System Of A Down – Hypnotize

Never sounded so good !!! I hesitated when I Read Bad reviews, and later on I read good reviews and went and bought it, and I really regret not buying this before. It’s fucking fantastic !!

For what it is, it sounds really good. The over-compression/clipping is prime Rick Rubin doing his bs (like Death Magnetic and Californication). A remix so it sounds less brickwalled would do this album (along with Mezmerize) wonders. A second disc would also let it breathe way better. But if you’re trying to shove nearly 40 minutes of loud music onto one record, it probably isn’t going to sound much better than this.

Incredible Sounding record idk why ppl are hating on it, only had to clean it with antistatic brush before first playthrough

no surface noise except for the beginnings of both sides A & B
no skips or pops

setup
r980t active edifier speakers
audio technica elliptical stylus
fluance rt81 turntable

definitely the best system of a down album next to mezmerize, & their self titled album, would recommend to any fan

Of all the SOAD albums I own this is the best sounding one. My copy is perfect.

Unfortunately, out of all SOAD records I've got in vinyl (minus Steal This Album) it sounds the worst. Mexican pressings of the other albums are much better than this USA one. Its sound is okay, even pretty good but it really has strong sibilance and IGD towards the end, also I felt it too high on treble, like FM Radio EQ, and sounds very, very compressed, never thought vinyl could be so little dynamic. Still, it's the one I paid the less of all, so I think for the money it's fine, but as for sonics, hoping for a better repress.

The entire record sounds *fantastic* for me…. until the very end of “Soldier Side”. Very noticeable and jarring static noise takes over the entire soundscape.

It’s not enough for me to return or replace it - especially since this seems to be common and I’d likely face the same issue with a new copy - but yeah, it’s disappointing. Hopefully they’ll do a new 20th anniversary pressing next year.

Newish to vinyl. This is the first record I've bought and wanted to send back. There is a static type distortion especially towards the inner grooves of the record. The sound does shine somewhat on some tracks and not worthwhile at all on other tracks or portions of the track.

Disappointed overall. Hopefully a better cut emerges with a higher grade cover/sleeve/artwork. Just a low effort by Sony

Sent it back since I could. Experienced the static others decribed.

I didn't find any major issues with distortion, clipping or surface noise with this pressing. But I do feel there's a bit of clipping-distortion-like sound already present on the streaming side (I'm referencing Tidal Master) which may be more noticeable on the vinyl release.

If you listen carefully to Soldier Side you can hear it on some guitar bits, and it sounds like it'd be from the vocals sounding distorted (IGD?), but it's a different layer. If it was IGD I doubt the final riff would sound as clear as it does on vinyl, and if it was a mastering mistake it wouldn't be present on the digital version. Just saying, I may be wrong, but
I'd argue the saturation is there on the digital and I guess the required punch on vinyl just made it more out front.

Anyhow, sounds pretty good to my ears straight out of the package.

I'd try a different version of this if released? Sure I would. I'd love a special one with Mesmerize/Hypnotize in the same package. But I think for now this is as good as it gets.

★★★★☆

Pro-Ject X2
with Audio-Technica AT-VM740ML
VTF @ 2.1 grams
Cambridge Alva Duo
Edifier S2000 Pro

When this press originally came out i did not like this album that much and listened to it once. Now that im more familiar with the album, this pressing is HORRIBLE. Fine for collectors purposes and novelty but this is a nightmare. I almost wonder if the bootlegs sound better? This is terrible. Insane sibilance and inner groove distortion.