Optimal press the Blue Note Classic series, of which I have almost all. About 1 in 8 of the ones I bought have had issues. Not surface noise but non-fill. Non-fill is usually visible and sounds like rice bubbles in milk. Optimal are capable of making a very good record, but often don't. They are a big plant and it seems like they pump the production volume through at times of heavy demand, at the expense of quality. If this series had been pressed at Pallas, also in Germany, I would probably have bought the entire series instead of the one that I have. What you're experiencing sounds like surface noise (dirt), I have had the experience where a new record had constant surface noise through an entire side, I thought it was sounding improved after a second and third play so kept playing it and found after about a dozen plays it became completely silent... also, do you ultrasonic clean?
Hi Mark, it sounds like it was pressed using dirty vinyl, or dirty plates. I have cleaned throughly using two-stage vacuum clean followed by a two-stage ultrasonic clean / rinse (at least five full cycles on a Degritter mk2). I’m not sure what non-fill looks / sounds like. This sounds like the groove walls are peppered with tiny holes. Maybe you could describe it as ‘rice crispies in milk’. I’ve repeated the whole cleaning cycle and these tiny ‘ticks’ don’t seem to be getting fewer…
I’ve been loving the DG Original Source Series since right after it kicked off, and have 15 or so of them. After some initial quality issues, the pressings had gotten pretty good. Til this year. My Steinberg Box had 2 out of 3 defective. Looked like a child had scribbled on it with a razor, resulting in repetitive clicks for 10-90 rotations. Then as I was pulling one out of the inner I saw some vinyl shavings fall out of the spindle hole. I think those shavings are falling out during shipping and grinding against the good quality pressings and ruining them, so I alerted DG, and hopefully Optimal have addressed that issue. I have had 33-50% defective each batch this year, so I have decided to only buy these DG Original Source from Amazon going forward, as I don’t have the time for involving returns. It definitely sounds like your Stravinsky 2nd edition is a pressing issue. If that becomes common I will sadly be done with this incredible sounding series. Come on DG, please move the Original Source Series to a higher quality pressing plant!
Thanks for the feedback Jeff. It seems at worst the defect rate is around 50%. Personally, pain in the butt though it is, I'll live with that, for as long as DG remain "happy" to replace them. If it's a record I particularly want. How long DG will put with this though is another matter: if this situation leads to Optimal improving their quality of production then it'll be a good thing. If I was at DG I'd be putting immense pressure on Optimal to sort this (and compensate DG for this appalling defect rate).
Hi, love your channel. Thank you. I have decided to spend more time listening to classical music, but I know close to nothing to the genre. Please let us know which recordings you go for and I will buy those. I start with those two. Happy New Year!
Hi, I'm so pleased you're enjoying my channel. Thanks for the feedback. I shall be ordering more of these 'Original Source' recordings all of which will be what I would call 'popular classics'. Please stay tuned for more videos.
@@hakanwaerner1933 I particularly love the romantic French / Russian music of the early 20th Century. To me, it sounds like the musical equivalent of what was happening in visual arts at that time. Rimsky Korsakov, Ravel, Debussy, Dvorak...
I started collecting this series from the start, but the pricing and damaged sleeves have put me off. Also, a couple of times I have ordered records, paid for them and waited, and waited, and waited. When I contacted them to ask where my record was, I have been told tough luck, they don't have any and it is sold out.
Sorry to hear you've had such bad luck Steve. Whilst I wasn't impressed with the Stravinsky's pressing - I found DG very receptive to my emailed complaint and they have promised me replacements which I think are on the way to me. Of course I'll have to wait until they turn up before I can make any further judgement. Thanks for the feedback.
@@DaveDenyer Hopefully their customer service and quality control has improved. It was almost as if they were taken by surprise by the demand, which shouldn't have been the case with a large company like DG.
Dave we need to encourage the krauties they've finally got their act together - all thanks to the EBS team - DG always had the best engineers and sources and worst sounding records, apparently. this series the pressing amd mastering in incredible, classical music has come alive baby! I bought many of them in the first run of limited 2-3k copies but even those I returned upto 30% of them due to surface noise. C'mon Optimal you can do it! But kudos to them for putting these out, this is remastered classical music at its best in analog (who cares about the rest anyway)
I completely agree. I am delighted to see this series and will certainly be buying more. I am very impressed with the way DG responded to my complaint and am really looking forward to receiving the replacements. Optimal need to up their game: each year there are more and more really good pressing plants in the market so those that slack really need to pull their socks up!
