Fear Inoculum in Vinyl

Vinyl is still a very flawed playback medium.

Limited dynamic range compared to the compact disc.

@jackhifiguy you and Mike Fremer can duke it out as to your assertions. My money is on Mike. I have a halfway decent vinyl playback as well as digital and enjoy both mediums. The vinyl version simply sounds better to me.

I got it as a friend is a tool fan.
Sound pretty good on vinyl to me.

(Better than in his car on an iPod.)

A vinyl recording has the ability to have a wider frequency response than cd.

@slaw 

Even if that is true, it doesn't matter much.

CDs have greater dynamic range than vinyl. And besides, we cannot hear ultrasonic frequencies and they do not exist in music.

Oh, goody.

Another know it all has joined the forum.

This is the same person that asked if all DACs sound the same.  Troll. 

The album was recorded in 2019 in digital.

No point in owning the LP  other than you like "vinyl."

The LP/CD/file will sound the same-assuming each medium is of the same caliber.

No.

Vinyl has clicks, pops, and hiss.

Even if you have an expensive turntable, your system will have nonlinearities that digital systems are immune to.

Not saying digital is perfect, but it's still better.

Not at €144 for the vinyl, qobuz will have to do for now.

So much misinformation on this thread. 

@jackhifiguy = professional troll. Ignore him and he’ll probably go away…

I haven’t listened to the cd version, but I have listened to the Tidal master version and I have to say the fidelity is disappointing. Not very good dynamics, pretty flat, wasn’t impressed. I love the title cut. I really hope Maynard has it re-recorded with fidelity best possible fidelity in mind. They put on a great show. I saw them in Tulsa recently.

None not a pop click or hiss in my Analog system.

Total ASR rubbish.

The vinyl should sound better than the CD and download. Check out the DR numbers.

Even though there is high compression on the download, the album sounds good through Qobuz. Probably due to a good mix and mastering.

https://dr.loudness-war.info/?artist=Tool&album=Fear+Inoculum

+ 1 table jockey 

@ozzy62 Ozzy if I'm a troll, you must be donkey.

Vinyl is an outdated, overhyped, technically inferior format.

and on top of that vinyl is expensive. 

I'm with Yeti42 on this one... I would like to have the LP, but I'm not interested in all the etching and other add-ons.

Ozzy if I'm a troll, you must be donkey.

Vinyl is an outdated, overhyped, technically inferior format.

and on top of that vinyl is expensive. 

Ok Audiogon. Here it is for all of you to see. Nothing more need be said.......

I love it in both formats. One of my favorite albums for sure.  

Vinyl is just bad.

@ozzy62 + 1

Good stuff, Maynard! 

I am disappointed in some of the responses to this post. I simply asked if anyone had listened to this great album. If you don’t like vinyl playback that is your problem but that wasn’t what I was looking for in this post. For the vinyl naysayers I would be delighted to play the CD and vinyl formats for you and you can decide which you prefer. I really enjoy digital playback but there is a musical presence to some vinyl recordings that the digital copies just can’t equal. I think that a lot of the vinyl naysayers haven’t had the privilege of listening to a really good vinyl playback system.

I own all formats - Vinyl, CD, and digital.  My preference is the vinyl.  Notes on the vinyl boxset state:

Recorded & mixed by Evil Joe on 2" Analog tape

Mastered for CD & Digital by Bob Ludwig @ Gateway Mastering Studios 

Mastered for Vinyl by Chris Bellman @ Bernie Grundman Mastering

Iwin, I have not heard the vinyl release of the album, but I appreciate your opinion on it's SQ. If I see a good price on it, I'll be less hesitant to jump on it.

Yes, trolls like Jackedhifiguy, who have a need to hijack threads to push their limited, prejudiced opinions on everyone certainly detract from the experience. 

One of my favorite bands! Didn’t buy FI on vinyl yet. I will for sure, but it’s not my favorite. It seems like a continuation of ideas from Aenima that got a little bloated. Being a drummer, Danny gets the job done, but in some ways the whole thing becomes a Danny show. 10,000 Years particularly. It’s all good. To the couple of vinyl fools in the thread, they just don’t have the gear to really let the medium shine. Having said that, it is an antiquated tech for sure, but it still delivers with the new tech having the ability to pull out every nook and cranny of the groove. To each their own! 

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. 

Why such a limited production run of the LP?? 

Cousin bought me the new Tom petty LP, I purchased the 2 LP GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY DBL vinyl, vacuumed, ran it on the platter, and not a pop, tick, absolutely great, my old records, most have some pops and ticks during playback, 

   The sound is relaxing, my dogs stay in the room, as for cd, dogs will get up and leave the room from the inaudible frequencies only dogs hear. 
 

  I love my,records, love my,CDs, love my LP TO CD transfers I do,myself, a few pops, but I like it, good late 70’s and early 80’s memories of Dad playing,records in the evening.  Pops, ticks, etc don’t bother me at all.

Was Fear Inoculum only released as a box set? Has there been any news if there will be a standard album release? Waiting all these years for a new album and the price is $179.

It was only released as an expensive vinyl box set. It would be nice if they released the vinyl in a very basic package but the CD was lavishly packaged and they never released a less expensive version so they will unfortunately probably do the same with the vinyl.

Saw it for $134 for the vinyl over the weekend.

I like how it sounds on CD. That being said, I hear no clicks, pops, or hiss on my vinyl playback. Maybe the records being listened to with those noises need to be cleaned, or perhaps a new cartridge?

@lwin 

Most unfortunate. Thanks.

You can't hear it, but the imperfections are still there...they still exist!