Is it possible to have vinyl nearly noise free?

It is most certainly possible to have nearly noise-free LPs. It takes a good LP start with, proper turntable setup, a way to keep records clean (I use ultrasonic), and a good phono preamp. All of these elements combined are the reason that many people can't be bothered with LP and I don't blame them. If I hadn't grown up in the LP era, my system would probably be all digital. But I'm glad that's not the case.

Whart, yes stuff will collect on the cantilever especially if the record is not grounded out. Again this is where the artist brush comes in handy. I use a very soft little pointed one. with alcohol you can safely clean the cantilever and the front of the stylus. 
What happened to your Airtight? I have a Supreme and it is built like a tank. It would take thousands of hours of play time to wear it out.
Atmasphere, I have never heard a phono stage make tics and pops. I would think that ultrasonic ringing would cause steady state distortion/overload if the unit's frequency response went that high. Granted my experience with multiple inexpensive phono stages is limited. My first preamp was a Dynaco PAS 3X and I was using a Pickering cartridge. I was listening through AR 2ax speakers which had a horribly muted high end so pops and tics were wonderfully suppressed. If the phono stage were at fault all records would make noise so if you have some very quiet records but others are noisy you can forget about the phono stage. Some cartridges seem quieter than others. It would seem stylus shape would have something to do with this. I have a friend who uses an old conical Denon because he has a lot of old less than optimally cared for records and he swears it is quieter. He was an early digital convert. He also ruined his CDs. Computer music is wonderful for people who don't take care of their stuff. This friend still has not got himself a back up hard drive! Busy Busy Busy.

All things being equal..will a Shibata stylus besides providing better detail give more tics and pops compared to say a line contact? Any thoughts from all the shibata owners?

In my early days of being in the audio business, I was invited to an exclusive seminar, given by a cartridge manufacturer ( it was either Shure, Stanton, or Empire ). We were shown a video of a stylus tracking a record ( recorded microscopically, and blown up on a large screen ). This styus / record " movie " was fascinating, but also frightening. What was frightening, we saw little pieces of the record vinyl being torn away from the record, as the stylus passed over. Like rubber off a tire, but reversed ( the record was the road ). I spent lots of money on my tables and arms, but always kept my cartridges below 1K. Supex, Denon, Monster Cable, Madrigal, Dynavector and several others ( moving coils almost always ). The best tables and arms are designed to eliminate vibrations and resonances beyond those of the record / stylus interaction itself. As my ears got better, and more critical, I became more frustrated, as only a tiny percentage of records in my collection of 5000 sounded noise free. My phono journey became monetarily exuberant, for little enjoyment, so I sold it all about 5 years ago. Analog is great, but, it was no longer for me. YMMV. Enjoy ! MrD.

Atmasphere, I have never heard a phono stage make tics and pops. I would think that ultrasonic ringing would cause steady state distortion/overload if the unit’s frequency response went that high. Granted my experience with multiple inexpensive phono stages is limited. My first preamp was a Dynaco PAS 3X and I was using a Pickering cartridge. I was listening through AR 2ax speakers which had a horribly muted high end so pops and tics were wonderfully suppressed. If the phono stage were at fault all records would make noise so if you have some very quiet records but others are noisy you can forget about the phono stage. Some cartridges seem quieter than others. It would seem stylus shape would have something to do with this.

With regards to your opening comment my response is ’-that you know of...".


In the case of LOMC, there is a peak caused by the inductance of the cartridge and the capacitance of the tone arm interconnect cable. This peak is often well past the bandwidth of almost any phono preamp, so what happens in the case of the RFI generated by this resonance is that it is rectified by something in the phono input. This is how RFI messes with any audio circuit by the way. Bandwidth has nothing to do with it.


With MM high output cartridges, the resonant peak is much lower in frequency but is still often ultrasonic. However its still often 20db higher than the actual signal and can easily overload many phono stages. Imagine a phono circuit being overloaded by an ultrasonic signal (something you can’t hear)- what do you think it would sound like? Its not that hard to hear the difference- the first time I heard it I was running a Grado cartridge that made 5 mV. It is true that some cartridges are quieter- it might have a different stylus shape but it can also have a different inductance. You might find this interesting:
http://www.hagtech.com/loading.html