Turntable noobie...what advice do you have?

@mijostyn 

How right you are about obsession with record cleaning.

I have had a Nitty Gritty Auto for more than 30 years.  I have 4000+ albums but I now rarely have to clean one.  When I buy an LP (used and new) I play it.  If it is noisy I clean it.  When I got the Nitty Gritty I bought three 50-packs of Nagaoka inner sleeves I use to identify cleaned records. I have been on the last pack for around 10 years now.

I think other posts are correct that the amount and perceived volume of surface noise can depend on the turntable, platter and mat materials particularly.  If you feel you have too much noise, you can experiment with this.

I really don't hear surface noise on my records even listening between tracks with the volume up.  Do other people eat dinner off their albums?

@laoman 

Don't buy Karajan's Ring.  Buy Solti.  It's a better performance and it's on vintage Decca so the recording and pressing quality is second to none.  In the stupid early 90s era when new and used LPs were almost free, I bought a second copy  just because it was it was nearly unused and priced at just £15 or less than £1 per disc.

When choosing albums from the golden era it is worth being picky about label.  As just one example early Rolling Stones and Beatles were on Decca and EMI vinyl respectively.  Both were top quality then, the vinyl I mean.  But even on this material the SQ on Decca is easily recognisable as superior.  Listen to Aftermath, UK pressing.  With 53 minutes of music jammed on one disc the SQ on my 1966 first pressing is brilliantly clear and detailed.  Better than on Revolver 1966, also my original pressing, which is itself pretty good.  By the way, I've had these two 55 years and played them a fair bit and they aren't noisy.  I've never cleaned either of them - no Nagaoka sleeves.

But I agree about Barenboim/Dupre.

@clearthinker  So, again we think alike. However, there is no such thing as no surface noise. Even a very quiet turntable will pick up some. It does depend on the volumes you listen at and the genre of music. At classical levels the surface noise is barely audible but at Red Hot Chili Peppers volume it is very noticeable between songs. I do not want other rockers to think their system is deficient because they hear surface noise between songs. It is true that some turntables and styluses are better at reducing noise than others. It seems in particular a function of line contact styluses. The Gyger S, Replicant 100 and OLC styluses are very quiet.

ddonicht

It's worth bearing in mind that the majority of recordings for at least the past decade have been recorded digitally via Protools or similar DAW.

Personally, I don't see much point in buying expensive vinyl copies of digital source material.

So I do think that there is a good case for purchasing used copies of recordings that are from the era when the recording chain was all analogue.

Going from digital to analog is kind of like going from boating in freshwater to boating in salt water. Just when you thought taking care of your boat was pretty easy, here comes the salt. Point being, starting analog and moving to digital is probably a much more pleasurable experience than the other way around. However, since you are going down the digital to analog path, my advice is buy used analog only records, clean them well with an ultrasonic cleaner and play them with carts like sumiko starling which is outstanding at minimizing background noise on used albums. And be ready to spend twice as much as your digital end to match it or better it. It will require lots of patience and work, just like a salt water boat.