Question on Love Love Love Bobby Hebb - Philips DEMO do they all have a light static sound? The Vinyl on mine looks solid VG+ full gloss light marks only but there is intermittent light static. Any info appreciated

I've always found Phillips Styrene pressings very fragile in terms of Stylus damage/burn compared to similar. 

They just don't seem to hold up to many plays.

Philips styrene is so easy to wear out if played too much!

I only played my copy of "You won't change me" Bobby Hebb once or twice to make sure it ok then put it into the collection. Would only play it on a rare occasion!

My demo of "Love,Love,Love" plays well, but I have an issue copy as a play copy. They don't cost much to buy.

Same goes for Blue Rock styrene! Really easy to wear out!

Thanks all - WE HATE STYRENE :0( 

The Devils plastic

 

UK copies of these items are a better investment - they'll virtually last for ever!!

On 01/03/2021 at 18:32, Soulboyrecords said:

Thanks all - WE HATE STYRENE :0( 

Not me ! I have many great styrene pressings that I much prefer to the vinyl pressing counterparts if they ever came out on both. What is a fact is that styrene is more prone to wear than vinyl. But what a good mastered and pressed styrene record can dish-out on a proper phono set-up is much deeper sound wise than that of any vinyl pressing can achieve in playback.

Philips styrene pressings (Blue Rock, Mercury...) are not great. Very true. Their mastering job so-so. Prone to high frequencies distortions. And the styrene plastic quality weak. Even mint they sound "bad" in comparison. Motown's styrene where pretty good for example. Although I've had some that I much prefer on vinyl. The earbuds have their reasons that the head can't explain.

There's good styrene out there like there's bad vinyl as well. What one should never forget either is that those records were made to see a large conical stylus on a MONO cartridge. To get it right in the first place will give you the best out of the groove as well. Then there's the rest of the phono chain but that is all together another matter. But of utter crude importance still.

On 01/03/2021 at 17:49, Halogen said:

Philips styrene is so easy to wear out if played too much!

I only played my copy of "You won't change me" Bobby Hebb once or twice to make sure it ok then put it into the collection. Would only play it on a rare occasion!

My demo of "Love,Love,Love" plays well, but I have an issue copy as a play copy. They don't cost much to buy.

Same goes for Blue Rock styrene! Really easy to wear out!

'You want to change me' on American Philips 45 pressings all suffer a 'hiss' all the way through. As if it was something that went wrong with mastering job or with the master template... For myself I kept a Canadian pressing that like the British copy (same method) dubbed the American record to re-master it and get rid of what they found not to their liking.

In this case an evident pressing flaw that for some reason that escapes me got through the quality control stage... Although it's a "cleaner" version (in this case rather crucial for a proper playback time) it's also poorer in a way due to that dubbing process. I do hear the difference and I know where my preference is most of the time ; with the original country of lease.

14 hours ago, Tlscapital said:

Not me ! I have many great styrene pressings that I much prefer to the vinyl pressing counterparts if they ever came out on both. What is a fact is that styrene is more prone to wear than vinyl. But what a good mastered and pressed styrene record can dish-out on a proper phono set-up is much deeper sound wise than that of any vinyl pressing can achieve in playback.

Philips styrene pressings (Blue Rock, Mercury...) are not great. Very true. Their mastering job so-so. Prone to high frequencies distortions. And the styrene plastic quality weak. Even mint they sound "bad" in comparison. Motown's styrene where pretty good for example. Although I've had some that I much prefer on vinyl. The earbuds have their reasons that the head can't explain.

There's good styrene out there like there's bad vinyl as well. What one should never forget either is that those records were made to see a large conical stylus on a MONO cartridge. To get it right in the first place will give you the best out of the groove as well. Then there's the rest of the phono chain but that is all together another matter. But of utter crude importance still.

Yes I think the Columbia styrene (ztsc, ztsp etc) is good quality styrene. Also Monarch delta triangle matrix, is good styrene as well!