Vinyl's Noise Floor

Pbb, while I love vinyl and consider it the best way to listen to music, I am not advocating that it is perfect. I have numerous less-than-great albums and some that are in pretty bad condition. I can hear plenty of noise on these. They are not my favorites, but sometimes I play them because they have some music I like. Not all records are quiet, and I see the point that this might distract some people. My good condition albums do play quietly, and are very enjoyable. But, bad recordings show through on any recorded media. So, nothing is perfect, but good condition vinyl on a good turntable gives the best possible musical source. If a quiet background is more important than the musical reproduction, I think that is a reversal of priorities. Background noise floor should only be considered after the quality of reproduction is considered. If the sources are equal, musically, then I would agree that the lower noise factor would be the more enjoyable one. The problem is, the sources are not equal, musically. Analog is a better sounding media, and can be very quiet, given good records and equipment. So which is more important to you as a listener? Better music with the chance of a few clicks here and there, or lesser music with a consistently quiet background? To put it in an automotive analogy, which would you rather have, a Ferrari with a free-flow exhaust that can be loud when you get on it,but is usually quiet around town, or a Toyota with a real quiet muffler that is quiet all the time?

Two observations. First is that LP noise is minimized by the dynamic range of the medium. With CD the quiestest sound is defined by the medium itself. Too quiet and a sound is not reproduced at all. Many pallatives have been tried, dither being one that adds distortion to allow the medium to reproduce the quietest sounds. To my ears it is, at best, somewhat successful. With analog the quietest sounds continue and are audible well into the noise floor; quite a contrast to digital black. The other aspect that distinguises the LP noise floor is that, with correctly set VTA the noise exists in a seperate plane from the music. The brain's sensory gating mechanism is able to tune it out to a great extent. My experience is that digital noise exists within the fabric of the music itself doing far greater violence to the signal. No doubt, many will disagree!

Having recently returned to vinyl after some 20 years, I too was apprehensive about my ability to hear beyond the inherent noise that does exist on lp's. I'm using a Rega P 25 with Super Elyse through the new Black Cube with upgraded power supply. The problem is software. I listen to classical and have purchased a goodly amount of brand new, never played, factory sealed lp's. Without exception, every RCA, Columbia, Angel (read pressed in US) has surface imperfections; high degree of surface noise,clicks and pops on the FIRST PLAY after a thouough VPI cleaning and rinse followed by a zerostat! On the other hand, virtually every new or used Decca, London, Richmond, Argo, earaly Mercury (all the same company except Merc) pressed in England or Holland has had wonderfully quiet surfaces with very little backround noise. Furthermore, many of the US discs mentioned above seem to have the same distortion and high frequency glare that led me away from cd's in the first place. Unfortunately for those who favor rock or popular music as opposed to classical, they cannot avail themselves to what may be the ultimate analogue sound

I have also had a good degree of sucess with Telarcs, which if I'm not mistaken, are Japanese pressings, as were Mobile Fidelity.

No one can convince me that a better table/arm/cartridge combination could cure the inherent problems of the above mentioned labels. It's all in the quality of the software.

PBB, let me say once again I prefer digital to analog. But, AlbertPorter is absoultly correct. Despite all the technological hurdles analog has to leap(it's amazing it works at all!).I have never heard any digital source sound as good as a carefully set up, money no object, top flight turntable playing well maintained vinyl. It takes passion to make it all work. If you haven't heard a really good set up in twenty years, your long over due. Leave your prejudices at the door. Relax and listen. Again, I still prefer digital for a multitude of reasons. Just don't dismiss analog out of hand with out a fair audition.

Pbb- I don't know where or how you had gotten the impression that "the best tt/arm/cart makes the recording more silent". Clearly, any playback medium cannot change the actual recording in any way as a noisy recording is a noisy recording. A playback system can't go back in time to re-do the master tape, record mold or pressing to make the recording more silent. What a higher quality playback system (analog or digital) can do is be more faithful to the existing recording. Vis a vis noise and noise floor, a better quality table/arm/cart will be able to drop the noise floor very significantly as extraneous vibrations during playback will generally be minimized so as not to be introduced by the table as noise. This results in a much quieter background and much greater clarity in transciption. (I suppose that some might mis-interpret this to the RECORDING sounding quieter, but it's really the equipment playing what's on the LP more accurately.) Also, a better quality cartridge will better track the groove sides (where the music is) and minimize contact with the bottom of the groove where there is more LP surface noise and not much, if any, music.

And yes, Formula One, there may be some slight noise on the quietest passages. But, like most things in life, it's a trade-off. As TWL pretty much said above- if you want dead silence in the background, don't mind strings sounding like synthesizers and want convenience, go with CDs. If you don't mind a little effort, some slight noise (which most folks cancel out psycho-acoustically) and enjoy a more natural sound, then go analog.

Lastly, to Pbb- There have been many, many threads giving suggestions for the best analog rigs at various price points so I can't imagine why you would have any trouble settling in on something to try in your price range. From your comments, though, I'm sensing that your priority is dead silence and convenience, so your best bet might be to just stick with CDs. I don't think anyone on this analog forum believes analog is for everyone all of the time, just as CDs aren't for everyone all of the time.

Regards
Jim