I love this series. My copies Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and the Debussy/Ravel were perfect. My Schubert "Trout" Quintet and the Beethoven #7 were also perfecto. Got a bunch more that I haven't listened to yet, including the massive Karajan Bruckner cycle box. Can't wait for the upcoming Tchaikovsky Symphony No.1 "Winter Dreams" release, and the Karajan Mahler 6. I had a problem with the Boem Beethoven Sym. 6 "Pastoral" release (which was sold out) with some pops that could not be cleaned away, and DG replaced it.
Good to hear you’ve had, what 80% success with those you’ve played? That’s encouragingly better than my current 50%. Their attitude actually gave me more confidence to buy more titles.
@@inforobob There is no such thing as EU/UK or other type of copies for this Series. All of them are pressed in Germany (Optimal) and are worldwide releases (distributed by the parent company of DG: Universal)
Dave, when the first series was announced I ordered the Beethoven Seventh Symphony from a local record shop. As with your Stravinsky, the recording was incredible, but there was a scratch that lasted for many passes of the stylus. I took the record back to the store and they ordered another copy from DG. The second copy had a scratch that lasted even more passes of the stylus. These flaws were not something that a cleaner would eliminate. I took the second one back and have refused to order any more. It is a great disappointment that such a beautiful recording was so ill-served by the pressing plant.
I did give the Stravinsky many cleans. It didn’t help with the noise at all. Clearly a faulty pressing. I bought direct from DG and they have been very helpful in their response. I just hope the replacement’s good. Another viewer commented they had a good Stravinsky, so I’m confident they’re not all bad. Fingers crossed 🙏
That’s great to hear! Mine are both second pressings. However many people are saying they’ve had good and bad examples. Your 100% tally is certainly encouraging to us with lower success rates. 👍
I buy a lot of Blue Note Classics so they are Optimal. The rock titles I buy are usually pressed at GZ. From my experience over 200 records those two are more or less the same quality. GZ pressings suffer from motocross warp but none had non fill unlike Optimal. These days even QRP and RTI are a gamble. I flatten records myself because dealing with returns is such a hassle.
I’ve only had one faulty Blue Note Classic although I gave up as the replacement was similarly faulty. I also flatten records if necessary. Obviously we shouldn’t have to… Like you I’ve had a lot of warps from GZ. And several of the ‘Supervinyls’ pressed at RTI I’ve received are warped.
There’s no excuse for this shabby production, particularly not at this price. DG needs to sort this out immediately, where’s their QC? Thank you for sharing your experience and the time taken to make this video.
Hi Ron. I see they do need to tighten up QC, however the records look perfectly fine. Without playing them I’m not sure how they’d be able to do this. Play a sample from each batch? Several people have got good copies so there’s every chance DG test a good one and the rest get through. It might well be DG’s problem, but I feel this is entirely Optimal’s fault, and I hope DG gets their money back / free replacements from Optimal… And I hope Optimal pull their socks up, improve production processes, cleanliness etc.
as i wrote in another comment, a whole universal music group labels have qc issues...i don't know is optimal their main manufacturer, but this is beyond ridiculous for such big company!
@@pumaweek169I’ve no problems with the 40 or so Blue Note Tone Poets I’ve bought. But those are pressed at RTI. And I’ve only had 1 faulty Blue Note Classic, out of maybe ten records, and those are pressed at Optimum.
I really want this series to succeed so the other classical labels become inspired. I can't find that Abbado Debussy / Ravel here in the US and I won't pay international shipping so I keep waiting. At this point, I have the Bruckner / Karajan box set, the Steinberg box set, and about 7 other titles. I guess I am lucky so far in the pops and clicks department as my Rite of Spring did not exhibit that. I am really looking forward to the just announced Ozawa / Ravel set in March.
Hi Mark, I wholeheartedly agree. I want this series to succeed. I'm very pleased with the way DG dealt with my complaint and am looking forward to the replacement. I'm just on the point of ordering a few more: the Ravel box, the Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet, The Grieg... If funds allowed there'd be several more I would very happily buy (and probably will). So, out of those discs you have, how many would you say are noisy pressings?
