Hi All,
I’ve noticed a lot of you seem to get Japanese pressings, SACDs etc and wondered where or who you get them from and if you’re prepared to share your sources ?
Thanks
Alan
Secondhand (often via Discogs), or CD Japan, which offers a fantastic service.
I bought my first Japanese pressing as a 15 year old in 1978, from a shop in Hammersmith; I’ve been collecting Japanese vinyl pressings, SHM-CDs, SACDs, CDs, even cassettes, etc ever since.
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As @TheKevster mentioned, CD Japan are a great source for SHM CDs, and it’s worth noting that their Led Zeppelin boxset carries the highest SQ rating of any of the various re-issues, certainly amongst those of us lucky enough to have captured it before the price went stratospheric.
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Alan, be aware that many of the very earliest Japan pressed CDs use pre-emphasis; this is usually taken care of automatically by a CD player, with de-emphasis applied, but when ripped to a file, the pre-emphasis needs to be compensated for, and here things get a bit tricky. AFAIK, iTunes automatically compensates, but I’m unsure about others.
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Thanks for the information gents, I fear cdJapan will be another rabbit hole I disappear down.
Took a look and ordered 2 different versions of the Nightfly, Aja, Pretzel Logic and Rickie Lee Jones. And had to delete several others from the basket as I can’t afford it all !
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I get my Japanese sacds and mqa discs from yesasia. They offer free shipping for orders over $79 and are very well packaged. I have yet to be charged anything by customs.
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From the late 70’s to early 80’s I used to buy the Japanese pressings from Virgin Records opposite Tottenham Court Road Tube station. I found them in most instances a superior pressing to the normal ones. I think I bought in total some 25 or more.
I was told by one of the assistants that had superior vinyl qualities, usually had a song sheet inside. I still play them occasionally, surface noise is kinder.
Regards,
Martin
Japanese pressings were lovely, especially where JVC virgin vinyl was used. However, digital entered the mastering chain much earlier in Japan (from the mid 70s) and was widely taken up. That combined with local mastering with eqs that often deviated considerably from the regular mastering in the US or UK, meant that the end result was a clean, pristine, but rather bright and papery flat sounding LP that ultimately seemed somewhat removed from the original recording. The best Japanese issues were usually (but not always - there were many notable exceptions) those that used original UK or US metalwork where you had the best of both worlds - the original mastering and cut combined with the best vinyl and pressing.
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