Phono stage can minimize tics and pops on vinyl

@atmasphere yes, thank you for the great explanation!

@hifiman5 yes, I experienced the same phenomenon when I added the Manley Chinook into my rig.  Due to an unfortunate incident, I ended up also changing the cartridge to the AT ART9 with a Line Contact stylus around the same time.  Clicks and pops are virtually gone, even with less than stellar albums.  

a good system won’t minimize the clicks.pops, but neither will it emphasize them. I hear the noise on a different plane than the music. In life, if someone sneezes from the 2nd balcony, it sounds from a different place than the orchestra.

@stringreen   Interesting way of expressing your experience with surface noise.  It's as if the pops and tics are detached from the fabric of the music allowing your brain to focus on the music not extraneous noises.

I hear the noise on a different plane than the music. In life, if someone sneezes from the 2nd balcony, it sounds from a different place than the orchestra.

@stringreen I understand this bit very well- its why I prefer vinyl, as any surface artifacts are in a different plane from the music, while the colorations (brightness and hardness) of digital are part of the music itself.
However, this statement suggests to me a misunderstanding, I'd like to clear it up:

a good system won’t minimize the clicks.pops, but neither will it emphasize them.

The idea here is that indeed a phono section can affect how many ticks and pops you hear, because they originate due to phono section design issues which is triggered by something on the LP surface. And I hate to say it, but many high end phono sections do have this problem- in fact they emphasize ticks and pops, and people thing they are part of 'a good system'. I think this is because as I pointed out earlier, many people grew up with unstable phono sections and simply thing that ticks and pops just come with the media, which they don't. 

Put another way, if you really do have 'a good system', you will hear less ticks and pops- it will minimize them, without other coloration, such as a loss of highs.

@atmasphere   You said: " Put another way, if you really do have 'a good system', you will hear less ticks and pops- it will minimize them, without other coloration, such as a loss of highs."

The loss of highs issue was a real concern for me when the Luxman E-250 entered the system.  Initially the sound was "muted" and "slow".  Honestly, it took a good 300 hours or so to open up and for the highs to come into their own.  That was a great relief as I then felt I had the whole package.  So your mentioning that the phono stage needs to be of sufficient quality to minimize surface noise but not roll off or accentuate any part of the frequency spectrum is the overall goal.