Is it possible to have vinyl nearly noise free?

Still, one has to admit, the way the phono stage knows to make the tick happen every time the record comes around, is pretty impressive.

Still, one has to admit, the way the phono stage knows to make the tick happen every time the record comes around, is pretty impressive.

@millercarbon,

If you have a scratch, that's a different matter. I'm not talking about that but as a general rule, don't scratch your LPs :)

Another source of "noise" in LP playback is of course groove echo resulting from the pressing of the LP itself. What's so insidious about this is that it's worst in the quietest passages -- because here the mastering engineer probably thought they could pack the grooves and one leaks into the next. On an original Berglund Sibelius ASD3216 the continuous foreshadowing through long quiet passages rendered the disc almost unlistenable -- maybe late 70s quad pressings make this phenomena worse but in a highly resolving system you'll begin to notice it all over the place

@millercarbon,

 "Still, one has to admit, the way the phono stage knows to make the tick happen every time the record comes around, is pretty impressive."

Cruel, but funny. I guess you just couldn't resist popping that particular balloon.

Joking aside, this can be a big issue for some audiophiles.

There's no question that certain turntable/arm/cartridge combinations can handle vinyl imperfections in a far less intrusive way than others, eg the new Technics decks are said to be good in this regard.

If this is a side effect of tracking it should be expected that better decks will perform better in this regard. Lower rumble and noise should help too by improving the music to noise ratio.

There's also the question of siting as I've found that  certain platforms such as glass seem to enhance those pesky clicks and pops instead of reducing them.

Finally, its worrying that with such high prices for 180 gram vinyl here in the UK hardly a single LP is blemish free. We were surprised to find, during one vinyl playing session, that 1970s records seemed to be quieter and less click infested than most brand new records.

Not encouraging. I know its a pain but I would urge anyone affected to demand a swap or their money back. Probably the only way consumers can get the manufacturers to tighten up quality control.

On an original Berglund Sibelius ASD3216 the continuous foreshadowing through long quiet passages rendered the disc almost unlistenable -- maybe late 70s quad pressings make this phenomena worse but in a highly resolving system you'll begin to notice it all over the place

@folkfreak , this is called 'print-thru' and its an artifact of the master tape. Its not endemic to LPs.