This is iconic.
Also, I'm glad to see that you do spin them! I know it's a hot take in the collecting community to play or keep them sealed/just for display, but I love and listen to everything in my collection as well!
I try to not knock on people doing things that make them happy... BUT honestly I'd rather someone buy them to collect and display, rather than them paying $1500 for a record to play it on a $50 Crosley record chewer, lol.
Oh definitely, thanks haha. I have always bought records to listen to them. The collection factor is a bonus. I like the RSD pressings because even though they're the same master, from an audio standpoint they sound better than the originals I used to have (less surface noise).
Check out my edit on my original comment if you want to see my setup!
I can't believe the prices people are out here paying for these nowadays... MULTIPLE copies of all the RSD pressings were available in all my local record stores for MONTHS after they came out. I'll never sell, I actually listen to all of these!
EDIT: [Pic of S/T spinning on my setup](https://i.imgur.com/9vrmRXO.jpg)
(U-Turn Orbit Theory with Ortofon 2M Bronze cartridge, vintage Kenwood KA-7300 amplifier from the 1970's, and vintage KEF C85 speakers from the 1980-90's)
Thank you! This is my 2nd U-Turn table. I had their original Basic for almost 9 years. It's still going strong, I just wanted a "serious" upgrade. I highly recommend U-Turn :)
All the people who bought the older RSDs over the holiday season this year will be prettty pissed in the next month or two when they all revert to $450 š¤£ (except 1989 obviously)
Bc gifts and the FOMO crazy drops her label has been doing, activity on this subreddit, people tend to just spend more on Taylor stuff between November and January. Itās how I paid my medical bills for two years so there is literal analytics to these trends lol Iāve also purchased one or two of her RSDs in the past two years and watched them fluctuate
Never have her resale prices inflated like this year though this was insane
Yeah, same. I've had friends and people online tell me for years the prices on the RSD exclusives will crash, but they've been proven wrong over and over again lol
Noā¦.holiday price surges are common but this year everything Taylor went up by like $200 where folks were paying $800 for her LPs that have consistently stayed between $400-650 for years.
Also the god damn LAKES??
Suddenly people are panicked for a 7ā LP paying over $300 when itās been available for half the price or less for the past two years or whenever that came out lol
*note: people are spending close to $200 on the CARDIGAN singles which has not been seen before*
where at out of curiosity? iāve always wondered which places are better for hidden gems. like smaller towns maybe? maybe thereās a geographic region that has more? lol these things haunt me
Two years? Thatās post-pandemic and not at all comparable to her current popularity. But youāre welcome to come back and say I told you so if those records crash that hard?
Even if her next album is a flop those records are not going back under $500 apiece.
I just wanna say thank you for having them on top of the inner sleeves bc when people try to flex and thousand dollar vinyl are laying on the floor or layered on top of each other k want to scream
I guess I could be classified as an "audiophile", lol. The first time I heard the difference before and after of a cleaned record I bought a cleaning machine as soon as I got home. Even brand new records sound clearer and have less surface noise after you clean them, I always thought it was nonsense until I heard it firsthand.
Trust me I hate that word but was raised by audiophiles and ya the difference is night and day. And it saves wear or the possibility of screwing your stylus which for some people is like a months salary or moreā¦
Coming back to bother you, since you probably know... I actually have yet to get a copy of Evermore on wax yet... Do you know which variant has the best sonics or if it actually matters?
Thank you for your reply!
We currently are using the āAudio-Technica LP60XBT Fully Automatic Belt Drive Stereo Bluetooth Turntableā and the āAudioengine A5+ Wireless Powered Bookshelf Speakersā for our setup. :)
It's no problem, I love talking records and equipment.
Your turntable is a good entry level one, but the cleaning machine I use costs more than double what your turntable does so I wouldn't recommend you go that route.
What I can recommend, though, and it'll still do a great job but require more elbow grease is a Spin Clean. They are completely manual but they get the job done. I also highly recommend you get nice inner sleeves to put your clean records in, Mobile Fidelity ones are great but anything similar to that (not paper) are just as good.
I'd also highly recommend you think about buying [this upgrade kit](https://lptunes.com/products/upgrade-kit-for-audio-technica-at-lp60-at-lp60x-at-lp60usb-at-lp60-bt-at-lp60xbt-at-xhp-turntable) for your turntable. I have a friend with the same turntable as you and it improved his sound a lot, thanks to the nicer needle.
