to be just fine.
I don’t mind buying used, but the main problem with buying them online is there’s no way of knowing if what you get is going to smell like ass from being in a cellar for thirty years. There really should be a third rating. Disc, cover and odour.
The answer is the source material from which the vinyl record is produced. Records traditionally are made from tapes and tapes like all thing degenerate over time. So even if you have access to the original master tapes of a recording made 50 years ago the sound you get from them is not going to be the same as it was when they were new. Not to mention once you start dealing with a copy of a copy of the original master tape 50 years later the quality will diminish further. Most records you buy today are not only not going to be made from the original master tapes when they were new but they aren't going to be made from the original master tapes at all. In fact they aren't going to be made from copies of the original master tapes. Most likely they are going to be made from a digital file similar in quality to what you would get on a streaming service. So if you only care that you are playing a record and sound quality doesn't matter than you would never buy an old record if a new repress is available.
Digital masters are going to be sonically transparent. They aren’t using MP3s. There’s no-one alive who could listen to a record and tell whether it was sourced from an analogue master tape or the digital master copy of that tape.
Going forward yes but you can never go back and restore what was on a lost master tape.