New Vinyl Quality

Is anyone buying new vinyl pressing "off the Rack"? I have a pretty good collection of way older vinyl from the 70s. Most of the records are pretty clean and I have taken care of them over the years. I am thinking about the sound quality of newer material that isn't bought from specialty vendors. Just the normal stuff that is out there. I haven't bought new vinyl since the 80s when CDs first came out and I am wondering if any improvements have been made.

I occasionally buy records at Barnes & Noble and the sound quality is usually pretty good. Not to say I haven't bought a dud or two but that won't keep me from buying "off the rack". The cost seems to run around $20 to $22 which is less than specialty online vendors. However, I do purchase records from Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs and Acoustic Sounds (in particular Quality Record Pressings) with consistent good results. The price is often towards $30 but I pay more for a special record knowing the record will likely have excellent sound quality. The QRP records at Acoustic Sounds are well worth the extra money IMO.

As with your older records, and CDs too, much of the sound quality of new records is based upon how it was mastered. Records that were mastered by Doug Sax or Robert Ludwig stand out and we are lucky Ludwig is still working his magic. QRP has done some amazing work with reissues.

Thanks for the response and the comparison. I have browsed the B&N racks but haven't found any records I would purchase that I don't already have in some form. I agree the mastering is everything as far as the recording goes but the mechanical flaws with vinyl and the limited dynamic range is the biggest reason I don't buy them anymore. My biggest concern is that in the rush to cash in on the "rebounding" vinyl market that many will put out vinyl copied from something other than the original sources.

I would say some of the reissues fall into that category and account for the duds. So if it is a special record I will spend the extra for an Acoustic Sounds or MFSL version. In the long run it is less expensive to buy from a know good source versus eventually replacing a less that stellar quality record. Just my 2 cents.