Impex Records

I have five Impex issues and have NOT had an issue with any of them, except for the cheap plastic inner sleeves. Other than that all have been stellar sounding with none of the issues that others have previously criticized Impex for. Maybe I have been fortunate and avoided defective pressings?
In my experience these have been great purchases and I highly recommend them to prospective buyers.

I still can't get over how they press absolutely amazing sounding music but continue to completely screw up their QC and sell albums that come with serious scratches right from the factory. The majority of records I own from them do come with crackling and tearing noises all around (RTI vinyl is really not good...). This is so upsetting to realize because the albums they do absolutely need reissues, and even the $20-pressed-in- Blue Note reissues do get it right (mastering, pressing, everything). I. Just. Don't. Understand. It. Why do you sell broken (i.e. scratched) and sub-par records (lacking pressing quality) at a price and ignore your customers asking for replacements when they spent their hard-earned money?

Horrible quality control. Bought multiple records of the "SUPER CUT ANALOGUE DISK" series and all have serious pressing defects. Scratches are the most common thing with this label ever, if you buy Impex there's a 9/10 chance you'll receive a record with a severe scratch on at least one side of the record, if you're overly unlucky you get scratches in almost every track. We're not talking "light scuffs" here, but real scratches that (at least to me) make a song unlistenable. The records have an okayish surface, not particularly quiet, but not complete trash all the way either (but really not good!).

I bought multiple copies of "Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio - Misty" in the quest of finding one album that has no issues whatsoever, I was unsuccessful and will at this point simply stop buying from this label. EVERY Impex record I received is unsatisfactory to say the least, some are completely unacceptable. I will try to buy Three Blind Mice originals, I mean seriously, we figured out dead quiet records and top pressings and good quality control half a century ago and those folks at Impex charge $60 for a record that makes me upset instead of giving me chills when put on.

Lastly, I will try to Impex and ask what's the deal about buying $60 factory sealed records with scratches on them. I do hope things go well in the end, but seriously, I spent hundreds of € on those and I ended up getting a sub-par product at best. Very upsetting and frustrating experience.

The quality (cheap hard plastic) of the inner sleeves of the records do not match at all the level of the records nor the customer expectations. I do not know what drives this choice.

Top tier audiophile label doing stunning work. AAA mastering by top engineers, most LPs pressed at RTI. Unlike others, I have not had a huge problem with RTI inners, even though they are not my personal favorite. The frosted clear inners that RTI uses now are much better than the translucent pink ones they used to use a few years ago.

This company uses RTI and issues their records in plastic inner sleeves that are damaging to the surface of the vinyl. The record sleeves causes severe streaking, markings and even small hairline scratches. If I'm paying $35+ for an LP I expect the vinyl surface to be pristine and not look like it's already been handled and played several times. It's a shame because the LPs are very high definition with stunning overall sound. Now if you can just get some polylined or rice paper inner sleeves we'd be in business. I don't know about other collectors but I refuse to buy brand new LPs that already have the visual grade of "VG" right out of the package...a damn shame cuz they reissue some gems. Also FYI, you can still get pretty much their whole catalog on the Impex or Elusive Disc websites.