I’m sorry to hear about Optimal production problems with this series. I’ve heard this from several people and it is really bad news. I’m not very much into classical music, but as a record collector I decided to pre order the first couple of sets when the series was announced, just to have some in the collection. I own 6-7 of the very first they released. Numbered copies from batch 1, produced late 2022 or early 2023, including La sacre du printemps and they are all absolutely perfectly pressed. I hope you’ll have your records replaced.
Hi Martin, I am so very pleased to hear you have so far 100% (6-7) records pressed fine. I really hope these faults are few and dealt with effectively because I really want this series to do well, so others follow DG's example. DG are replacing ym records so that's a good start. Fingers crossed!
l've clicks/pops on a number of new pressings as well, even though the LPs are 180g. l also have a bunch of (supposedly inferior) thin, recycled vinyls l bought over 35 years ago in the 80s and hardly a click or tick can be heard on any of them. Obviously, vinyl pressing in the 80s was down to a science, but it looks like pressing records has to be learned all over again.
Very good point John. I honestly think this whole "180g" thing is a con... 180g is not a measure of quality, only of how much plastic goes into each mould. There's nothing to say a thicker record will play better than a thin one (within reason). Many of my best sounding records are between 120g and 160g. Because people are led to believe that "180g" equals quality a unscrupulous pressing plant can just chuck a 180g lump of low quality plastic into a press and expect to to sell. In the 'old days', records were pressed onto 'just enough' plastic, by people who understood that the processes (time taken, cleanliness etc.) mattered.
Hi Markus, I agree 100%. I do not balme DG and am very pleased with the way they dealt with my complaint. There are more and more pressing plants coming on board recently and I hope this brings competition such that they have to make sure their quality is as it should be. Thanks for the feedback.
SACD 5.1 or blu-ray would be preferable formats for this type of music. This vinyl series looks beautiful but is extraordinarily over-priced. Newcomers are learning now why so many classical music lovers welcomed the CD format in the early '80s.
My experience apart from any defects about the original source DG is that although the sound is better i.e. separation, detail etc, the music is worse. The original source lacks emotionality and is not as musically communitive as the OG and is not as natural sounding.
I had issues with DG. I ordered from them and received something different, not what I pre ordered from this series. Then I had to prove to them what they sent me was incorrect, so I attached the bar code. To cut a long story short after a few emails they did admit it was their error, but were now sold out. I could have a store credit !!!! but I eventually got a full refund...never bought from them again.
I bought all the first pressings of this series. Love the sound quality and artistically these are superb. I’ve been quite lucky I guess, had to send back just one for a replacement which was not a problem for them at all. Indeed Optimal is not the best pressing plant I would say. Would these be pressed at RTI I would be over the moon. But it is not! Cleaning the records with my Degritter mkII helps, but I need to clean them 4 to 5 times to get them almost without c&p’s in the quite passages. A pity for all the hard work done at EBS and DG and than get it pressed at Optimal. Anyway, I still get acceptable results and the music and sound quality are not to be missed. The next batch will be released in February and a Ozawa boxset (4 records) in early March. I’ve pre-ordered them and hope Optimal will get the pressing quality on top quality as would be expected for this series. Love your in depth videos, thank you!
Thanks for the feedback: I'm delighted to learn you've had very few problems. Obviously my 50% success rate isn't great, but DG were really helpful when I got in touch. I'm definitely going to be ordering plenty more of these. Funnily enough, I do use a Degritter MKII, and pre-clean with a Loricraft. but no matter how many cleanings I gave it, I couldn't get rid of (nor even reduce) the multitude of tiny ticks on the Stravinsky.
hear hear! i am not buying classical music on vinyl, but i have some problems with dg releases as well...i bought moby and roger eno on dg and they are clicks and pops fest....awful pressing...and to make things worse, i have horrible experience with almost all universal music group labels ( blue note, ecm records, universal, you name it...)....they have scratches, they clicks and pops, and with some quiet passages it is pretty bad to listen to...mine percentage of bad pressings is even higher, maybe even 80-90% of universal music group labels and sub-labels have one or another pressing problem! and no amount of cleaning helps!
