Are your record surfaces as silent as CDs?


When I got my new analog setup (please refer to my profile if interested ) I was very surprised that surface noise virtually disappeared from most of my records.  It’s like I was listening to CDs.  I’m wondering if others have had that same experience.with their setup.

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Part of playing records is dealing with the various forms of noise that are always lurking.  It doesn’t just magically ever go away though some phono rigs are certainly more quite than others. 

I found that when I got my first high end turntable (some thirty years now) and cartridge the surface noice dropped so substantially that for all practical purposes it seemed to diappear. Most of my albums are in excellent condition although probably half of my 2,000 are used. I choose carefully and clean them.

So, with a bit of hesitation I generally agree. If I listen really closely I can find enough noise to tell a CD from vinyl. But if I am not listening for it, most of the time I can’t hear anything.

 

Just for fun, I just randomly selected an album and put it on. It is a Chet Baker album, about twenty five years old. I am listening at 75db with occasional peaks to 77. I would say I cannot hear any surface noise. Once every ten seconds or so there is a tiny… minuscule, barely audible tick… which I wouldn’t hear if I wasn’t listening for it.  I would guess either a piece of dust. 

I upgraded all my analog gear during the pandemic and I found that upgrading my cartridge from an high output Dynavector MC to a Hana ML (microline tip) had the biggest impact on noise levels.  That and investing in an ultrasonic record cleaning machine.  😁