g-slice,
i sincerly doubt that simply vinyl uses a cd as their source, but i do know that they have an annoying habit of sometimes using digital masters. you know those "digitally remastered" cds that generally suck? it sounds like that except its on vinyl. a big giveaway in a digitally sourced piece of wax is a flatness (2 dimensional, no depth) to the sound... its not pretty.
its important to note that none of simply vinyl's packaging claims superior sound quality (all of mine that i've checked says "simply vinyl limited edition vinyl lp - classic albums, 180g virgin vinyl pressings, heavy quality sleeves"). while i collect multiple pressings i do it for quality not quantity, and because of that i don't actively seek out simply vinyl releases. essentially its a limited ed. import with questionable sonics.
sundazed is at sundazed.com - think of them as the criterion of vinyl, only better: they do excellent work on excellent albums, there's no crap in their catalog. classic records (classicrecs.com) has good stuff but its pricey. there's some killer company redoing dylan's entire catalogue in mono but hell if i can figure out who it is. big black sticker that says its a original master tapes all analog transfer 180g pressing, and damn they're great (and cheap, $12-14 in these parts). i don't know who they are (nor does anyone i've asked) but their catalog number starts with a "pc" - hell it may even be columbia/sony thats doing it, although i doubt it.
of your new purchase list the only one i've owned is nirvana's unplugged in new york. its okay, nothing special in terms of sonics but its the only available vinyl pressing (there was a very limited uk only pressing on, if i recall correctly, white vinyl but its also priced into the stratosphere).
totally with you on the taxi driver soundtrack man.
keep it real yo.
(carlo leaves with his 40oz malt liquor)
edit: btw, amusicdirect.com is a great retailer on the web.