Fear Inoculum in Vinyl


Anybody else enjoying the vinyl edition of this great album ? I thought the CD was well recorded but to my ears the vinyl edition is much better. My vinyl playback and digital system are very close in sound quality with different presentations. I could do without the extras that pushed up the price but having said that if you like Tool and play vinyl this album is a must listen.

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I think it would be worthwhile comparing the vinyl vs. the CD based on the very different mastering. According to the DR Database, vinyl measures as having extremely low compression which should result in good dynamic range. The source tapes being analogue might make this ADD recording a treat to listen to.

The CD and download mastered by RL has compression that is audible on my system. Even so, the digital is very well mastered. Thanks to @tallnotshort for the background details.

To my ears, even a $1200 table w a $400 stylus surpasses a $5500 cd player in the form of more detail, accuracy of timbre and better tonality balance. Player dynamics has more to do with after the source.

As far as "clicks and pops", unless there is damage to a record, I hear no clicks and pops during playback. Even a cheap record cleaner goes a long way for better vinyl reproduction.

@tallnotshort , mwinkc, geof3, lowrider57 & arro222 your responses are very much appreciated. It is posters like you guys that keep me coming back to this forum.

I know the engineer on that record and it was recorded extremely well and sounds very good IMHO.  He is the master at guitar sound and drums.  He also recorded 10,000 Days.    Hes done some Queens Stone Age records and Slipknot too.  I think he is the single best rock engineer out there.   He was featured in Sound City movie.  Anyone watched that?  

OF course the LP sounds different from the CD!  But why does one HAVE to be better than the other and why argue about two different delivery mediums that people use?  They are different surely, and we get to choose which one we like.  Isn't that enough?   

 

Brad

We all waited quite a while for this. Rumors of it coming out 2 years ago on RSD did not pan out as I think that RSD got cancelled due to pandemic. I had a buddy in town the other day who also collects vinyl. We went to see my vinyl guy and I kiddingly asked him when Fear Inoculum was arriving. He said he already sold 5 and kept 1 for himself. I was like, "Huh?". Didn't even know it had come out as I kinda just gave up on it happening. He said he could order me one but would be $189. Understandably, everyone has to eat. I said that I would let him know. We stopped at 1 more record store on the way home and there it was. Still sealed and $139. Mine. My favorite Tool on vinyl this far. I think they could have pressed onto 3 albums, etched the final side, priced at $99, and probably have sold more.