Top 5 Best Sounding Records | Albums That Sound Better On Vinyl

Collect your own vinyl, and stop following others collections. If you find an album that you don’t skip any song, that’s a good vinyl for you.

I like your taste

I'm surprised that Led Zeppelin 2 (which, if you get the right copy from the right year has a gate fold -- pretty sure everybody knows which pressing I'm talking about), The Stooges' self-titled album (which, again, depends on the year - I recommend the 2LP RSD pressing which came out in 2018), NOFX's Punk In Drublic (find a first pressing copy, if you can) and The Propellerheads' Decksanddrumsandrocknroll didn't make this list.

Tom Petty - Damn the Torpedoes

The best sounding records in my collection are (in no particular order):

Radiohead “Hail to the Thief” (45rpm)
Radiohead “A Moon Shaped Pool”
Nine Inch Nails “Pretty Hate Machine”
No Doubt “Rocksteady”
Kansas “Leftoverture”
TOOL “Undertow”
Fiona Apple “When the Pawn”

I own all of these on both CD and vinyl, and they all sound much better on vinyl.

The No Doubt one is interesting too, because I don’t believe it was necessarily mastered for vinyl, but I did an A/B test with the CD on the same exact system, same speakers, same volume, and the vinyl sounds SOOOO good in comparison. It’s definitely thicker and warmer sounding, but it doesn’t lose any clarity or punch. I was kinda shocked by how good it actually held up against the CD.

Kinda the same thing with TOOL “Undertow.” That’s an album that I have admittedly never gotten super into before, but I got the vinyl because I was told by a friend that it sounded good. And it’s crazy… Just the sound difference alone was enough to make me love the album more than I ever did before. Just like the No Doubt album, it still has all the clarity, it’s just much thicker and lively.

I’m using a Denon DO-400 table with a Grado Prestige Red3 cartridge, though a set of Klipsch R-51PM powered speakers. I’m typically using an Ampapa A1 tube preamp, but the built in preamp on the Klipsch speakers sounds very good on its own. I just don’t use that as much because I like to keep the RCA input set to line level so I can run other equipment into it through a mixer.

Too fast, show close ups of the albums, if you can make us listen to a bit of them to appreciate, do talk slowly please to listen and retrospect. :-) and at the end thank you.

Well nice to hear. Meaning your opinion not the music. That shit sucks. Maybe the white stripes sounds good and maybe daft punk but no that shit is just all lamo

12" Singles running @45rpm are where it's at for appreciating sonics on vinyl, m8
not LPs running @33 1/3 ! Cheers :)

You have it behind you!!! “Tidal” by Fiona Apple (VMP). And sorry just discovered your content. We agree and have the same editions for Stripes, Damien Rice and Radiohead. So you’re a cool 😎 guy! Daft Punk I think is the same from years ago not the renewed issue

trench by twenty one pilots is an album that most people wouldn’t give the time of day to, considering who made it, but it’s one of the best produced album’s i’ve ever heard, and all the songs hit like a ton of bricks. that experience is amplified hundredfold on vinyl. easily the best album i’ve ever heard on vinyl, and the packaging of it is beautiful as well. the whole aesthetic of the album is really nice, with the cover being yellow and black and the gatefold having lots of foliage and more yellow on it. it’s an album i personally think any vinyl collector should own.

Love your choices.. I would like to share a masterpiece imo with you.. The Church-Starfish. This one I always go back to and it’s dark and powerful. Al tracks are excellent but a couple. Start with track 1 Destination, and get a firm footing on what’s to come.
Avoid any deluxe editions.

Record players are great

"Limited version"

The 2016 copy of “In Rainbows” I own is one of the best sounding albums I own.

Yessss. In rainbows too. Love it.

Will have to check out the Wilco album.

Like your comments on O. I remember listening to it over and over again when I first found it. I’m looking for a copy on vinyl.

Vessel sounds great, try it out

i’m really new to collecting records but i feel like Illmatic by Nas sounds amazing on vinyl

Everyone talks about Daft Punk RAM. Discovery is the real masterpiece when it comes to quality IMO.

RAM is great on vinyl one of the only I have.

Mad Season

Out of my small collection I think my best sounding record is Highly Suspect - Mr Asylum

Rick Wakeman, White Rock.

Is that a pioneer sx-890?

Born this way by lady gaga sounds amazing the eu original press 😍 same with the new red pressing

Bon iver. For Emma, forever ago. Wowza

I only clicked on the video because of the Daft Punk clickbait.

“Why is this not in a mofi sleeve?” Haha dude I felt that so much.

Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell, it's like you can hear the fingers on the strings.
Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days, similar, but it's the breathes that get you. Sam is in the room with you.

The best of Sade, amazing pressing

If you like them, Deftones White Pony sounds amazing on vinyl. One of my favorites I have for clarity and quality

Dreamboat Annie, Dark Side, Every Kingdom?

I have an OG pressing of Dirty Work by the stones (i know its not for everyone) but the first pressing really has great quality.

Elephant is amazing on vinyl, my only problem is that (this is probably just a problem with my turntable) there is some distortion on the vocals, mainly on the last song but other than that it just sounds so much more full of life, dynamic and captivating. It just flew by fast because I got so invested in the music. Also another album that I’ve heard sounds amazing on vinyl is the 2014 box set pressing of Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness by The Smashing Pumpkins. I only have the 2012 version so I don’t speak from experience but from what I’ve heard from people who have it the 2014 pressing is musical bliss (which is great because the 1996 pressing was a disaster and the 2012 pressing was pretty inconsistent in terms of quality, with some songs being audio gold and some being audio garbage) Smashing Pumpkins in general usually have great vinyl releases from what I have heard but the 2014 pressing of Mellon Collie is Defenitly worth tracking down

From a year after, 2014 RAM was the last daft punk album. But robots never die.

As much as i adore vinyl, nothing sounds "better" on it. Get real.

I just watched this video for the first time, daft punk split up yesterday 😣

Anything by Sade sounds insanely good..

You need to know how the music was recorded and mastered. Most of recordings made after mid 80s were recorded and mastered digitally.
When you convert digital source to analog output, how vinyl could possibly sound better than Hi-Res digital copy?

Should add Nirvana live on mtv to that list!

Hello, I am a music enthusiast from the Deep South of Japan.
Here is my recommendation.

Talk Talk “Spirit of Eden”
Mark Hollis “s/t”
Massive Attack “Mezzanine”
Cat Power “Dark End of the Street”

Handel’s Coronation Anthems by Acadamy & Chorus of St. Martin-in-the-fields Neville Marriner. ITS AMAZING!!! It is So good!!!

Any VeeJay or Atlantic LP’s from the fifties!

You should really get Buena Vista Social Club -Buena Vista Social Club, 2LP, 180 grams. Sounds fantastic.. I think it's the best sounding record I have.

Also very good:
Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring
Jazz Samba - Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd
I think Radiohead - Ok Computer double LP is also very nice.
Waltz for Debby - Bill Evans. Love it..

My list of shitty sounding records is way longer. Just tell me if you want me to list them ;) .

“Amazing Oral Experience”

Genuinely surprised no one has mentioned Donald Fagen's The Nightfly

Every time the vinyl Color switches you hear the hiss. Annoying.

Thomas Dolby - The Golden Age of Wireless. Not only sounds incredible but the songs are sublime