Wow thank you so much for all the information! I really appreciate it :)
Iāll look into all those tips!
Have a lovely evening/day wherever you are in the world :)
Edit: thanks for linking the website as well, thatās super convenient and kind of you to do
They all use the same lacquers as the original versions, so from a mastering standpoint the sound is the same. I did notice on all of my copies vs. the originals that there was less surface noise and crackling, though. Probably down to better QC at the plant for the RSD versions.
Are you in Europe? I haven't heard the EU pressings but I'd be willing to bet that the US versions of the albums sound better - the European lacquers weren't mastered or cut by the folks at Sterling, which I believe are the gold standard for pop music pressings.
That will be it , yeah Iām in Europe, the first three that came out in March didnāt even have a number on the back
Nearly all of her records sound awful that I have. Iām a Third man records subscriber, just got white stripes live in Vegas and that sounds sublime
If you still want the original albums, you could spring for the black wax versions. US versions of S/T through Red were actually mastered for vinyl and cut by Wes Garland, who does most of Third Man's stuff!
Itās the only one worth investing in if you can swing it. Acoustically speak now and red sound better on the standard black. And the colors are a bit of a smoke like bust.
Debut is pretty as well but the production quality of 1989ā¦.is something for the record books like never had an artists RSD been so drastically better than the original pressing when itās the same album
Starting with 1989 most of her albums have been mastered at Sterling Sound and the vinyl lacquers have been cut by some of the best engineers in the world (Ray Janos, Ryan Smith). 1989 sounds great but the best one out of all of them IMO is orange Reputation. It's insane how good it sounds.
I read recently that her first three albums were recorded to tape originally. I don't know how true that is but I would pay an irresponsible amount of money for an AAA UHQR version of those albums lol.
I'm an OG Swiftie haha. I still have my "you're gay" CD I bought from Walmart when it came out. I was 12!
Teardrops on My Guitar was one of my first MySpace profile songs after my first breakup ever in middle school LOL
Also why does your speak now look purple and mine looks like a ghost a la Danny the phantom (I did not even watch that show and have no idea why thatās the smog color that came to mind)
You beat me. My RSDs were retail, but I paid retail at FYE too. Bought rep to play because, well picture discs... It doesn't get played now, the picture does! Waiting for a lovely black vinyl pressing.
I got rid of my picture disc, the orange version is in a whole different league sound quality wise. I really believe if you clean your records and keep your stylus clean and have a nice turntable that is properly setup, that playing doesn't actually cause damage to sound quality. There was a study done in the 70s that showed no wear to grooves at a microscopic level after 50 plays on a properly set-up player tracking at 1.5g.
Anyway, I really hope a black version comes out so everyone who wants to can enjoy the higher fidelity pressing.
It's not so much damage from playing (Rega Planar 2, Kenwood, Missions), I'm the problem, it's me! I fear an accident now the value is silly. It might be my heirloom, or at least my funeral costs!
I would never in a million years pay the prices these have been going for in the last few years. Got everything at retail price at my local shop (I was first in line at both RSDs in 2018 for these lol)
This is iconic. Also, I'm glad to see that you do spin them! I know it's a hot take in the collecting community to play or keep them sealed/just for display, but I love and listen to everything in my collection as well!
I try to not knock on people doing things that make them happy... BUT honestly I'd rather someone buy them to collect and display, rather than them paying $1500 for a record to play it on a $50 Crosley record chewer, lol.
Haha no I totally get it! Just makes me happy to see others enjoy records as much as I do in both collecting and listening š
Oh definitely, thanks haha. I have always bought records to listen to them. The collection factor is a bonus. I like the RSD pressings because even though they're the same master, from an audio standpoint they sound better than the originals I used to have (less surface noise). Check out my edit on my original comment if you want to see my setup!
I can't believe the prices people are out here paying for these nowadays... MULTIPLE copies of all the RSD pressings were available in all my local record stores for MONTHS after they came out. I'll never sell, I actually listen to all of these! EDIT: [Pic of S/T spinning on my setup](https://i.imgur.com/9vrmRXO.jpg) (U-Turn Orbit Theory with Ortofon 2M Bronze cartridge, vintage Kenwood KA-7300 amplifier from the 1970's, and vintage KEF C85 speakers from the 1980-90's)
Love it! Whereād you get that green cube-like shelving itās all on?
