Hey, Sefdivider!

I plan on picking some up at T.H.E. in a couple of weeks.

Way back in the day, I got to listen to some lacquers vs. final vinyl.

The lacquers were taken from some direct to disc recordings that had some musical flaws or flubs that prevented them from being used for the final record version.

The lacquers sounded better than the final vinyl.

So, your point about longevity of a new formulation will be an interesting one to follow.

With 45 RPM and single sided discs, there may also be some 'continuity' issues. I don't know how much I will dig changing discs (not just sides, discs) four times to get through "Somethin' Else." We're almost to the point where Art Dudley's passion for 78's gets him the same amount of playing time as newly made audiophile "LP's!"

In the long run, I don't think single sided 45's are going to fit how I listen, but the sonic angle is very exciting!

I've played clear LP's in the past, but they felt qualitatively different than the corresponding black LP and typically didn't sound as good. Perhaps this new formulation is going to be a boon!

I'll let ya know in about three weeks after I get my hands on some.

I've got a clear vinyl pressing of some Leo Kottke guitar music. I don't know why, but it doesn't particularly impress with it's sound quality. I've got 30 year old Island LP's of the Chieftains that sound way better. And they are black. I know one thing, you can't tell if you got all the dust off a clear LP.

My guess is that carbon black was added to vinyl to improve the record life, just it is in tires, and my hypothesis is that a clear vinyl LP would not wear as long as a black one, all things being equal.

Personally, I think this clear vinyl stuff is for the birds. This *is* high-end hoo-ha, if you ask me.

It's all about enjoyment of the musical experience. I've never listened to a really good LP, and thought to myself, "Wow, my experience would be so much more fulfilling if only this record were clear instead of black".

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My guess is that carbon black was added to vinyl to improve the record life, just it is in tires, and my hypothesis is that a clear vinyl LP would not wear as long as a black one, all things being equal.

I have a dim recollection ( most of mine are these days) that carbon black was added to vinyl to disguise impurities in the mix and a cover explanation was put out that black is better at absorbeing the heat generated by a stylus tracking high frequencies. The heat absorption myth sounds the most probable to me. I have several LP's in both black and semi-transparent versions, such as Sting's "Dreams of the Blue Turtles"and damned if I could ever hear any significant differences. Despite that colored vinyl always fetches more on eBay.
To my ears a more reliable predictor of sound quality is country of origin. In general I find English pressings better than Australian. German better than English and often Japanese better than both. US pressings I've found to be extremely variable with some brilliant and some utter crap. However, this is all complicated by year of production and that opens a whole new can of worms.
Still, we can all dream about a long run for a new improved vinyl formulation yet to be invented and sold at a reasonable price, not rip-off audiophile price, but I don't think any of us will live to see it.

The Dutch were pretty good at it too, as good the Germans, in my experience. All of my Philips disks are excellent.

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The Dutch were pretty good at it too, as good the Germans, in my experience. All of my Philips disks are excellent.

I'd agree as long as you're not including early Philips mono LP's, some of which were really horrible.