Nas – Illmatic

Vocals are a bit distorted on this pressing. Mine came quite dirty even though it was a new sealed copy

t best pressing in of sound for me.

Firstly, it must be noted i use an AT VM95 Microline cart now having grown tired of IGD and sibilance on many a record with my olde Shure and Ortofon 2M Red (how does this cart even sell!?). Its not a secret by now that many Nas self titled pressings have baked in IGD and with some setups will incur sibilance in the last tracks to boot The acid test for me is It Aint Hard to Tell. This pressing once again does suffer some IGD and dulling at the end of each side and i would think only an uber expensive parallel tracker with a fancy tipped and cantilevered MC will ameliorate this. However i am not getting any sibilance with any tracks here and the balance is smoother than my old CD but still retains decent bite. I really like it and for sure it warrant cranking. Theres no doubt that the value for money option is this pressing. The downside is the suprise that my limited blue vinyl copy is quieter of compound and so is my even more limited gold copy. I wont say its distracting at all but those other two are amazingly silent whereas this is jist not quite. Also the gold copy has the smoothest deepest if slightly most rolled off sound. The blue copy is perhaps the slightly most lively and thus close to sibilant of sound (ot does run the sides closer to the labels than this and the gold cut).

Truth be told id be happy with either one of these three copies ive got. Im a sucker for my limited gold copy with its melted marbled look but i dont want to wear it out so this will get alot more plays. Same goes for the blue copy which i think i shall probably sell. Its just good to report that with the right setup that doesnt break the bank, there are three issues of Nas that can sound good with out any serious distortion nasties!

Don't sleep on this pressing, picked up NM for like £14 (not on Discogs obvs) and it sounds great, nice and clean with good bass. I'd say don't be put off by all the negative comments about distortion on Halftime, sure theres some but not enough to be a problem, at least on my copy.

The sibilance on Halftime and It ain't hard to tell can also be heard on the streaming platforms, so this has nothing to do with the record, which sounds just fine. People need to check out these things before giving their opinion, or not listen to NY 90's rap if it's that much of a problem.

Too bad vocal distortions ruined this LP....Somebody needs to get the job done...Next please...

Great bass on this pressing. I don't have a very bass-centric amp/speaker combo but I can feel the bass all around me with no eq adjustment

Really quiet and clean sound. Think this is one of the better sounding rap records I have.

Ye ye it’s got sum sibilance but it’s not as prominent as other pressings. Especially the atrocious 20th anniversary reissue (which I own).

IMO, the best you’ll hear this album. Something about European pressings usually makes them a great choice. Higher quality vinyl, perhaps?

Pros: pin drop quiet vinyl, very good dynamic range, nice bass response, an inviting listen. Olu Daru’s trumpet solo on Life’s a B— really PUMPS out the speakers! Also dug the stereo separation on One Time 4 your Mind.

Cons: some sibilance to the high frequencies, becomes apparent as the stylus nears the end of each side. However, it’s not overly distracting. There was also a lot of static buildup on the vinyl, easily remedied by using poly lined sleeves.

Overall sounds great and well balanced. No surface noise. Agree with others that there is some sibilance at the end of each side but it doesn’t ruin the overall vibe.