Original or audiophile reissue?

An interesting question for vinyl collectors from came in from @SixtyWatt on Twitter earlier this week. I wanted to share the responses here. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!

Question:

Which is more important to you, original or audiophile pressing?

Replies:

• probably an original, but it depends on the record. bonus when the originals are audiophile quality.
• I would say audiophile, because i'm more of listener than a collector.
• I prefer first pressings! And I also take colors into consideration
• Originals. I think it's a psychological thing that audiophile pressings sound better.
• I prefer originals if possible, but I don't have the best record player. One day, I may change that.
• depends on how bad the sound of the orig is, but generally, audiophilia is for snoots

I myself can go either way - really depends on the album. Generally, I'm a listener first so audiophile pressings are great for that but if I had an original and audiophile pressing in front of me (which actually happened on Friday), I'd probably go original.

Comments

[Kumar McMillan]

For me, I value the quality of the music above all but I also like to have a piece of music on vinyl when possible. Many re-issues simply do not sound as good as the original because they themselves were mastered from a record or else were done cheaply. If an original sounds better [and I can afford it!] I'll go for that, even if it has more surface noise. If there is a well mastered re-issue or a 180 gram reissue or whatever then I am all for it. I can understand having originals simply for psychological reasons but it can get expensive!