Frustrated with Vinly


Hey All,

Just coming here to let out out my frustration with Vinyl. I know that Vinyl takes patience but it's frustrating when playing some of my newer records and they have noises that I do not want to hear. Meaning, I try to clean them and they still have noise (pops, crackles, etc). When playing at low volumes of course you do not hear as much but when I turn up the volume is when it gets irritating. 

I can understand if older vinyl would sound like this but these are my newer records that I bought (amazon or barnes and nobles).

Now, I know the products that I am using are probably not great in the first place and I will probably need to upgrade to some more serious cleaner).

Currently trying to use a combo of: Kaiu Vinyl record cleaning set and I have also tried the Audio Technica AT6012 Record Care Kit.

So now I am considering either a Spin Clean type system or Pro-Ject  VC-S2 ALU Type cleaning system.

Any suggestions?

I almost want to give up on Vinyl sometimes and stick to digital (cd, hi res files, qobuz streaming).

Current equipment: denon dp-300f w/2m blue cart.

Thanks

Jay
128x128jay73
You can buy after-market end of record lifting devices so don’t let manual only tables turn you off. That said, I already recommended a semi-auto Technics 1500c if you can't stretch to a 1200GR. Forget the Thorens. A used VPI Classic might also suit. 
I’m with Chakster on this. I try to buy original pressings in Ex to M condition.  I clean with a quick swipe with a carbon fiber brush before use.  No problems whatsoever.  With the amount of money spent on cleaning devices, I would rather buy a few more rare original near mint gems. 
 I’m sure that ultrasonically cleaned records probably make a difference, I just haven’t felt the need on my system with my records.  
@noromance,

Thanks for suggestions,  I am going to research those but am curious why not Thorens.

Are they not good?

Going all the way back to the 70's, I realized that handling records is what caused most of the 'cracks and pops'. that's when I bought a reel to reel and recorded my records so that I could listen without handling them.

Since that time I've graduated to 'half track' at 7.5 IPS on a much better reel, and listen to my records that way.

Recently, I upgraded my rig including a tube phono that likes $300. NOS tubes, that come to $600. a pair. While that's nothing to some, it's very expensive to me. This whole high end analog thing is expensive, but worth it.

After all of that upgrading, it was time to record my entire vinyl collection, a big job but well worth it. Reel to reel tape costs much more than it did ages ago, but so do a lot of other things. I also down-load my vinyl to separate hard-drive.

Many people deep into analog don't realize that you can down-load to hard drive and wont be able to tell the difference between playing a record and listening to the playback on your play list from the computer. That was hashed out some years ago, and the consensus was that if you did it right, you couldn't tell the computer from playing a record. Doing it right goes into a whole litany of things. Now, I rarely touch my records.

But getting back to the fundamental problem with records, I was listening to a record I bought used that had some wear. This record is absolutely unavailable anymore on any format. I was listening to it after it had been recorded to reel and down loaded to hard drive. The upgraded analog increased the music to noise ratio, and I could hear the record noise, but only if I focused on it. Since I chose to focus on the sublime music, the record noise disappeared. Maybe I need to repeat that sentence.....

This record hobby has it's limitations, and you go with the flow when it comes to record noise; however, with my philosophy of only handling records to clean and record after an extensive upgrade, plus an investment in record sleeves, I have records I bought in the 80's that are the same as brand new. I was quite pleasantly surprised to discover that I had so many when I down-loaded my collection.

Focus on the music instead of the record noise when it occurs.
"Those overpriced reissues made for the sect of audiophile elitist is not what normal music lover really need, there are tons of original pressings around and people who trying to tell they are not as good as the audiophile pressing are just .... "

I agree. Most of the time, the original pressings are the way to go. More air and decay than heavily EQ’d reissues. However, for example, many of the original blue notes are very expensive and the tone poets are very good, well pressed and very listenable. There are other labels which are at least as good as Tone Poets. I am just talking about Jazz records. There are others reissues such as original jazz classics that are extremely good for a very good price.

Even Blue Notes from the early seventies are very good.