The Mars Volta – De-Loused In The Comatorium

Sounds good enough but my VMP pressing has an intermittent static swell the entirety of side A. Still there after cleaning myself and even after sending to Perfect Vinyl Forever for professional cleaning. Big bummer given the price of this album.

Tragedy, this music is insanely good and should sound amazing. My copy is flat and quiet but is so compressed and brick walled it loses all the magic.

Like many others, my first 3 copies of this were defective. But later replacements were all defects free. Even those defeated one, I thought the SQ was quite good. Honestly speaking it sounds better than most late new releases.
So I wonder what people are talking about when they said it sounds bad. They must have a defect or there's something wrong with their system.
Who compared this to Cloud Hill says Cloud Hill sounds a lot better but I'm skeptical. Both releases are from the identical master. if there is a difference. it's a pressing plant. this from Gz and the other is Optimal.
believe it or not, nowadays GZ is doing better than Optimal IMHO. Most imperfect records i have is from Optimal. Slightly warped, non-fill etc. whereaz I don't see that much defects from GZ.
I can give this solid 8 out of 10 for sound quality. if you can find a later defect free repress, don't hesitate to grab one.

System : Modded Rega RP6, Nagaoka MP500, Sugden A21se Signiture, Atc Scm19v2, Graham Slee Accession MM

Not sure where VMP went wrong here. My first two copies had flaws like a lot of others experienced, but were replaced by VMP. My third copy had no flaws, but I always thought it didn't sound very good or wasn't what I expected. Worse than CD/digital. Last Friday I was in a record store that had the Cloud Hills colored vinyl and took a risk. Cloud Hills does in fact sound a LOT better. Avoid this VMP reissue.

My copy has some limited but intrusive surface noise, notably at the beginning of Side B. Mostly it is quiet vinyl, with the best sides being C and D. In of recorded sound, it is perfectly fine, although this is certainly not an audiophile recording in the first place. Ultimately, I am grateful to VMP for introducing me to this band. The artwork and packaging are absolutely stunning. I am pleased to have this in my collection even though it is not a perfect pressing.

Sounds like absolute garbage. VMP should be ashamed of hocking this to its customers for $45. Easily the worst sounding album in my collection of 400+ albums. Recently bought the Clouds Hill pressing of gold/green from Waterloo records and it sounds much much better. Avoid this VMP trash.

I originally got this last year and was hopeful a full year later, the surface noise issue would be fixed, but no.

I swapped for this and tried my luck but it's noisy as all hell too.

I had the earlier VMP press and was experiencing the same issues as everyone else. Lots of noise during the more quiet parts. I sold it and ordered the TMV VMP bundle in November 2021. I just got it yesterday and this copy sounds MUCH better. Very pleased with all the others as well. Thanks, VMP!

I had two earlier GZ pressings that were sent to me in July and August that both had the noise issue for the first minute of side A. I sent a video+audio to VMP and got put on their waiting list for a later GZ repress which shipped out at the end of October. I played both, and I was happy to hear the issue was resolved. I feel the sound quality on this new pressing has a pleasingly silent floor and terrific dynamic range throughout. One of my October pressings is the same gold & black marble as the earlier ones, but the other October pressing is an extremely dark gold & black marble and was my preferred when I compared the two.

Aside from surface noise issues, this is an ok pressing at best. No dynamics, everything sounds extremely compressed/brickwalled and loses clarity in loud sections. Would probably be better to invest in the original or MOV pressing for great sound quality