Is it possible to have vinyl nearly noise free?

Atmasphere responded and explained that many phono stages use *active* negative feedback to reduce measurable distortion, but as the signal is recycled through the feedback loop, it lengthens the duration of the ticks and pops, making them louder and longer than they occur on the record surface.

I did used to think that was why- but it turns out it really has to do with stability in the design. So feedback isn't the culprit: poor overload margin and poor resistance to RFI are.

Our little UV-1 preamp employs feedback yet no ticks and pops.

In a nutshell, proper use of stopping resistors, good layout and blocking RFI at the input all contribute to a stable design. As I have often mentioned before, if the design is stable the need for loading resistors (if used with LOMC cartridges) won't be needed either. 

My experience jibes with what @atmasphere and others have been saying here. Once I moved up to a high quality phono stage (by Nick Doshi) my records have been generally silent. No need to buy expensive new releases to get that quiet - in fact, I prefer older, used records. The quality in new releases is too variable to justify the expense IMO. I do use a record cleaner, but mostly to get the best sound out of each LP and to protect my cartridges (learned that lesson the hard way). If a record is bad enough to sound crackly then I often find that a record cleaning machine doesn't help too much.  

so the simple answer to the OP is Yes, but you have to spend your cash wisely. 

so the simple answer to the OP is Yes, but you have to spend your cash wisely.

+1  That's it in a nutshell.

Yes, sort of.
Sweetvinyl.com
These units will eliminate 95% of the ticks and pops on the fly.  They do not currently eliminate surface noise, however, which will become more noticeable once the ticks and pops are gone.  The company says it will eventually offer a software upgrade to reduce surface noise, but it will not be free, owing to the complexity of developing the software.
I have the SC-2 as a beta tester.  You can find my thread on the Sugarcube SC-2 here on Audiogon.

Atmasphere,
I’ve  recently experienced a dramatic reduction of ticks and pops after modifying 
my system with the acquisition of new speakers (GoldenEar Triton 1’s) and a new amplifier (Benchmark AHB2.)
My preamp has been the same for over 20 years (Conrad-Johnson PV 11 recently modified with new Teflon caps.)  And same  turntable (Rega) and cartridge (Grado Sonata.)
Does this make any sense?
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