Quality Record Pressings

Analogue Productions is easily the best audiophile record label but QRP has been horrible with pressing quality lately (they used to be excellent). Every record I’ve gotten from them in the last year has had a lot of noise in quiet sections of music. I had AP send me four replacement copies of a UHQR before I realized that every one was noisy and that the plant isn’t of the quality that it used to be. Don’t let that stop you from buying AP releases because the mastering is amazing but don’t act like QRP is some magical plant that all other plants should aspire to be like.

Best pressing plant on the planet in my experience. Analogue Productions releases are the best and quietest vinyl I own. All pressed at QRP

I can’t say enough good things about QRP. Honestly, they are the main reason why I’ve gotten so hard into collecting vinyl. I personally haven’t had a bad record from them. If you look at my collection on here, you’ll see at least half are pressed by them. I will look up to see what albums they’ve pressed, then I’ll stream the albums I’ve never heard of. If I like it, I buy it on vinyl.

Seriously, no love for QRP in the reviews?? If I could have every record I bought pressed at QRP, I would be a happy man. A poor man, but a happy one.

Anybody else noticing their drastic decline in vinyl quality (talking surface noise)? I used to 'blindly' buy AP records and knew it was gonna be great and all good, but with the last 3 purchases I made, all pressed in 2020, I am very, very upset about the highly unpleasant surface noise. Sounds like 50 years old worn records, even tho there are no static pops or clicks. Not sure what's happening at QRP but I more or less just wasted about 200€ because those records are not going to be on the platter a lot, not to say, practically never (maybe when listening really, really quiet it may be acceptable). What a shame.

I have a few releases that don’t have the QRP logo in the deadwax but are d by Acoustic Sounds as being pressed by. Are there any other identifiers to spot a QRP press? Press ring size, etc.?

Much better than bottom-feeder plants like Rainbo and United but they still have some issues to work out. My biggest problem with this plant is their propensity to sometimes press records off-center, then perhaps an attempt to compensate by making the spindle hole larger than normal. Total cop out for an audiophile grade plant.

Factory warps and non-fill are an occasional issue as well. When the get it right - they get it right though - flat, dead centered, and surface noise free vinyl. I hope they work on QC. Definitely not the "best plant in the world" as some hype it to be. Still a good bit behind RTI and even Pallas IMHO.

UPDATE: over the last few years the quality control out of this plant has really taken a nosedive IME. Around 35-40% of the records I have received in the last 3 years or so end up being defective. Dish warping, split jackets, records pressed off-center, records with weird chips on the edges or sloppy trimming, etc. Definitely not as good as they used to be, at least IME.

Nice pressing plant, but off-centered and slightly warped records is a known issue, especially with the 200gram (for example The Doors 45's which sound outstanding, but some of the ones I got are a bit off-centered and slightly warped). That apart, the quality is amazing, but you would expect higher quality for a pressing plant promoted as the "best in the world", especially when you buy double LPs that go for $55! You wouldn't expect an off-centered record from such plant, but then you do get a few like that once in a while... QRP certainly could do better than that for the price, hope they improve their quality control eventually.