During the decades in vinyl I learned something about pops and clicks:
They are much less disturbing in a well set-up system. The following can be done to minimize audibility of pops and clicks:
- Correct setting of stylus vertical tracking angle
- Tube phono preamplifier
- Cleaning the disc, ultrasonic method or other wet method
- (Wet playing) - this is a controversial topic, I don't prefer it
Especially the first two can change the timbre of pops and click so that they fall below the subjective threshold of being disturbing.
They are much less disturbing in a well set-up system. The following can be done to minimize audibility of pops and clicks:
- Correct setting of stylus vertical tracking angle
- Tube phono preamplifier
- Cleaning the disc, ultrasonic method or other wet method
- (Wet playing) - this is a controversial topic, I don't prefer it
Especially the first two can change the timbre of pops and click so that they fall below the subjective threshold of being disturbing.
For declicking and denoising, iZotope should be the most widely trusted algorithm among professionals, and iZotope sells their algorithms to the other venders for this kind of products. I think this one is also based on iZotope algorithm with an optimization for this specific purpose.
For DIYers, I guess professional iZotope plugins + AD/DA could be a more sensible option. iZotope plugins should be available as a free demo for a certain period.
I actually use iZotope plugins for vinyl playback for a few years. I can hear some digital signature, and it is more and less obvious based on the threshold of the strength. I can virtually remove almost all the noises from vinyl, but I don't do that because of this reason.
For DIYers, I guess professional iZotope plugins + AD/DA could be a more sensible option. iZotope plugins should be available as a free demo for a certain period.
I actually use iZotope plugins for vinyl playback for a few years. I can hear some digital signature, and it is more and less obvious based on the threshold of the strength. I can virtually remove almost all the noises from vinyl, but I don't do that because of this reason.
Thanks to all previous opinions.
My point is that it is preferable a thousand times (for me, I am not a golden ears but I come quite close by years of experience in listening to packaged and live music) to enjoy a recording without noise introduced by the support, ( to the much discussed difference if we a good DAC) between analog sound and converting it to digital.
The Rolling Stones can still be heard on loud vinyl, but not the Moonlight Sonata!
I have some relatives in the EU, I will find out if they can get me the Mini model, hence my interest in knowing the type of surcharge that I will have to pay, but it seems that I forgot about Brexit, the UK is already outside the EU?
I'm not talking about politics here, just about customs duties.
My point is that it is preferable a thousand times (for me, I am not a golden ears but I come quite close by years of experience in listening to packaged and live music) to enjoy a recording without noise introduced by the support, ( to the much discussed difference if we a good DAC) between analog sound and converting it to digital.
The Rolling Stones can still be heard on loud vinyl, but not the Moonlight Sonata!
I have some relatives in the EU, I will find out if they can get me the Mini model, hence my interest in knowing the type of surcharge that I will have to pay, but it seems that I forgot about Brexit, the UK is already outside the EU?
I'm not talking about politics here, just about customs duties.
Those solutions are good, but they won't come close to the job this gadget does.
I'm not a friend of "wet" playing, but you can be sure it will spoil the cantilever of your needle. I have observed a needle from my old Stanton 881S (60X magnification), it is corroded by moisture from the Discwhaser cleaning brush that I used for years.
Let's not write it off, let's do it for personal use, not for commercial purposes.
In this forum there are brilliant minds, so it would be an extraordinary contribution that could be developed here, surely there are many interested people ...
What are we here for? This is not Diyaudio ?
Wait a moment, are you talking about clicks and pops caused from dirt or are you talking about worn out vinyls?
I'm using one of the cheapest machines to clean my records manually (VinylStyl Deep Groove) and after the cleaning i can barely hear any pops and clicks out of my records.
I could imagine a vacuum cleaner does a much better job and an ultrasonic cleaner does the ultimate job to that...
So, have you tried an ultrasonic cleaner and yet not satisfied or what?
