How do you get past the pops and hiss of LPs?

inpepinnovations@ I'm sure you understand that I am not talking about tape hiss. As Tom and Marty pointed out, tape hiss is audible on CDs to, but it is not part of the recording, it is a fault of the recording medium. As people have gained a better understanding about what was needed to preserve tapes without degradation this is less of an issue.

Hiss was not part of the music recorded in the studio. Where it is audible it is typically caused by poor cared for LPs.

Marakanetz is right, LP playback is not for the lazy. It requires a little effort to totally surpass the sound quality of CDs, but only a little! Many of our 'microwave' generation do not have the patience to obtain good music. That's their choice, but don't fool yourself into thinking that CDs will ever be of the same sound quality as LPs.

Kemp, just use clean LPs!

Allow me to draw a metaphor of sorts. As a recording engineer and vintage studio gear enthusiast, I find tape hiss to be a relatively small price to pay for the benefits of a great 4,8,16 track machine. Listen to the drums on the White Album and you'll know what I mean. That sound came from a Fairchild compressor and a 4 track tape machine. Now, is there some hiss on the recording? Maybe, but the good far outweighs the bad.

Similarly, I find occasional pops on my LP's to be a small price to pay. But this is usually not a problem for me as I try to buy only new, reissued vinyl if at all possible. Thus static is more my problem but it is much easier to cure than scratches.

Moral: The good outweighs the bad in both analog recording and playback.

At least, as someone else noted, the hiss is "below" the music and not "within" it.

How come the vinyl lovers are all able to "tune-out" (pun intended) the little noises contained on the medium to enjoy the music, but are unable to "tune-out" the lack of information (so called) on CD to enjoy the music? Whose internal filter is wrong?

Viridian, I don't know what the source of hiss is on those CD's, but I do hear it, in fact even more since there are no other noises to mask it!

I'd rather get all of the music and a little hiss from time to time rather than part of the music with a little hiss. Why is it the CDophiles are willing to pay full price for part of the product???

I bought a couple of new LPs this week and was listening to one of them yesterday. There was no hiss at all and only one minor 'pop' during everything I listetned to, but there sure was music. I have this same recording on a SBM CD and it sounds lifeless by direct comparison.

Listening to CD is like having a loved one on lifesupport but consoling ones self with the knowledge that they are still there.