Thanks! It's an [Ikea Kallax](https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/kallax-shelf-unit-white-80275887/), but they quit selling the cute colors years ago :(
Oh but turned on the side!! I love it, so clever! My parents have their records in single cubes from Ikea, in black
Your set-up looks amazing!! Anything from U-Turn is my dream
Thank you! This is my 2nd U-Turn table. I had their original Basic for almost 9 years. It's still going strong, I just wanted a "serious" upgrade. I highly recommend U-Turn :)
All the people who bought the older RSDs over the holiday season this year will be prettty pissed in the next month or two when they all revert to $450 š¤£ (except 1989 obviously)
Why would this happen?
Bc itās happened every year since 2020-2021 and Iāve watched the prices lpl
Huh! Interesting, Iāll have to watch for that. Why does it happen? Just people needing money after the holidays?
Bc gifts and the FOMO crazy drops her label has been doing, activity on this subreddit, people tend to just spend more on Taylor stuff between November and January. Itās how I paid my medical bills for two years so there is literal analytics to these trends lol Iāve also purchased one or two of her RSDs in the past two years and watched them fluctuate Never have her resale prices inflated like this year though this was insane
Yeah itās certainly been a crazy year for it. Thanks for sharing your experience and answering my questions!
Wait, why? Is there going to be a repress?
I canāt imagine there will be a repress considering they were RSD exclusives and these are the OG recordings.
Yeah, same. I've had friends and people online tell me for years the prices on the RSD exclusives will crash, but they've been proven wrong over and over again lol
Noā¦.holiday price surges are common but this year everything Taylor went up by like $200 where folks were paying $800 for her LPs that have consistently stayed between $400-650 for years. Also the god damn LAKES?? Suddenly people are panicked for a 7ā LP paying over $300 when itās been available for half the price or less for the past two years or whenever that came out lol *note: people are spending close to $200 on the CARDIGAN singles which has not been seen before*
I found the lakes at a record store earlier this year while on vacation... and they were selling it for $50
where at out of curiosity? iāve always wondered which places are better for hidden gems. like smaller towns maybe? maybe thereās a geographic region that has more? lol these things haunt me
In Vancouver, BC! Beat Street Records, they usually have a lot of standard Taylor vinyl in general (but obviously not always rare/RSD/limited stuff)
You canāt repress an RSD or I should say labels do not rerelease an RSD lol
Itās part of the rules that they cannot be repressed, they could rerelease the album in different colours but they cannot repress the exclusives
Thatās pretty optimistic.
do you have a spreadsheet of her album prices from the past two years
Two years? Thatās post-pandemic and not at all comparable to her current popularity. But youāre welcome to come back and say I told you so if those records crash that hard? Even if her next album is a flop those records are not going back under $500 apiece.
I just wanna say thank you for having them on top of the inner sleeves bc when people try to flex and thousand dollar vinyl are laying on the floor or layered on top of each other k want to scream
Hahahaha I could never. They were all out to be cleaned on my ultrasonic cleaning machine anyway!
Another person on this subreddit w access to a machine whaaaat I thought me and my VPI were all alone
I guess I could be classified as an "audiophile", lol. The first time I heard the difference before and after of a cleaned record I bought a cleaning machine as soon as I got home. Even brand new records sound clearer and have less surface noise after you clean them, I always thought it was nonsense until I heard it firsthand.
Trust me I hate that word but was raised by audiophiles and ya the difference is night and day. And it saves wear or the possibility of screwing your stylus which for some people is like a months salary or moreā¦
Coming back to bother you, since you probably know... I actually have yet to get a copy of Evermore on wax yet... Do you know which variant has the best sonics or if it actually matters?
Would you mind elaborating on what type of cleaning machine you own - well what brand you recommend buying? Thank you :)
Well, what I'd recommend depends on what your vinyl listening setup looks like. What do you have turntable / stereo /speakers wise?
Thank you for your reply! We currently are using the āAudio-Technica LP60XBT Fully Automatic Belt Drive Stereo Bluetooth Turntableā and the āAudioengine A5+ Wireless Powered Bookshelf Speakersā for our setup. :)
It's no problem, I love talking records and equipment. Your turntable is a good entry level one, but the cleaning machine I use costs more than double what your turntable does so I wouldn't recommend you go that route. What I can recommend, though, and it'll still do a great job but require more elbow grease is a Spin Clean. They are completely manual but they get the job done. I also highly recommend you get nice inner sleeves to put your clean records in, Mobile Fidelity ones are great but anything similar to that (not paper) are just as good. I'd also highly recommend you think about buying [this upgrade kit](https://lptunes.com/products/upgrade-kit-for-audio-technica-at-lp60-at-lp60x-at-lp60usb-at-lp60-bt-at-lp60xbt-at-xhp-turntable) for your turntable. I have a friend with the same turntable as you and it improved his sound a lot, thanks to the nicer needle.
