Just bought a nitty gritty, hear no difference.

Although there is an audible difference between a soiled and clean record, it is not night and day in most cases. A clean record will offer less background noise and more nuance/detail than one that is soiled. Relax and listen for the subtle sounds not the bass drum and cymbals.

What cleaning fluid and brush are you using? It can make a difference. Also, if the records have been played dirty a number of times then many of the pops and clicks won't go away because the microdust may be pushed far into the grooves or even fused into the groove walls. Keeping the records clean will prevent this from worsening and will keep your stylus from having undue wear.

Thanks for the ideas, everyone. I'm using the fluid and applicator supplied by nitty gritty. I've also tried some DiscDoctor D4+ fluid. No difference. Photon46: as noted before, I've vacuum cleaned a large range of records, from perfect ones with just a bit of dust to really gross ones, though no mold. I'm asking the question because the clicks and pops that were there before have not gone away- that's the problem.

I'm not looking for perfection, just trying to decide whether to return the cleaner. I'd like it to significantly reduce noise beyond what can be accomplished with a brush and fluid, and so far it hasn't done that at all. Will the choice of fluid really make that much of a difference? Shouldn't the vacuum be having an effect regardless of which fluid is used?

Thanks for the continued advice.

When I owned my Nitty Gritty, cleaning results varied greatly, depending on the length of time vacuum was applied. Too often, quick vacuuming leaves the LP partially damp and still contaminated with dissolved solids that later dry into the grooves.

I got a substantial performance increase, especially in residual noise removal, with the Nitty Gritty (and my current VPI cleaning machine as well) when I experimented between 2, 4 and 6 revolutions of vacuuming.

I now use only 6 revolutions or more of vacuum, based on listening tests.

There is no point in going through all the cleaning motions and then leaving stuff behind. I cannot promise this advise will help in your situation but it certainly will not hurt to experiment and requires only an additional 10 or 15 seconds.

Are the clicks & pops from dirt?

Or are they vinyl damage? (cleaners won't help).

bgrazman