Referring to an above post, perhaps it's more a function of the fact that classical music, with its many quiet passages, highlights surface noise, and perhaps Sufentanil is particularly bothered by it.
I have been discussing this very issue with a friend recently, and note that I am annoyed by surface noise with piano recordings and tend to prefer to listen to piano via C.D. Solo piano shows tape hiss more than most other instruments because the performer is often playing in the mid-register or lower, and there is nothing to hide the hiss, which is high frequency in content (string music, which lives in the upper mids and treble, is much better at hiding tape hiss). Similarly, the sparse, single-note-at-a-time aspect of some piano music can highlight ticks and pops because there is no other sound occurring to drown out the noise. In addition, before I put a motor controller on my turntable, the decay of piano notes would occassionally sound a bit off because of turntable wow and flutter.
I do not believe the problem is my LP's or my equipment. I have a wide range of used and new-reissue classical LP's, and clean them all on a VPI record cleaner with an alcohol-based fluid (Nitty Gritty) upon purchasing them and then periodically thereafter as needed. I use a carefully set-up VPI Aries, VPI 10.5 arm, and v.d.H. Frog on a Black Diamond The Source Shelf that is decoupled from the custom component stand it sits on via sorbathane, and the motor is decoupled from the BDR shelf via sorbathane, all into a Rowland Cadence / Coherence II run from batteries -- my analog system is anything but inherently noisy.
In short, I tend to much prefer piano music via C.D. for these reasons, even though the CD's do compress dynamic range. Piano is my only gripe, though -- I could just as easily describe how symphonic music sounds best to me on vinyl, because, with the exception of a few Reference Recordings HDCD's and XRCD reissues I own, I find that the vast majority of CD's cannot handle the dynamic range of symphonic music and compress on peaks (I also think digital recordings alter the timbre of string instruments -- I'd much rather hear strings via analog). As for my CD rig, it is an ARC CD-3 that was preceded by a Levinson 360s / 37, so it's not my CD players, and the rest of my gear in my main system is slightly rolled off or relatively neutral (VAC 140 tube monos, Revel Salons and Kimber Select cabling, dedicated lines, power conditioning, tweaks, etc.).
