That’s a $10 per record cleaning investment. Plus your time. A third party service might have been a decent alternative.
First impressions of the Audio Desk Record Cleaner
This is my first US cleaner. I was using a spin clean before - tedious at best.
The $4K price tag was a barrier for a long time but I found a used low mileage one a few weeks ago for sale from Analog Audio (Minneapolis, MN). The owner Paul Blizel was great btw.
I’m systematically going through maybe 400 records using the full 5 min cleaning cycle so 9 mins total per record. I’m a 125 into the task.
Most of my records are new, and quite a few are higher-end pressings.
I had 2 new records with flaws in the pressings, including Wild Flower and all the rest. Track 1 has a visible production flaw - AD made a slightly better but didn’t solve that issue - no surprise there.
Dire Straits On Every Street was full of static-sounds with no visible flaws. I did have my local dealer run it through his AD but I’m sure it was a 1 min clean. It took 2 X 5 min sessions, but it now sounds great. This record was a litmus test for me because the distortion was annoying on every track. Well done AD.
As I listen to the newly cleaned records, I’m astonished by the newfound clarity and blacker backgrounds, even on the high-end pressings like one step and masters from Analogue Productions and MOFI. It’s a significant upgrade.
Maybe I should have bought one sooner.