Audiophile Vinyl Is Finally Discovering the ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s

For years, the audiophile vinyl market has operated with a surprisingly narrow definition of what deserves premium treatment.

There is nothing wrong with another beautifully mastered jazz record, classic rock staple, or landmark album from the 1960s or 1970s. Many of those records are extraordinary, and I own plenty of them.

But how many times can we revisit the same handful of albums?

Meanwhile, entire generations of music fans grew up with R.E.M., Nirvana, Dr. Dre, Hole, Beck, Blink 182, A Perfect Circle, and countless other artists whose records rarely received the same level of attention from the audiophile industry.

That finally appears to be changing.

And this week's announcement of a new premium edition of R.E.M.'s Reckoning may be another indication that the traditional audiophile catalog is beginning to expand.

R.E.M.'s Reckoning Gets the One Step Treatment

Interscope has opened preorders for a new Definitive Sound Series edition of R.E.M.'s 1984 album Reckoning.

This is not simply another colored vinyl repress.

The $110 release is limited to 5,000 numbered copies and is mastered by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering from the original analog master tapes. Original producers Don Dixon and Mitch Easter were also involved in the project. The record is being pressed at Record Technology Inc. using Neotech VR900 D2 180 gram vinyl and the One Step manufacturing process.

On paper, this is exactly the kind of treatment audiophile collectors have traditionally expected from records by The Eagles, Steely Dan, Miles Davis, or other familiar names from the audiophile canon.

Except this time, it is R.E.M.

And that matters.

This Is Bigger Than Reckoning

The more interesting story is not really Reckoning.

Look at some of the music that has appeared in Universal's Definitive Sound Series.

Dr. Dre's The Chronic.

A Perfect Circle's Mer de Noms.

Beck's Morning Phase.

Blink 182's Enema of the State.

R.E.M.'s Chronic Town and Murmur.

More recently, Hole's Live Through This joined the series at $110, while Enema of the State is priced at $100 and The Chronic was offered at $125.

These are not albums normally associated with traditional audiophile demonstrations.

That is precisely why I find this interesting.

Audiophile music does not need to be a genre.

It should describe the quality of the reproduction.

A hip hop album deserves an exceptional pressing just as much as a jazz album. Alternative rock deserves one. Punk deserves one. Electronic music deserves one. Records made in the 1990s and 2000s deserve the same opportunity to show us what is buried in the original recording.

The idea that audiophile vinyl should remain permanently anchored to music recorded decades before many current collectors were born has never made much sense to me.

Universal Seems to Recognize the Problem

Perhaps the most encouraging part of this shift is that it appears intentional.

In an interview with Stereophile, Universal Music Enterprises VP of A&R Dennis Wolfe explained that the company's Vinylphyle program plans to concentrate on music from the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, including rock, R&B, hip hop, and pop.

Definitive Sound Series producer Tom Biery went even further, identifying what he sees as an underserved audience for premium vinyl: younger audiophiles whose musical tastes are not necessarily represented by the traditional high end reissue catalog.

That is an important recognition.

Someone whose formative albums were Nevermind, The Chronic, Dookie, OK Computer, Siamese Dream, Dizzy Up the Girl, or White Pony may care every bit as much about sound quality as someone whose reference records are from 1973.

The music that created your obsession with music does not suddenly become less worthy of careful mastering because it was recorded in 1994 instead of 1974.

The Chronic May Have Already Proven the Market Exists

There is also evidence that collectors will support these releases.

According to Stereophile, the Definitive Sound Series One Step edition of Dr. Dre's The Chronic sold out its initial pressing. The article specifically points to the title as evidence that listeners outside the traditional audiophile demographic are willing to purchase premium editions of albums important to them.

That should get the industry's attention.

For decades, audiophile labels have understandably relied on proven titles. If you already know that collectors will buy another premium edition of a famous classic rock album, licensing and producing it carries less risk.

But repeating the same records also creates a long term problem.

Eventually, collectors have enough copies.

