Frustrated with Vinly

Vinyl is not for the faint of heart. 
It takes some serious dedication. The other posters are right about gear quality. To extract the magic you need decent gear, not a 90 dollar AT60.

Not being a dick here but that's the truth. The phono pre I run alone cost much more than most dabblers entire systems, and It's at the low end of the high end (Herron VTPH2A). 
Not to mention the need for a proper vacuum cleaning machine that also cost more than most normal people's systems 

On a limited budget I'd stick to high rez streaming. 

 A cheap cart will never extract what is hiding in the grooves. Forget that budget elliptical stylus, you'll need a fine line or shibata to get it out. 

For someone just starting out, I'd actually discourage going vinyl, unless you already have a large collection, and the budget to play it properly. 

Snobbish? No, just realistic. Don't judge the format until you give it proper care. 

Some questions:

What settings are you using on the SimAudio phono stage? With a 2M Blue I would expect the best settings to be:

Input impedance: 47K
Gain: 40 db
Input capacitance: 0 pf

The recommended load capacitance for the 2M Blue is 150 to 300 pf, which will probably be provided by the capacitance of your phono cable and the tonearm wiring. Given the very high inductance of that cartridge (700 mH), if you are not using the minimum capacitance setting of the phono stage ("0 pf," which in reality is probably a few tens of pfs), you would be moving a high frequency resonant peak in the overall response well down into the mid-treble region, which would likely add a good deal of emphasis to tics and pops. And that would be especially true if you are using either the 330 pf or 430 pf input capacitance setting provided by the phono stage.

Also, if the gain of the phono stage is set to something higher than 40 db it is possible that some of the crackling you hear at times may actually be the result of overloading the phono stage or the preamp or integrated amp.

Finally, what tracking force are you using? It should be in the area of 1.8 to 2.0 grams.

Regards,
-- Al

1-Listen to Al.  
2-What city are you in.  We will find you some friends.

Those of you who are using and recommending ultrasonic record cleaners, which are you using, and if you don’t mind sharing, how much did they set you back. Like Jay said, the snap, crackle and pop of even immaculate looking and well cared for records is disturbing, but I’ve maybe 1500 of these treasures and would never part with them. I am considering a VPI record cleaning rig, but maybe ultrasonic would be a better way to go if you feel it’s that much better.

Mike

The way I heard it ALL vinyl pressed pruducts have minute lube residue. When the stylus hits it it creates a permanent tick. The only way to avoid noise is ultrasonic immersion BEFORE any play. Orhttps://sweetvinyl.com/collections/frontpage/products/sc-1-mini