@DaveDenyer Last two Art Peppers from Contemporary series came poor to me. Replacement were poor too. Ben Webster At the Reinesence, total failure......etc. I ask my self how to go on. I order throu Amazon, I can ask for replacement, but It's anonying. If I think back, I should see it coming because of the delays. Here is the question, am I to blame for poor quality, do I ask to much if I want a record with no issues. In my country, there is no copys of first pressing of Blue Note and all jazz series so I depend on reisues, and they come bad. Regards from Slovenia.
I bought my first DG for an X and still have it almost two years ago. Brand new and almost unplayable. Gave air a clean and it’s probably the worst playing record in my collection. The artist is Jan Lisiecki playing Chopin. It’s disgusting quality. They should be embarrassed.
20 minutes is too much time to say that paying 59 euros for this snobbiness it's ridiculous. I bought three and I'm not buying not one more. I rather spend my money on cheaper records without the snobbiness that don't are full of dirty. This is not an audiophile series it's a money grab.
Another enjoyable vid:-)
Thanks again!
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks.
Optimal press the Blue Note Classic series, of which I have almost all. About 1 in 8 of the ones I bought have had issues. Not surface noise but non-fill. Non-fill is usually visible and sounds like rice bubbles in milk. Optimal are capable of making a very good record, but often don't. They are a big plant and it seems like they pump the production volume through at times of heavy demand, at the expense of quality. If this series had been pressed at Pallas, also in Germany, I would probably have bought the entire series instead of the one that I have. What you're experiencing sounds like surface noise (dirt), I have had the experience where a new record had constant surface noise through an entire side, I thought it was sounding improved after a second and third play so kept playing it and found after about a dozen plays it became completely silent... also, do you ultrasonic clean?
Hi Mark, it sounds like it was pressed using dirty vinyl, or dirty plates. I have cleaned throughly using two-stage vacuum clean followed by a two-stage ultrasonic clean / rinse (at least five full cycles on a Degritter mk2).
I’m not sure what non-fill looks / sounds like. This sounds like the groove walls are peppered with tiny holes. Maybe you could describe it as ‘rice crispies in milk’. I’ve repeated the whole cleaning cycle and these tiny ‘ticks’ don’t seem to be getting fewer…
Hi Dave, I have 8 releases of this Series, 5 of them had minor or more accentuated pressing defects, I have asked for a replacement in 4 cases...
Oh dear! That’s only about 50% then: same as me with my two…
I’ve been loving the DG Original Source Series since right after it kicked off, and have 15 or so of them. After some initial quality issues, the pressings had gotten pretty good. Til this year. My Steinberg Box had 2 out of 3 defective. Looked like a child had scribbled on it with a razor, resulting in repetitive clicks for 10-90 rotations. Then as I was pulling one out of the inner I saw some vinyl shavings fall out of the spindle hole. I think those shavings are falling out during shipping and grinding against the good quality pressings and ruining them, so I alerted DG, and hopefully Optimal have addressed that issue. I have had 33-50% defective each batch this year, so I have decided to only buy these DG Original Source from Amazon going forward, as I don’t have the time for involving returns.
It definitely sounds like your Stravinsky 2nd edition is a pressing issue. If that becomes common I will sadly be done with this incredible sounding series. Come on DG, please move the Original Source Series to a higher quality pressing plant!
Thanks for the feedback Jeff. It seems at worst the defect rate is around 50%. Personally, pain in the butt though it is, I'll live with that, for as long as DG remain "happy" to replace them. If it's a record I particularly want.
How long DG will put with this though is another matter: if this situation leads to Optimal improving their quality of production then it'll be a good thing. If I was at DG I'd be putting immense pressure on Optimal to sort this (and compensate DG for this appalling defect rate).
Hi, love your channel. Thank you. I have decided to spend more time listening to classical music, but I know close to nothing to the genre. Please let us know which recordings you go for and I will buy those. I start with those two. Happy New Year!
Hi, I'm so pleased you're enjoying my channel. Thanks for the feedback. I shall be ordering more of these 'Original Source' recordings all of which will be what I would call 'popular classics'. Please stay tuned for more videos.
@ Thanks. I believe popular classics could be a good start for me.
@@hakanwaerner1933 I particularly love the romantic French / Russian music of the early 20th Century. To me, it sounds like the musical equivalent of what was happening in visual arts at that time. Rimsky Korsakov, Ravel, Debussy, Dvorak...
