Beck — Morning Phase DSS One-Step (2025) vs Original Vinyl (2014)
The original 2014 Morning Phase vinyl is a strong, widely available cut—cohesive, pleasing, and absolutely serviceable. But the Definitive Sound Series One-Step meaningfully elevates the listening experience: the midrange opens up, Beck’s vocals gain grit and texture, and dense passages stay clearer and more transparent instead of blending together. It doesn’t change the album’s underlying production aesthetic (which can feel less organic than Sea Change at times), but it does bring you closer to the music—enough that if this record is one of your favorites, the One-Step is an easy recommendation.
1/9/20263 min read
Edition Details
Original 2014 vinyl (in print)
Mastered by Bernie Grundman; digital file created by Bob Ludwig.
Source: 96kHz/24-bit
Format: 180 gram vinyl pressed at Optimal, Germany.
The original 2014 vinyl arrived flat, clean and felt all of its stated 180 gram weight., playing quietly throughout. The cover is a standard non-gatefold made of light medium card stock. Inside there is a simple lyric sheet with a full-size black and white photo of Beck and a smaller color print included amongst the credits. Excellent vinyl quality for a standard $30 record.
DSS One-Step (2025) — Definitive Sound Series
Source: 96kHz/24-bit original vinyl files created by Robert Ludwig.
Vinyl compound: Neotech VR900-D2 180g
Vinyl mastering: Levi Seitz (Black Belt Mastering)
One-Step process / pressing: Record Technology, Inc. (RTI); One-Step process credited to Dorin Sauerbier
Limit: 3,000 numbered copies (one-time pressing) + certificate
The 2025 Definitive Sound Series (DSS) One-Step is premium in the way that matters: understated, intentional, and beautifully executed without feeling gaudy or overbuilt. It comes in a hard outer slipcase with a clean, elegant presentation, and the inner heavyweight gatefold (Stoughton-printed), which includes the liner notes, lyrics and photos inside, feels like a real upgrade in hand. Most importantly, the vinyl itself is the star: ultra-quiet Neotech VR900-D2 pressed at RTI, with dead-silent backgrounds and a “black” noise floor that stays silent from start to finish.
Morning Phase arrived in 2014 and was explicitly framed as a “companion piece” to 2002’s Sea Change—similar mood, similar late-night pull, but not the exact same kind of organic immediacy that makes Sea Change such a benchmark for a lot of listeners.
It’s also worth remembering: Morning Phase isn’t some forgotten side project—it won Album of the Year at the 57th GRAMMY Awards. So yes, it’s a “mood record,” but it’s a major Beck title—and it’s one that lives or dies on how convincingly the layers hold together.
Sound Comparison
The original 2014 pressing is very good. It presents the album in a smooth, cohesive, way—and it communicates the calm, string-rich atmosphere that makes Morning Phase what it is.
Where it can fall short compared to the One-Step, is that the midrange can at times feel restrained, almost a bit congested--and this results in less grit and emotion coming through Beck's vocals and hearing less "into the mix" on more complex compositions.
Say Goodbye is the high point of Side One. On the original vinyl, Beck’s vocal feels right in the room, and the sparser arrangement gives the acoustic guitar and banjo room to breathe.
But as good the original sounds. the One-Step breathes more, boasting a midrange transparency that opens everything up--Beck’s vocal, in particular, gains the kind of texture, grit and additional layers that better communicate his emotion, bringing him closer to the listener, which simply betters the listening experience.
On Blackbird Chain, the One-Step further separates itself from the original 2014 vinyl. There’s a lot going on in this track, but it stays fully transparent—nothing buried, nothing smeared—and it's likely that a lot of that is due to the One-Step process and ultra-quiet vinyl.
Upon hearing this track, I recalled having the same reaction after listening to the recently released One-Step of Tom Petty's Wildflowers --it's an experience best described as not just hearing further into the mix, but hearing more of it clearly at the same time. In both cases, I will never listen to the original again, as these 33 RPM One-Steps not only sound fantastic, but are without the one thing that prevents so many from regularly spinning them--the "45 RPM tax."
Verdict
So—is the DSS One-Step worth it over the original? It depends. If Morning Phase is one of your favorites, it’s an easy yes--and being limited to 3,000 copies worldwide, it will very likely sell out. If it isn’t a favorite, the original vinyl is still readily available, reasonably priced and very good sounding option.
DSS One-Step (2025): Recommended
