Ingo
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2004
- Posts
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So, I have two copies of Led Zeppelin II. One copy has zero scratches, looks basically brand spanken new, and plays pretty good. I've always thought the sound was a bit dull, but I always attributed it to the age of the recording.
Well, thing is, I never broke out the other copy of 'II' because I knew it had a bunch of scratches, the label was faded, and overall it just didn't appear to be in good shape.
I pulled the older copy down today just by chance and realized that it had never been cleaned, so I cleaned it and threw it on the table. I was amazed to hear that it sounded very good. Very little surface noise, despite the scratches. Not only that but I thought,"Dang, I don't remember this album sounding this good". So I pulled it off and put on the "better" copy. First, from the lead-in groove to the very end it has much more noise. It took me a while to pin it down, but it happened on "Lemon Song". There's a definite difference in the dynamics of these two copies. I took off the "better" copy and cued up 'Lemon Song' on the other. Night and day difference. WAY, WAY, better. After that I noticed that the "better" version is on pretty thick vinyl while the one that actually sounds better is on floppy vinyl.
I've had this happen before. I have a copy of 'Brother in Arms' that's on very floppy vinyl that is AMAZING. Not a tick or pop on either side. So I'm wondering to myself, is floppy vinyl generally quieter than thick vinyl?
Anyhow, it was quite a discovery since I've had both these lying around for a few years without ever realizing.
Thanks for reading!
Well, thing is, I never broke out the other copy of 'II' because I knew it had a bunch of scratches, the label was faded, and overall it just didn't appear to be in good shape.
I pulled the older copy down today just by chance and realized that it had never been cleaned, so I cleaned it and threw it on the table. I was amazed to hear that it sounded very good. Very little surface noise, despite the scratches. Not only that but I thought,"Dang, I don't remember this album sounding this good". So I pulled it off and put on the "better" copy. First, from the lead-in groove to the very end it has much more noise. It took me a while to pin it down, but it happened on "Lemon Song". There's a definite difference in the dynamics of these two copies. I took off the "better" copy and cued up 'Lemon Song' on the other. Night and day difference. WAY, WAY, better. After that I noticed that the "better" version is on pretty thick vinyl while the one that actually sounds better is on floppy vinyl.
I've had this happen before. I have a copy of 'Brother in Arms' that's on very floppy vinyl that is AMAZING. Not a tick or pop on either side. So I'm wondering to myself, is floppy vinyl generally quieter than thick vinyl?
Anyhow, it was quite a discovery since I've had both these lying around for a few years without ever realizing.
Thanks for reading!