Issue with Phono Playback.

I'm glad you listen to headphones. Actually you can get the very best state of the art sound for a few thousand dollars with headphones as opposed to many thousands of dollars for big and good amps and speakers. Check out Headphone.com for great headphone information. They have wonderful guidance toward audio Nervana. I agree with KH6idf regarding the hiss. The Sony uses an op amp for the headphone output and is not "audiophile" quality.

The "plosive" sound on high notes could easily be a flaw or limitation in the receiver, as suggested above, but it's about equally likely to be due to stylus mistracking. If that's the case and it's your stylus that's mistracking, you may be damaging your records.

Clean the stylus and play a suspect passage. If the "plosives" go away, you've found the culprit. Keep the stylus clean. Search for "magic eraser" on this and other vinyl forums for a cheap and effective method.

If the "plosives" remain after stylus cleaning, increase tracking force slightly (by .1 or .2g) and play the suspect passages again. If the "plosive" go away or are reduced, you've found the culprit. Fiddle tracking force until they go away altogether.

Mistracking is a major cause of vinyl damage and it's usually caused by playing with tracking force set too low, which can let the stylus lose contact at higher velocities or amplitudes. If the stylus breaks loose even a little bit, well, the results of a diamond chisel rattling around inside a plastic groove are easy to imagine. That kind of damage can never be repaired, so prevent it for the health of your vinyl.

Note: if these are old records, plays on previous rigs could have damaged them in exactly this way. On replays, the resulting damage sounds virtually identical to actual mistracking. There's an easy way to check, but the above steps should be be done first. It's critical to make sure your rig isn't mistracking.

This is amazing. You all are great! Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to attack it from all of the suggested angles.

Do you think it would be wise to invest in a Grado RA1 amplifier to lessen the white noise?

Thanks again!

Check www.head-fi.org for information on headphones and headphone amplifiers. There are dozens of choices ranging from $80 to well over $1000. You will often find heapdhone amps for sale by members there who are looking to upgrade.

In the interest of disclosure, I use a HeadRoom Micro headphone amp at work (www.headphone.com) and a Mapletree Audio tube headphone amp at home (www.mapletreeaudio.com).

-Tim

I also suggest you use a small mirror at least 4" x 4" (I use a mirror from a cosmetic compact) to set your bias or antiskate adjustment. (Left to Right movement). Place an old thick record on the platter then the mirror. Make sure the mirror is flat and smooth. Do not use one with a frame or anthing around the edges. It will not register properly. Just Place the stylus in the center of the mirror. Zero the antiskate. If it drifts right turn the antiskate left and vice versa. Continue this until the stylus has stopped drifting in either direction.
Before you begin this use a very good protractor to setup up or cartridge and arm. Make sure your VTA is set up correctly too. I like the Dennison Soundtractor. There are many others on the market that achieve the same thing.
This will help in getting rid of some of the noises you mentioned. It will not remedy groove damage that pre-exist. But your background will be much more quieter and your antiskate will be proper. Enjoy