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
I'm  with longoriam I'd recheck the setup.  My phono is nearly as quiet as my cds
Buy an ultrasonic cleaner if you want quiet vinyl playback
i went through the same experience you did until I got an ultrasonic cleaner
everything else is second to this cleaning process
good luck
@saburo +1
@jay73 The better the noise floor and dynamic range of the turntable/arm/cartridge/phono combo, the greater the ratio between intrusive vinyl noise and the quality of the sound (music).
Vinyl is not for the faint of heart. 
It takes some serious dedication. The other posters are right about gear quality. To extract the magic you need decent gear, not a 90 dollar AT60.

Not being a dick here but that's the truth. The phono pre I run alone cost much more than most dabblers entire systems, and It's at the low end of the high end (Herron VTPH2A). 
Not to mention the need for a proper vacuum cleaning machine that also cost more than most normal people's systems 

On a limited budget I'd stick to high rez streaming. 

 A cheap cart will never extract what is hiding in the grooves. Forget that budget elliptical stylus, you'll need a fine line or shibata to get it out. 

For someone just starting out, I'd actually discourage going vinyl, unless you already have a large collection, and the budget to play it properly. 

Snobbish? No, just realistic. Don't judge the format until you give it proper care. 


Some questions:

What settings are you using on the SimAudio phono stage? With a 2M Blue I would expect the best settings to be:

Input impedance: 47K
Gain: 40 db
Input capacitance: 0 pf

The recommended load capacitance for the 2M Blue is 150 to 300 pf, which will probably be provided by the capacitance of your phono cable and the tonearm wiring. Given the very high inductance of that cartridge (700 mH), if you are not using the minimum capacitance setting of the phono stage ("0 pf," which in reality is probably a few tens of pfs), you would be moving a high frequency resonant peak in the overall response well down into the mid-treble region, which would likely add a good deal of emphasis to tics and pops. And that would be especially true if you are using either the 330 pf or 430 pf input capacitance setting provided by the phono stage.

Also, if the gain of the phono stage is set to something higher than 40 db it is possible that some of the crackling you hear at times may actually be the result of overloading the phono stage or the preamp or integrated amp.

Finally, what tracking force are you using? It should be in the area of 1.8 to 2.0 grams.

Regards,
-- Al