Yes. I just listened to a 35 year old LP with virtually no noise, and all I did was brush the dust off first. I have other LPs that are pretty hopeless, and are noisy the entire way through. But I will tell you this: your playback equipment matters tons in this regard. Over the years, I upgraded both turntables and cartridges independently of each other, and each time I moved up the food chain, I got less noise. The current setup is a Dynavector 20X2L cartridge on a Well Tempered Versalex, and it has been a revalation in terms of how low the noise floor on vinyl can get. Comparing the same records to my previous setup (Clearaudio Aurum Beta on a Sota Comet) is simply night and day in terms of surface noise. I suspect it’s a combination of stylus geometry and tonearm damping at play.
Is it possible to have vinyl nearly noise free?
I’ve been cleaning my vinyl starting with spin clean then using Orbitrac cleaning then do a vacuum with record dr. And finally putting on gruv glide..and I still hear some ticks and pops. Is it impossible to get it nearly completely quiet? Would like to ask all the analog audiophiles out there. Please share what is the best method and sequence to clean vinyl..thx everyone.