Is it possible to have vinyl nearly noise free?

@g_nakamoto, I found that with optimum cartridge set up and tracking there was no increase in surface noise or clicks and pops after numerous plays. I think its very hard to damage a record with just wear and tear if your  turntable/arm and cartridge are set up as intended.

With used records I would be surprised with the amount of fluff that the cartridge was sometimes picking up on the first or second playing. In fact playback got quieter after the first or second play.

My main gripe with vinyl was the poor pressing quality sometimes found here in the UK. EMI (Beatles) didn't seem to be too careful with quality control. By the 1990s some records were almost like flexi-discs. 

As there is much more awareness of consumer rights nowadays then there should be less reason to put up with poor pressings now. Record companies will always put up with a percentage of returns but after that they will be forced to improve their product. 

With the price of vinyl today, and I daresay for its continuing success, first rate pressings are a must.

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.

I heard the Sugar Cube device on a very fine audio system and disagree with the unfavorable impressions noted about. To my ears, it got rid of 90% of pops and click with no degradation to the music quality.  I think this is the only device that does what you are looking for.

https://www.analogplanet.com/content/sweet-vinyls-sugarcube-sc-1-real-time-pop-and-click-remover-any...

I saw the Kirmuss demo at Axpona last week and also saw the video Dr. K did with Mike Fremer and I laughed like hell.  I recall it takes something like 15 minutes to clean the LP with the system in a very manual process.  I dumped my SOTA vacuum TT a year ago and my anxiety level has dropped dramatically and I have never heard a pop or click with any of my digitally sourced music since the SOTA left.  Good bless you vinyl lovers.   Me, I am upgrading to Qobuz this week from Tidal Hifi.  

I suggest the critics of the SugarCube ought to put it to the test. I have one on a reasonably resolving system.  Even at a  relatively high setting there  is virtually no effect on music.   And a phenomenal reduction and pops and clicks. ..It can’t do anything about other types of service noise.
Have to agree with M Fremer when he says there is a slight- very slight -change in air, not even a reduction but rather a difference. There are no audible digital artifacts and it makes a tremendous range of potentially troublesome records eminently listenable.  
 As to the cost, how much is making 500 more of my records enjoyable worth?  Remote controlled, so you use it when the record calls for it.  I suggest this is a product that does exactly what it claims,  there are  not too many of those.
On another note, the right cartridge can do wonders.  Some Shibatas run very quietly dep in the groove.

I recently fined tuned the cartridge alignment, balance, anti-skid, overhang, etc on my friend's SOTA Sapphire TT.  Since doing so his vinyl is very quiet.   I think setup is the first step to achieve this.  He has never owned a record cleaning machine. He just uses a carbon brush