I started collecting this series from the start, but the pricing and damaged sleeves have put me off. Also, a couple of times I have ordered records, paid for them and waited, and waited, and waited. When I contacted them to ask where my record was, I have been told tough luck, they don't have any and it is sold out.
Sorry to hear you've had such bad luck Steve. Whilst I wasn't impressed with the Stravinsky's pressing - I found DG very receptive to my emailed complaint and they have promised me replacements which I think are on the way to me. Of course I'll have to wait until they turn up before I can make any further judgement. Thanks for the feedback.
@@DaveDenyer Hopefully their customer service and quality control has improved. It was almost as if they were taken by surprise by the demand, which shouldn't have been the case with a large company like DG.
Dave we need to encourage the krauties they've finally got their act together - all thanks to the EBS team - DG always had the best engineers and sources and worst sounding records, apparently. this series the pressing amd mastering in incredible, classical music has come alive baby! I bought many of them in the first run of limited 2-3k copies but even those I returned upto 30% of them due to surface noise. C'mon Optimal you can do it! But kudos to them for putting these out, this is remastered classical music at its best in analog (who cares about the rest anyway)
I completely agree. I am delighted to see this series and will certainly be buying more. I am very impressed with the way DG responded to my complaint and am really looking forward to receiving the replacements.
Optimal need to up their game: each year there are more and more really good pressing plants in the market so those that slack really need to pull their socks up!
I love this series. My copies Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and the Debussy/Ravel were perfect. My Schubert "Trout" Quintet and the Beethoven #7 were also perfecto. Got a bunch more that I haven't listened to yet, including the massive Karajan Bruckner cycle box. Can't wait for the upcoming Tchaikovsky Symphony No.1 "Winter Dreams" release, and the Karajan Mahler 6. I had a problem with the Boem Beethoven Sym. 6 "Pastoral" release (which was sold out) with some pops that could not be cleaned away, and DG replaced it.
Good to hear you’ve had, what 80% success with those you’ve played? That’s encouragingly better than my current 50%. Their attitude actually gave me more confidence to buy more titles.
EU/UK copies?
@@inforobob There is no such thing as EU/UK or other type of copies for this Series. All of them are pressed in Germany (Optimal) and are worldwide releases (distributed by the parent company of DG: Universal)
I received one that had a gouge in it!
Oh no! Hope they sent you s replacement without any fuss.
Dave, when the first series was announced I ordered the Beethoven Seventh Symphony from a local record shop. As with your Stravinsky, the recording was incredible, but there was a scratch that lasted for many passes of the stylus. I took the record back to the store and they ordered another copy from DG. The second copy had a scratch that lasted even more passes of the stylus. These flaws were not something that a cleaner would eliminate. I took the second one back and have refused to order any more. It is a great disappointment that such a beautiful recording was so ill-served by the pressing plant.
I did give the Stravinsky many cleans. It didn’t help with the noise at all. Clearly a faulty pressing.
I bought direct from DG and they have been very helpful in their response. I just hope the replacement’s good. Another viewer commented they had a good Stravinsky, so I’m confident they’re not all bad. Fingers crossed 🙏
Hey, thats Kind of Strange. I bought the full series so far and ita close to Perfect. Maybe you have the second pressings?
That’s great to hear!
Mine are both second pressings. However many people are saying they’ve had good and bad examples. Your 100% tally is certainly encouraging to us with lower success rates. 👍
That's a great pity. Oh and I've emailed you a challenge for the New Year!
I buy a lot of Blue Note Classics so they are Optimal. The rock titles I buy are usually pressed at GZ. From my experience over 200 records those two are more or less the same quality. GZ pressings suffer from motocross warp but none had non fill unlike Optimal. These days even QRP and RTI are a gamble. I flatten records myself because dealing with returns is such a hassle.
I’ve only had one faulty Blue Note Classic although I gave up as the replacement was similarly faulty. I also flatten records if necessary. Obviously we shouldn’t have to…
Like you I’ve had a lot of warps from GZ. And several of the ‘Supervinyls’ pressed at RTI I’ve received are warped.
There’s no excuse for this shabby production, particularly not at this price. DG needs to sort this out immediately, where’s their QC? Thank you for sharing your experience and the time taken to make this video.
