Hello and good afternoon to you, sombunya. This topic is one that
used to turn me off from vinyl. Much like static on an FM radio station, I'd rather turn it off than to put up with it. That's just me, YMMV. With that said, a couple of years back, I set out to improve this. I purchased a Nitty Gritty RCM, tried different solutions, distilled water, fiddled with the arm and needle settings and while all of this made a noticeable difference, it wasn't until I started steam cleaning the LP's [as they were being washed by the Nitty Gritty] that sonic vinyl bliss really started for me.
In my experience, I tend to agree with Atmasphere in that certain pre-amps can exacerbate the unwanted artifacts. If one were to take for granted that the LP player is adjusted properly and all upstream gear is up to snuff, it boils down to the LP itself. If you start with a decent record cleaning machine, much of the unwanted artifacts are no longer audible or seem to become hidden within the music. However, when you introduce [proper] steam cleaning of the LP's, I have personally been able to reduce the unwanted pops, ticks and artifacts to a measly 5% of what they were. New LP's included. Of course, permanent damage is just that. Permanent. But getting rid of fingerprints, oils, dust, embedded "unknowns" and other things that tend to cling to any LP I own like fine metal shavings to a powerful magnet becomes a non issue for the most part.
I have never achieved absolute perfection using the Nitty Gritty in combination with the steam cleaning method I use but I sure have achieved excellence. One afternoon, I invited bob Carver over to listen to what my cleaning methods could do for vinyl and his response after listening was....and I quote,
"Wow! I never knew vinyl could sound so good." Coming from a person with a vast amount of experience beyond mine and also coming from a person who primarily listens to vinyl and has for many decades [even before I was born], I was a tad surprised. After he heard the results, he was
very interested in how I did what I had just done.
All that aside, vinyl doesn't always have to have such a pronounced artifact library embedded within the grooves. Much of all of the unwanted noise can be gone throughout most of the album, unless the LP is permanently damaged. So please do not believe that believe that once they are "burned in", things like fingerprints, dust and other contaminents are pretty much there for good and nothing can repair this damage. Most, if not all of that IS repairable and it you won't have to take out a second mortgage to achieve it. Perhaps a lower line of Nitty Gritty, VPI or the like RCM [around 500 smackers] and a Shark steam cleaner [around 60-70 dollars], along with distilled water [free, if you make it yourself] and proper techniques will get you where you want to sonically be which is mostly free of the plague of unwanted artifacts disrupting the actual music.
Now, I absolutely
LOVE vinyl and what little bit of artifacts are left over? I kind of like, for nostalgia's sake. Besides, the sound more than makes up for it.
Tom