If you’re looking for vinyl records that sound better than streaming, it’s a great time to be a music fan. For years, executives wondered how big the vinyl business could get — I remember being told it would peak soon in 2014, when the format accounted for $315 million in U.S. revenue, according to the RIAA, or 6.5% of the recorded music business. (Last year vinyl brought in $1.4 billion, or 7.9% of the U.S. total, just under the size of the U.S. Latin business.) For years, labels had a hard time just producing enough vinyl to meet demand. Now that these issues are sorted out, however, they are turning their attention to making better — and more expensive — vinyl.
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Some of the prices are surprisingly high — but, often, so is the quality. This fall, Interscope introduced its Definitive Sound Series (DSS) with deluxe editions of Dr. Dre’s The Chronic and A Perfect Circle’s Mer De Noms that sell for $125 each — they are made with a “one-step” process where a stamper is created directly from a master lacquer — and many albums from specialty reissue labels like Mobile Fidelity and Analogue Productions cost $60 or more. Warner Music Group’s Rhino and Universal Music Enterprises each started two new lines of reissues — Rhino High Fidelity and the more reasonable Rhino Reserve; and Verve Vault and Vinylphyle. This is the best time to be a vinyl fan since the format was phased out in the late ’80s.
For labels, the appeal of these releases is obvious: They can sell the same albums again, for more money, whether they do it themselves or license the recordings to an independent reissue label like Mobile Fidelity or Analogue Productions. I have now owned at least five copies of the first Velvet Underground album — a CD, a box-set reissue, a scratchy flea market record, a good vinyl reissue and this new Vinylphyle reissue — which is good business for an album that peaked at No. 171 on what was then the Billboard Top LPs chart. I think the Vinylphyle record sounds better than any of them, so it’s worth it.
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Do audiophile reissues really sound so much better? Is there really such a big difference? The answer is that it depends — first on whether you have a stereo and turntable good enough to get the most out of great vinyl, and then on the original source of the audio (analog or digital), the mastering, even the pressing plant. The jargon can get a bit thick — one-step process, half-speed mastering — so I listened closely and I found that many of this year’s high-end vinyl reissues sound obviously and significantly better than other versions of the albums. Here is a highly unscientific list of 10 of my favorites from 2025.
Rhino High Fidelity
Sure, Black Sabbath can sound like sludge — in a good way. But it doesn’t need to. On this $40 Rhino release, you can identify just what went into the band’s evil brew. The drums THUMP, the bass reverberates and the music has just as much power. Also available as a Rhino High Fidelity release: The band’s debut.
Mobile Fidelity
Mobile Fidelity is the OG audiophile label that has put out premium records since 1977, with a focus on jazz and rock. It has recently branched out into more adventurous releases like these two Davis live albums from his electric phase, both of which originally only came out in Japan. They are simply stunning — raw, wild and more akin to arty funk than jazz. These pressings — they’re both double albums and they’re both great — bring out every detail that previous versions buried in the mix.
Interscope Definitive Sound Series
Not much hip-hop gets the hi-fidelity treatment, so this is a refreshing exception, as well as the perfect way to launch Interscope’s high-end product line. The Chronic was made in the CD era, but this vinyl adds warmth that gives it an extra edge — without taking away any of the bass or boom. Beneath its flow and funk, The Chronic is a stone-cold musical masterpiece, and this edition presents it the way it deserves to be heard. Highly recommended.
Rhino Reserve
This is the only solo album that Parliament-Funkadelic guitarist Hazel released in his lifetime, and it was always hard to find, even as a CD. It deserves better: Hazel’s guitar crunch helped fuel the Mothership, and this album is just as wild. He turns the sunshine of “California Dreamin’” into a swirling psychedelic dream, and “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” is just as much of a trip. This is the treatment this album deserves.
Verve Acoustic Sounds Series
John Lee Hooker’s album for Impulse! paired him with jazz musicians and producer Bob Thiele, and it’s quieter and less raw than most of his work. It has just as much power, though, and this reissue, part of the generally fantastic Verve Acoustic Sounds Series, captures all of it. This is blues, recorded at the highest standard, without sacrificing any grit.
UME Vinylphyle
From Exodus, a revelation. Compared to another good reissue, this was like another record entirely — rounder and fuller, with a sound that seemed to come from an entire side of the room, rather than just two speakers. (This is what audio nerds call “soundstage.”) Sure, it’s reggae — the groove is the whole point — but this version sounds fuller and more satisfying.
Mobile Fidelity
Mobile Fidelity has the funk — in the form of reissues of Rick James’ Street Songs, James Brown’s Sex Machine and, best of all, the Parliament masterpiece Mothership Connection. It’s almost impossible to find an original pressing of the last one in great condition – I’ve tried! — and the CDs and other vinyl reissues don’t have the fullness or depth this album demands. The album is all funky fun – the Mothership defies explanation, so just listen – but this reissue makes clear just what incredible musicianship went into it. Light years beyond the digital version.
Analogue Productions UHQR
It’s a dangerous thing to comment on a $150 reissue called “The Royal Scam,” but I can’t make the obvious joke: Analogue Productions’ UHQR releases are state-of-the-art, and Steely Dan deserves this treatment more than any other band. (A friend used to joke that the ultimate fate of every audiophile is to have one vinyl copy of Aja and 10 stereos on which to play it.) There’s so much detail that this is how it must have sounded in the studio. If you’re not into Steely Dan, this won’t convince you. If you are, though, this is a steal.
Rhino High Fidelity Reel-to-reel
What could be more delicate and less practical than vinyl? Reel-to-reel tape! And it’s coming back – at least slightly and slowly. Analogue Productions has released a few albums on this old format, including a $450 version of Exodus, and Rhino just put out The Yes Album and T-Rex’s Electric Warrior for $300 each. I have to confess that I haven’t heard any of these, because I have neither the money nor the know-how to buy and set up a reel-to-reel tape machine — many cost $10,000 or more. But I’ve heard Electric Warrior sounds fantastic from someone whose opinions I trust.
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