On the other hand if you're talking about worn and abused full of scratches vinyls which cannot be cured even by an ultrasonic cleaner then is it really worth it spend that money for another device which might correct the issue but who knows at what sonic expense?
tvrgeek :
The vast majority of my records were purchased in the 1970s.
The loudest were labels from Phllips, and Deustche Gramophon, companies of international prestige, but in those years they made vinyl with recycled PVC, because there was a "boom" in the demand for consumer goods, and they "adapted" to local rules of the game, maximize profits, sell!
Before the claims, in the stores they gave you a new copy, which had the same defects (or worse) ...
I have vinyls from the Phillips label from the same period pressed in Brazil, by the same artists, the same versions, from the same era, and they sound totally silent. They had more supply of virgin raw material at the time, surely.
What does not mean that I have bought "direct cut" - mainly Sheffield, editions also new, that sound with clicks, isolated, but they are ....
A person related to the supply of PVC to record companies told me in those years that the problem was that unscrupulous suppliers of recycled PVC were "forgotten"? of removing the paper labels (and the glue) from the vinyls, which went completely to grinding prior to subsequent melting, the result was a vinyl totally contaminated in its molecular structure.
Imagine the needle passing over a PVC surface mixed with cardboard particles, not just clicks and pops, but also background noise, high "hiss".
This story will give you the idea why my enthusiasm about Sweet Vinyl would be a solution to finally be able to enjoy all that amount of endearing vinyl that I have bought ...
There is no cleaning machine that can eliminate these noises.
I bet those companies weren't using recycled material to press their vinyls in their home countries. In these lands, times of Wincofón record players, who cared if the owners of HI FI equipment were an insignificant market niche?
When the CDA came out I never bought a vinyl again, and now there is music streaming that sounds great!
Related photos in the next post, greetings
Are there any legitimate companies that actually recycle vinyl records out there? : vinyl
The vast majority of my records were purchased in the 1970s.
The loudest were labels from Phllips, and Deustche Gramophon, companies of international prestige, but in those years they made vinyl with recycled PVC, because there was a "boom" in the demand for consumer goods, and they "adapted" to local rules of the game, maximize profits, sell!
Before the claims, in the stores they gave you a new copy, which had the same defects (or worse) ...
I have vinyls from the Phillips label from the same period pressed in Brazil, by the same artists, the same versions, from the same era, and they sound totally silent. They had more supply of virgin raw material at the time, surely.
What does not mean that I have bought "direct cut" - mainly Sheffield, editions also new, that sound with clicks, isolated, but they are ....
A person related to the supply of PVC to record companies told me in those years that the problem was that unscrupulous suppliers of recycled PVC were "forgotten"? of removing the paper labels (and the glue) from the vinyls, which went completely to grinding prior to subsequent melting, the result was a vinyl totally contaminated in its molecular structure.
Imagine the needle passing over a PVC surface mixed with cardboard particles, not just clicks and pops, but also background noise, high "hiss".
This story will give you the idea why my enthusiasm about Sweet Vinyl would be a solution to finally be able to enjoy all that amount of endearing vinyl that I have bought ...
There is no cleaning machine that can eliminate these noises.
I bet those companies weren't using recycled material to press their vinyls in their home countries. In these lands, times of Wincofón record players, who cared if the owners of HI FI equipment were an insignificant market niche?
When the CDA came out I never bought a vinyl again, and now there is music streaming that sounds great!
Related photos in the next post, greetings
Are there any legitimate companies that actually recycle vinyl records out there? : vinyl
Puffin to Sweet Vinyl comparison
I was one of the original kickstarter financiers of Sweet Vinyl -own both a SC-1 and SC-2. And have been very happy with them -my goal is to come home at the end of my work day -pour out 2 oz of bourbon -pop on a record and relax. I understand and have a number of good friends who really enjoy working with computers - that's fine. I work with computers pretty much every day and think the customer who said "God created computers 'cause we quit using mules" pretty much got it right. So -to support my audio obsession I work 7 day work weeks.
