Congrats on the upgrade! I moved up to a Planar six (w/exact 2 cart) from an old Dual 1219 a couple of years ago and it was well worth it.
Unfortunately, there is quite a bit of variability in quality from album to album. Many new albums I have bought have been noisy from the get-go. I tend to stick to the used bins and look for super clean records. I clean them all with a Pro-ject VC-E vacuum machine which does a nice job and won't break the bank. But, there are always some random pops and clicks. You might look into a Zerostat static reduction gun. IMO it actually does work and definitely helps with pops and clicks.
Best of luck!