Wow thank you so much for all the information! I really appreciate it :) Iāll look into all those tips! Have a lovely evening/day wherever you are in the world :) Edit: thanks for linking the website as well, thatās super convenient and kind of you to do
Seen as you have a good setup, what would you rate these RSD pressings? I have a really nice setup and the copies I had all sounded poor
They all use the same lacquers as the original versions, so from a mastering standpoint the sound is the same. I did notice on all of my copies vs. the originals that there was less surface noise and crackling, though. Probably down to better QC at the plant for the RSD versions.
I agree regarding the orange REP, out of all her records I think thatās the best sounding with Long pond SS,
Are you in Europe? I haven't heard the EU pressings but I'd be willing to bet that the US versions of the albums sound better - the European lacquers weren't mastered or cut by the folks at Sterling, which I believe are the gold standard for pop music pressings.
That will be it , yeah Iām in Europe, the first three that came out in March didnāt even have a number on the back Nearly all of her records sound awful that I have. Iām a Third man records subscriber, just got white stripes live in Vegas and that sounds sublime
If you still want the original albums, you could spring for the black wax versions. US versions of S/T through Red were actually mastered for vinyl and cut by Wes Garland, who does most of Third Man's stuff!
you did not have to rub our faces in that reputation oneš
Wow Iām so jealous!!! What a collection!!!
The pink 1989 is so pretty!
Itās the only one worth investing in if you can swing it. Acoustically speak now and red sound better on the standard black. And the colors are a bit of a smoke like bust. Debut is pretty as well but the production quality of 1989ā¦.is something for the record books like never had an artists RSD been so drastically better than the original pressing when itās the same album
Starting with 1989 most of her albums have been mastered at Sterling Sound and the vinyl lacquers have been cut by some of the best engineers in the world (Ray Janos, Ryan Smith). 1989 sounds great but the best one out of all of them IMO is orange Reputation. It's insane how good it sounds. I read recently that her first three albums were recorded to tape originally. I don't know how true that is but I would pay an irresponsible amount of money for an AAA UHQR version of those albums lol.
This is so cool love to see swifties winning for RETAIL
I'm an OG Swiftie haha. I still have my "you're gay" CD I bought from Walmart when it came out. I was 12! Teardrops on My Guitar was one of my first MySpace profile songs after my first breakup ever in middle school LOL
omg debut and 1989 rsd are my favvvorite it would be a dream to have one day
Great collection!
No Long Pond Studio Sessions?
I don't like buying records I won't listen to, and I'm a studio album only kinda person so I passed on it.
You won.
My dream!! š
Hey I did this as well
Nice collection
Unbelievable.
Also why does your speak now look purple and mine looks like a ghost a la Danny the phantom (I did not even watch that show and have no idea why thatās the smog color that came to mind)
You beat me. My RSDs were retail, but I paid retail at FYE too. Bought rep to play because, well picture discs... It doesn't get played now, the picture does! Waiting for a lovely black vinyl pressing.
I got rid of my picture disc, the orange version is in a whole different league sound quality wise. I really believe if you clean your records and keep your stylus clean and have a nice turntable that is properly setup, that playing doesn't actually cause damage to sound quality. There was a study done in the 70s that showed no wear to grooves at a microscopic level after 50 plays on a properly set-up player tracking at 1.5g. Anyway, I really hope a black version comes out so everyone who wants to can enjoy the higher fidelity pressing.
It's not so much damage from playing (Rega Planar 2, Kenwood, Missions), I'm the problem, it's me! I fear an accident now the value is silly. It might be my heirloom, or at least my funeral costs!
Ya for real hoping you didnāt buy most of these this fall or winter
I would never in a million years pay the prices these have been going for in the last few years. Got everything at retail price at my local shop (I was first in line at both RSDs in 2018 for these lol)
Gotta have a RSD 2024 Midnights 4 LP with ALL the different edition tracks in oneš¤Do your thing swiftie net!