Hi Ron. I see they do need to tighten up QC, however the records look perfectly fine. Without playing them I’m not sure how they’d be able to do this. Play a sample from each batch? Several people have got good copies so there’s every chance DG test a good one and the rest get through.
It might well be DG’s problem, but I feel this is entirely Optimal’s fault, and I hope DG gets their money back / free replacements from Optimal…
And I hope Optimal pull their socks up, improve production processes, cleanliness etc.
as i wrote in another comment, a whole universal music group labels have qc issues...i don't know is optimal their main manufacturer, but this is beyond ridiculous for such big company!
@@pumaweek169I’ve no problems with the 40 or so Blue Note Tone Poets I’ve bought. But those are pressed at RTI. And I’ve only had 1 faulty Blue Note Classic, out of maybe ten records, and those are pressed at Optimum.
I really want this series to succeed so the other classical labels become inspired. I can't find that Abbado Debussy / Ravel here in the US and I won't pay international shipping so I keep waiting. At this point, I have the Bruckner / Karajan box set, the Steinberg box set, and about 7 other titles. I guess I am lucky so far in the pops and clicks department as my Rite of Spring did not exhibit that. I am really looking forward to the just announced Ozawa / Ravel set in March.
Hi Mark, I wholeheartedly agree. I want this series to succeed. I'm very pleased with the way DG dealt with my complaint and am looking forward to the replacement.
I'm just on the point of ordering a few more: the Ravel box, the Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet, The Grieg... If funds allowed there'd be several more I would very happily buy (and probably will). So, out of those discs you have, how many would you say are noisy pressings?
Anybody know if the US versions are also pressed at Optimal?
I believe so, but am not 100% certain.
I’m sorry to hear about Optimal production problems with this series. I’ve heard this from several people and it is really bad news. I’m not very much into classical music, but as a record collector I decided to pre order the first couple of sets when the series was announced, just to have some in the collection. I own 6-7 of the very first they released. Numbered copies from batch 1, produced late 2022 or early 2023, including La sacre du printemps and they are all absolutely perfectly pressed. I hope you’ll have your records replaced.
Hi Martin, I am so very pleased to hear you have so far 100% (6-7) records pressed fine. I really hope these faults are few and dealt with effectively because I really want this series to do well, so others follow DG's example.
DG are replacing ym records so that's a good start. Fingers crossed!
when you pay serious money for audiofile records you must get a dead silence record ( or a very few very minor pops)
I agree Erik. Thanks for your comment.
l've clicks/pops on a number of new pressings as well, even though the LPs are 180g. l also have a bunch of (supposedly inferior) thin, recycled vinyls l bought over 35 years ago in the 80s and hardly a click or tick can be heard on any of them. Obviously, vinyl pressing in the 80s was down to a science, but it looks like pressing records has to be learned all over again.
I have thousands of records and I find records pressed in the 80's are the best. I don't often listen to that decade but the vinyl is incredible.
Very good point John. I honestly think this whole "180g" thing is a con... 180g is not a measure of quality, only of how much plastic goes into each mould. There's nothing to say a thicker record will play better than a thin one (within reason). Many of my best sounding records are between 120g and 160g.
Because people are led to believe that "180g" equals quality a unscrupulous pressing plant can just chuck a 180g lump of low quality plastic into a press and expect to to sell. In the 'old days', records were pressed onto 'just enough' plastic, by people who understood that the processes (time taken, cleanliness etc.) mattered.
I think it is not the fault of the labels but the pressing plants seem to be fully booked to such a degree that they neglect quality control.
Hi Markus, I agree 100%. I do not balme DG and am very pleased with the way they dealt with my complaint.
There are more and more pressing plants coming on board recently and I hope this brings competition such that they have to make sure their quality is as it should be. Thanks for the feedback.
and in that case you either change the pressing plants, drop the prices, or do something instead of asking 60 euros for sub-par products!
@@pumaweek169I’d say change pressing plants. Even at half the price who wants a noisy record?
@@DaveDenyer you are right...whatever universal is doing it is sub- standard...but, i wonder are the pressing plants pretty bad in general?
SACD 5.1 or blu-ray would be preferable formats for this type of music. This vinyl series looks beautiful but is extraordinarily over-priced. Newcomers are learning now why so many classical music lovers welcomed the CD format in the early '80s.
