Brand new vinyl - what’s acceptable to you?
I just ordered a dozen new albums - this time all 180 g variants. The Norah Jones had a scratch on it coming out of the paper sleeve the first time. (Separate gripe - why do they package ostensibly “audiophile” albums in crappy sleeves which might actually damage a record?). I’ll return the Norah Jones. But, the Miles Davis album has a noisy spot 1/4 the way through the first track. I’ll try cleaning the record but usually don’t have to for a new album. Or should I as a better practice? (This old dog can learn new habits).
Fortunately, the Pat Metheny is dead quiet - thank you ECM! All my ECM vinyl - even from decades ago are quiet. However, my experience is that ECM is very much an outlier: that most labels will come with some noise.
I’m working my way through all the albums but it made me want to poll the group: How much noise do you accept on a new pressing? Do you have a rule of thumb for what to reject?
Thanks,
Receiving a scratched or noisy new record is disappointing. Often when I've returned a noisy record its replacement is also noisy. Bad pressing! On a parallel topic, I have found that many (probably most) new pressings of old records have been digitized. I've heard that after 1980 all music was stored digitally. And I can hear it. So, either I'm buying remasters that were pressed from the original analogue tapes, or looking for mint- used alsbums. |
@davetherave11 Cd's were going to replace LP's over 40 years ago. For some odd reason, LP's are still being made. Why do you suppose that is? |
@lalitk thanks! It’s on my list. |
@bigtwin your experience of noise on new expensive records may be due misalignment of your stylus and can be addressed through careful to set up. Noise is especially prone to be more likely if your cartridge has either a Shibata or a fine line stylus. These two in particular are more fussy about perfect alignment. This is true for all brands and don't think for a minute that the price of the cartridge has any bearing on the matter. If you haven't already done so you might want to look at the Wally Tools web site for further details about this issue. I set up turntables fairly often using AnalogMagik and it is rare to find a stylus that is aligned exactly right. Most are off one way or the other. Anyway, it has been my experience that noisy records, especially new expensive ones are rare, but misaligned stylii, and/or setup adjustment that could be improved are common issues. |