Perhaps someone owns the original pressing, a Mobile Fidelity edition, an Analogue Productions release, a 45 RPM version, an anniversary edition, and a previous remaster.

At some point the question becomes unavoidable:

How many definitive copies of the same album do we need?

Expanding the catalog creates an opportunity to sell premium vinyl to people who may never have considered themselves audiophiles in the first place.

That is how the hobby grows.

But There Is Still a $110 Problem

There is one major complication.

The music may be getting younger.

The pricing isn't.

Reckoning costs $110.

Live Through This costs $110.

Enema of the State is $100.

Some Definitive Sound Series double albums have reached $125, and the current 45 RPM edition of Kacey Musgraves' Golden Hour is listed at $135.

That creates an interesting contradiction.

If the goal is to attract another generation of listeners into serious vinyl playback, are $100 to $135 records really the best doorway?

There is certainly a market for them. I am part of that market. I understand the appeal of chasing what might be the best sounding version of an album you love.

But I also think we should separate two ideas that are increasingly being treated as interchangeable:

Audiophile vinyl and luxury vinyl are not necessarily the same thing.

A record does not need an elaborate box, numbered certificate, oversized packaging, or triple digit price to sound exceptional.

Universal's Vinylphyle series may actually represent an equally important part of this story. Those releases use premium mastering and packaging while generally occupying a much lower price tier than the DSS One Steps. Universal originally described Vinylphyle as a program built around high quality mastering, RTI pressing, 180 gram vinyl, tip on jackets, and extensive source transparency.

That model could ultimately do more to introduce collectors to better sounding records.

And One Step Does Not Automatically Mean Better

There is another reason collectors should resist assuming that the most expensive version is automatically the definitive version.

The One Step manufacturing process itself remains debated.

Mastering engineer Kevin Gray has publicly questioned whether eliminating the traditional plating stages inherently produces a superior sounding record. Even the people producing DSS releases acknowledge that the mastering, source material, and condition of the recording remain critical to the final result.

That is an important distinction.

The words One Step, 180 gram, AAA, and limited edition can tell us something about how a record was produced.

They cannot tell us whether we will prefer how it sounds.

That still requires listening.

And with albums such as Reckoning, the comparison becomes particularly interesting because good sounding original copies already exist.

A $110 reissue does not merely need to sound good.

It needs to offer something meaningful enough to justify owning another copy.

This Is Still the Direction I Want Audiophile Vinyl to Go

Despite my reservations about the pricing, I think this shift deserves recognition.

For once, the debate is not whether we need another premium edition of an album that has already received multiple audiophile reissues.

Instead, we are starting to ask which albums from the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and eventually beyond deserve serious treatment next.

That is a much more exciting conversation.

Imagine what could happen if the industry continues in this direction.

Not simply the obvious blockbuster albums, either.

There are hundreds of records from the CD era that received mediocre vinyl editions, extremely limited pressings, or no vinyl release at all. There are albums whose original masters could potentially reveal far more than listeners have ever heard from their original CDs or early vinyl pressings.

Those are the records I want the audiophile industry searching for.

Not because the classics should disappear.

They shouldn't.

But the audiophile canon should continue growing.

The Next Generation of Reference Records

Perhaps Reckoning will become the definitive version of R.E.M.'s second album. Perhaps an original IRS pressing will remain perfectly satisfying. We will not know until people actually start comparing them.

But the existence of the record may be more important than the verdict.

An audiophile label looked at an R.E.M. album from 1984 and decided it deserved the same obsessive attention traditionally reserved for records from an earlier generation.

Then it did the same with Dr. Dre.

And Blink 182.

And Hole.

And A Perfect Circle.

That feels like progress.

Now I want to see the industry go much further.

Give us the great records of the 1990s that never received exceptional vinyl releases.

Give us the early 2000s albums trapped on compressed CDs.

Give us alternative rock, metal, hip hop, electronic music, R&B, punk, and pop.

Give today's collectors reference recordings that actually reflect the music that made them collectors.

The audiophile industry does not need to abandon the past.

It just needs to stop acting as though great recorded music ended there.