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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,

 

mgrif104
vair68robert
652 posts
 

@mgrif104 

Yes the Hudson HiFi , you  don't glue it you use a double sided tape , I have it about 180 degrees from the cartridge ,  The anti static brush and zero stat remove electric charges before you play , the is removing the static electric as it's generated while playing the record . I used a static removing brush that was supposed to remove the charge thru your body , it didn't seem to work well in the winter .

 

 

gglendon
2 posts
 

I think if you are listening to the noise instead of the music, return it. I invested in a Kirmuss, which is time consuming but has rendered some miracles with older records, and an Orb flattener. So, I am picky. If the record is new and easy to find, I return it if its noisy and I try to rescue it if its old or rare. Also, I found that microline and shibata styli eliminated some surface noise for me over elliptical.

mulveling's avatar
mulveling
2,448 posts
 

The newer AQ carbon fiber brush is OK. The old ones, which were endlessly rebranded everywhere, are terrible. But I prefer a mix of carbon/conductive fibers and something more rigid to actually knock off the more stuck-on particles. I like AcousTech Big Brush for that.

And yes, once a wet clean and new anti-static HDPE sleeve is applied (MoFi’s are OK but other alternatives are to be had that are either better or cheaper), the record is very easy to maintain with a quick brushing per play.

slaw's avatar
slaw
26,433 posts
 

I've been using my Destat II in conjunction with my Giotto air bulb. Works great on previously cleaned records. Haven't used a brush in a while.

speedthrills
214 posts
 

Welcome to the reality of vinyl. Outrageously priced, unpredictable and often poor quality. If I have 100 records, almost all 180 gram I'd estimate that only 30 are truly "Great" and another 40 are average to below average in sound quality with surface noise, clicks etc. that can't be removed and the other 30 are / were a complete waste of money due to highly compressed recording, overall poor sound. I decided to stop wasting money on vinyl- it was too frustrating - and prices seem to go up very few months. The average is approaching $50 for an album of questionable quality. Overall, despite what the vinyl zealots scream, vinyl does NOT automatically sound better than streaming and yes, I've got a 5k turntable with a 2k cartridge set up correctly going into a 3k phono preamp into a 10k ARC pre amp into a 20k ARC amp into 30K Martin Logans in a dedicated room. 

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