I give up on new vinyl

I have plenty of success with both old original vinyl and newly remastered reissues, but I am collecting almost entirely classical and jazz.

With that said, it’s like everything else. Vinyl reissues run the gamut. Some come from nefarious outfits using CDs as mastering source and crappy, noisy pressings. Some are outstanding, using 1st gen master tapes and taking care to produce a top notch product on quality vinyl (e.g. Music Matters Jazz for Blue Note, Analogue Productions Prestige and RCA Living Stereo).

I am listening now to DG Classics’ reissue of Bernstein’s Beethoven symphony cycle from 1980, half-speed mastered by Emil Berliner Studios in Germany on 180 gr. vinyl and presented beautifully in a box with individual sleeves for each symphony. Surface noise is almost non-existent and the music (and SQ) is sublime.

YMMV, but vetting reissues can be hard.

I’m not into vinyl but have had two opposite experiences with new vinyl purchases recently.

#1: Astral Weeks - Van Morrison. Warner Brothers. 180g. Clear vinyl...not sure why. Sound quality is fine but there is a repeating pop during one of the songs. I should have returned it but waited too late. It has not been cleaned but I don’t think that is going to help.

#2: My Generation - The Who. Geffen. No special indications about weight or pressing. It is in mono like the original. It feels thicker and heavier than the Van Morrison album. No clicks, no pops, no hiss and SQ is great....for mono.

I don’t buy records often but this experience makes me wary. Is it okay to open and play a record and then return it?

Are some of these recordings mastered in digital?

I don’t think it has to do with digital mastering but the quality of the pressings. A friend who is a distributor was going to market with a new album that was in demand; it was pressed at United for the States and Optimal for EU. He chose the Optimal pressings to sell based on his experience.
I don’t buy much new vinyl and what I do buy comes from a variety of sources- from audiophile labels like MoFi and Speakers Corner- as well as a lot of non-audiophile music that can be pressed almost anywhere. Quality does vary and I have gotten a few defective discs, but I suspect that’s the norm. I’ve gotten clean playing records from GZ, Record Industry and others that aren’t necessarily considered top tier because they use digital sources for the most part.
Old records are great but condition is the devil- most sellers overgrade-
Recently, I’ve been finding dead stock of records-- I guess you could called them ’sealed’ but its just old inventory that was never played. Some going back to the early ’70s. Some even on really thin vinyl that sounds great.
I think you have to avoid the hype of 180 gram "from the analog masters" (which is meaningless- it could be a digital master taken from some tape copy). For Zep, I thought those reissues done what- 2014 or so-- were generally pretty good. (I bought three of them just to see what they were about and got rid of them in favor of preferred old copies but don’t remember having any QC problems).
If you are buying new, it makes sense to buy from a source that enables a return (and possibly reimburses you for return shipping or provides a prepaid mailing label). For out of print, that may not be possible.
The crinkle sound could also be static- something pretty common in the winter with central heating.
And cleaning of course. I don't buy into the 'mold release' issue but a lot of inner liners shed, and just handling and exposing a record to a normal non-clean room environment (when it wasn't made in a clean room to begin with) means there are little dust nits and particles that collect on the surface, especially if the record suffers a static charge. Look at the surface in good light. 

Read this thread that started a while back to better understand this issue....
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/new-vinyl-2
Matt