Linkin Park – Meteora

I buying the CD when I was a kid. One of my favorite childhood records.

This is hands down the best representation of the album sonically. The CD was super crushed and the recent vinyl reissues (almost all of them including the 45 RPM RSD release) didn’t sound that great. This is the best sounding version of this album (even when I did a volume matched A/B with Qobuz - this one won).

HOWEVER, just because this is the best sounding version of this album doesn’t make this an audiophile record in my humble opinion. The bass is a bit boomy but the drums kick makes overall low end punchy. Vocals clear but not really holographic. Distorted guitar parts (i.e most of the loud ages) are bit too heavy on the mid range and lacks a bit of presence/bite. Drums cymbals and hihat are not harsh but they are not lush as well.

I used both my microline and elliptical stylus but outside of the microline picking up more details, the record still sounds overall a bit veiled. Reference albums of similar style/same era that I prefer the sound more: Audioslave (S/T) MOV press, Songs For The Deaf - QOTSA (recent reissue cut by Levi Seitz as well), Massive Attack - Mezzanine (2013 reissue) or even the MOV version of A Perfect Cirlce - Thirteenth Step. I know none of them are NU metal bands but this is the best example I can give from my collection where I thought despite poor sounding CDs/digital versions, the vinyl mastering was much superior.

I believe no mastering can help to give this the audiophile treatment as d primarily because the mix was done with CD format in mind (this is just my assumption). I love Levi Seitz and confident he did his best.

Good sounding record for super fans but not worth the $$ (esp if you live abroad and pay import fees) only from sound quality objective.

Mother of God……. This pressing RIPS. I’ve got the system to pull the details out and man are they ever there. It’s loud, but detailed. Amazing soundstage as well. What a great way to hear this album

I'd like to comment on this piece of information found on the hype sticker, specifically "meticulous care is taken to create the best sounding record possible". Very nice, indeed. I only wish you guys would take the same level of meticulousness during quality control of the visual aspects. My gatefold came with a nasty long seam and multiple wearings on the spine. The record itself has microscuffs on both sides. This is not what you expect for this amount of money.

Can anyone explain to me why the original digital master was transferred to analog tape and then back to digital (192/24 wav files)?

The noise floor of this vinyl is simply incredible! I can’t believe that vinyl can achieve this… And the mastering is incredible. I own a handful of audiophile vinyls, but I bought them not because I like 100% the songs in them… but this one, it’s one of my favorite album back in my college days.

I live in , so this vinyl costs higher here compared to USA, but it’s totally WORTH IT! I hope they reissue t.A.T.u 200km/h Wrong Lane. Please 🙏

This pressing is really blow my mind... I never imagined that rock Vinyl sound quality & listening experience can be boosted until this level... Compared with Papercut Album that i have, the differences is actually not too far away but the differences really noticeable, detail, staging, & micro detail have been upgraded to the best version of this album can be existed... Worth every penny!!

Vertere DG-1, Nagaoka MP-500, Vertere Phono-1 MkII L, Naim Uniti Nova, Sonner Allegro Unum

Oh, and magically from a Hi-Res file, no less... Levi, you are an F'n MAGICIAN!!!

OutF**k'nStanding! Although the recent standard repress (done by Chris Bellman) is amazingly good, this one is distinctively better IF your system has good resolution.

What I am listening on 😊

https://photos.app.goo.gl/9ja3UKob7tppW4Y38

Clean sound. Very crankable, as mentioned below. It's very much all mids, as is "Hybrid Theory." It's not as bad as, say, the UHQR of "Pretzel Logic," but a little bit more in the high end would have truly made this shine. Still glad I got it.

All three one step albums turned out great, but this one may be the best out of them.