It's a good point; thanks for the feedback.
My experience apart from any defects about the original source DG is that although the sound is better i.e. separation, detail etc, the music is worse. The original source lacks emotionality and is not as musically communitive as the OG and is not as natural sounding.
Thanks for sharing your viewpoint Eddie. I haven’t enough experience, yet, to really comment on this.
I had issues with DG. I ordered from them and received something different, not what I pre ordered from this series. Then I had to prove to them what they sent me was incorrect, so I attached the bar code. To cut a long story short after a few emails they did admit it was their error, but were now sold out. I could have a store credit !!!! but I eventually got a full refund...never bought from them again.
That’s a shame. Sorry to hear that Ken.
I bought all the first pressings of this series. Love the sound quality and artistically these are superb. I’ve been quite lucky I guess, had to send back just one for a replacement which was not a problem for them at all. Indeed Optimal is not the best pressing plant I would say. Would these be pressed at RTI I would be over the moon. But it is not! Cleaning the records with my Degritter mkII helps, but I need to clean them 4 to 5 times to get them almost without c&p’s in the quite passages. A pity for all the hard work done at EBS and DG and than get it pressed at Optimal. Anyway, I still get acceptable results and the music and sound quality are not to be missed. The next batch will be released in February and a Ozawa boxset (4 records) in early March. I’ve pre-ordered them and hope Optimal will get the pressing quality on top quality as would be expected for this series. Love your in depth videos, thank you!
Thanks for the feedback: I'm delighted to learn you've had very few problems. Obviously my 50% success rate isn't great, but DG were really helpful when I got in touch. I'm definitely going to be ordering plenty more of these. Funnily enough, I do use a Degritter MKII, and pre-clean with a Loricraft. but no matter how many cleanings I gave it, I couldn't get rid of (nor even reduce) the multitude of tiny ticks on the Stravinsky.
The latest album from Max Richter was done by optimal for Decca and is one of the worst pressings I’ve ever had, just dreadful
Oh dear! Thanks for the feedback.
hear hear! i am not buying classical music on vinyl, but i have some problems with dg releases as well...i bought moby and roger eno on dg and they are clicks and pops fest....awful pressing...and to make things worse, i have horrible experience with almost all universal music group labels ( blue note, ecm records, universal, you name it...)....they have scratches, they clicks and pops, and with some quiet passages it is pretty bad to listen to...mine percentage of bad pressings is even higher, maybe even 80-90% of universal music group labels and sub-labels have one or another pressing problem! and no amount of cleaning helps!
Wow, sorry to hear you’ve had such bad luck. Thanks for the feedback.
The new standard, scratches and scuffs all over the NEW vinyl records. Some look worse then used. I find it funny when I read mint/sealed on discgos.
I agree. To be honest buying “sealed” previously owned puts me off. I’d rather buy an “opened, played once to check it’s ok” record…
@DaveDenyer Last two Art Peppers from Contemporary series came poor to me. Replacement were poor too. Ben Webster At the Reinesence, total failure......etc. I ask my self how to go on. I order throu Amazon, I can ask for replacement, but It's anonying. If I think back, I should see it coming because of the delays. Here is the question, am I to blame for poor quality, do I ask to much if I want a record with no issues. In my country, there is no copys of first pressing of Blue Note and all jazz series so I depend on reisues, and they come bad. Regards from Slovenia.
@@marjanopresnik73 no, I don’t think you’re wrong to expect good pressings. The pressing plants need to do better. Some are better than others.
One question. Outersleeves, Spincare?
@@marjanopresnik73I typically use “Blake Sleeves” outer sleeves, although I only changed over to them a few years ago…
I bought my first DG for an X and still have it almost two years ago. Brand new and almost unplayable. Gave air a clean and it’s probably the worst playing record in my collection. The artist is Jan Lisiecki playing Chopin. It’s disgusting quality. They should be embarrassed.
Thanks for the feedback Simon. Shame you didn’t get a replacement for the record.
@ couldn’t be bothered to be honest. 😊
20 minutes is too much time to say that paying 59 euros for this snobbiness it's ridiculous. I bought three and I'm not buying not one more.
I rather spend my money on cheaper records without the snobbiness that don't are full of dirty.
This is not an audiophile series it's a money grab.
Sorry you feel like that Filipe, but appreciate the comment.