A few months ago I bought a Parks Audio Puffin with SPDIF output. BTW-mine delivers a 24/96 and the even newer TOSLINK version delivers that via optical out. Both are extra cost options from Parks Audio.
The Majic noise reduction that Shannon Parks implemented in the latest software in the puffin works nicely - I switched it in and out on the same records and decided I just couldn't hear it except it knocked almost all the clicks n pops off of decently treated/handled LP's. For the last few months I have done all my listening thru the Puffin ( at least a couple of hundred hours in total ) with the Majic noise reduction on. Obvious question -why own a Sweet Vinyl box too ? The difference is that Shannon Parks decided on what threshold to set the Puffins noise reduction to and seems like he made a good call on this -no pumping/gating -transparent to my ol nun handles. BUT-BIG BUT! -I have bought thousands of thrift store treasures - a fair number of these have been loved to death. In particular I have great old jazz records that cleaning helps -but they sound like the movie theater lobby's popcorn machine. This is where the adjustable threshold feature of the Sweet Vinyl boxes really comes into play - pretty darn unlistenable terribly damaged LP's are musically pleasant to listen thru with a Sweet Vinyl box. let me be clear on this -the reason I have donated back to GW several thousand LP's is that those LPs are in my experience no longer enjoyable because they are so horribly damaged that nothing can make them musical to me. Not cleaning , not stylus tips , not the Puffin ,not the SC-1 or SC-2 . Records are irreplaceable -please treat them as such.
I was one of the original kickstarter financiers of Sweet Vinyl -own both a SC-1 and SC-2. And have been very happy with them -my goal is to come home at the end of my work day -pour out 2 oz of bourbon -pop on a record and relax. I understand and have a number of good friends who really enjoy working with computers - that's fine. I work with computers pretty much every day and think the customer who said "God created computers 'cause we quit using mules" pretty much got it right. So -to support my audio obsession I work 7 day work weeks.
A few months ago I bought a Parks Audio Puffin with SPDIF output. BTW-mine delivers a 24/96 and the even newer TOSLINK version delivers that via optical out. Both are extra cost options from Parks Audio.
The Majic noise reduction that Shannon Parks implemented in the latest software in the puffin works nicely - I switched it in and out on the same records and decided I just couldn't hear it except it knocked almost all the clicks n pops off of decently treated/handled LP's. For the last few months I have done all my listening thru the Puffin ( at least a couple of hundred hours in total ) with the Majic noise reduction on. Obvious question -why own a Sweet Vinyl box too ? The difference is that Shannon Parks decided on what threshold to set the Puffins noise reduction to and seems like he made a good call on this -no pumping/gating -transparent to my ol nun handles. BUT-BIG BUT! -I have bought thousands of thrift store treasures - a fair number of these have been loved to death. In particular I have great old jazz records that cleaning helps -but they sound like the movie theater lobby's popcorn machine. This is where the adjustable threshold feature of the Sweet Vinyl boxes really comes into play - pretty darn unlistenable terribly damaged LP's are musically pleasant to listen thru with a Sweet Vinyl box. let me be clear on this -the reason I have donated back to GW several thousand LP's is that those LPs are in my experience no longer enjoyable because they are so horribly damaged that nothing can make them musical to me. Not cleaning , not stylus tips , not the Puffin ,not the SC-1 or SC-2 . Records are irreplaceable -please treat them as such.
I seem to remember that one of the original de-clickers used an analog bucket-brigade delay so the circuits had enough time to detect the click and then mute it. Otherwise, by the time the click is detected, it's too late to do anything about it. I guess the sample rate could be high enough to preserve the high frequencies, but I assume the noise level wasn't good. Maybe they compressed the audio before the delay and expanded it after to reduce noise. Anyway, a box like this would be more for situations where eliminating pops and clicks is more important than sound quality, like broadcasters that are already processing the heck out of music to make it sound better on low-fi radios.