Arctic Monkeys – Humbug

Suena excelente y la presentacion (a pesar de ser un digipack) me agrada que tenga dentro una funda de papel con el logo de Domino, ese detalle hace que se sienta como un ''mini vinilo''.

Lo malo es que esta caja es un poco mas ancha que los digipacks o cajas de plastico en los que vienen casi todos los cd's, osea que no entra ni en mis porta cd's ni en mi cajonera, una lastima que lo tenga que tener separado de mi coleccion por eso.

Favorite arctic monkeys record full of incredible tracks personal favorite is jeweler’s hands

This is a really great pressing. It’s clean and quiet. No pops or clicks. The album is mastered really beautifully on this pressing. It has fat bass without compromising the low or mid frequencies. You hear all the atmospheric guitar effects and the vocals really well. Humbug is a great AM record, top 3 for me. Would recommend this pressing to a friend.

Turntable: Studio-Standard Fisher
Cartridge: Audio-Technica VM95C
Amp/Receiver: Harman/Kardon hk495i
Speakers: Tannoy C8 10-125watts

The pressing is fine, good seperation but lacks a lot of good mastering, sounds hollow

If you really want a 2009 first pressing of this first of all don’t buy any of the brand new sealed copies (which is like 90% of the copies for sale) as I guarantee you that they’re all later reissues. There is no way of telling what pressing it is without checking the matrix numbers. The sleeve, sticker, barcode etc is exactly the same on all pressings. And if you buy an opened copy make sure the seller checks the matrix numbers, as it says in the notes it should be A1 WIGLP 220 A-1 / WIGLP 220 B2, with NO OTHER WORDS LETTERS OR NUMBERS. In my experience most sellers have not properly checked that they’ve got the correct pressing before listing.

And this goes for pretty much all Arctic Monkeys LP’s.

And sellers, this album is 15 years old, the brand new copy you just received from your supplier or the copy you bought brand new 4 years ago is very likely not the first press.

Great album, sounds good. I know AM aren’t audiophile stuff but couldn’t pick the difference between this and the CD version on Tidal or Qobuz.

So, this and the other recently released Japanese Import AM albums are actually still made in the EU (this is the only release that has multiple photos where I can inspect the pressing info) but just have the OBI Strip and Japanese text liner notes added? Hmm... I don't know, chief. I was almost going to buy them at HMV JP, but after a little bit of research, it doesn't seem to be worth it. Really thought they were pressed in Japan. Maybe some day...

Decent pressing, mediocre mastering with at least one thing to compliment, as it has a really nice separation (Cornerstone sounds lovely).

What I don't like here, though, is the lack of dynamics and some sketchy EQ. Some songs suffering more than others (Potion Approaching and The Jeweler's Hands), but nothing majorly disappointing most of the time,, just unimpressive. The final tracks on each side appear to have been purposefully toned down so it wouldn't have any clipping, I'd assume. They both have clearly less volume than the former tracks.

Almost no clicks or pops, so it makes, a fair addition to the collection regardless.

★★★½

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

Speaking only about my copy, but this lines up with other things I've read about this press. This seems to be good quality except for the fact that there a numerous skips during Cornerstone. I don't hear much surface noise but the skips are present after cleaning.

I'm very confident this is the pressing I have since it offers little to no information to distinguish it from other releases and also has nearly identical info. It was the shrink-wrap barcode sticker on the back that determined this.

With that said, this pressing is so quiet! This has to be the quietest pressing I have in my record collection overall! I'm seriously impressed. The record was also in pristine condition in its paper sleeve. It sounds great too. A little bit louder with some heavier bass on some songs (eg Cornerstone), but that's not a bad thing. This is my fav AM album and a great pressing. I highly recommend this.

Turntable: Fluance RT82 High Fidelity with Ortofon OM10 Cartridge
Cables: Stanard RCA cables and speaker wires from Amazon
Speakers: Klipsch R41M 50-Watt Bookshelf Speaker