New Vinyl Defects

The number of people complaining of poor QC on new audiophile vinyl has increased quite a bit in the past year or so. It's a constant topic on VA these days and I've heard a few of these problem LP's myself. Careful examination has proven beyond any doubt that there are QC issues with the records.

As has already been said, careful mastering and good quality vinyl are no guarantee of a flaw-free record. Any mis-step during cutting, plating, stamping or cooling can produce a flawed LP, and those mis-steps seem to be happening more frequently.

I agree that 50% is very unlucky however. Such records should be returned for replacement or refund of course. Otherwise the manufacturers will have no idea and no incentive to improve their work processes.

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Note to jmcgrogan2,

IME "pops and clicks" are usually the sign of biological contaminants. These are especially likely on older records and RRL will not remove them. Try Vinyl-Zyme.

Older records may have been damaged of course, but I have hundreds (thousands?) that are just as quiet as any new release. After proper cleaning I have never heard a noisy surface on any (undamaged) post-1970 Harmonia Mundi, French Erato, Telefunken, Archiv Produktion or German EMI, to name a few. Quiet surfaces were not a Y2K development.

Doug

Bdgregory: I don't believe that Albert was suggesting that phono stages are "introducing" this noise, but rather that, as you go up the food chain in terms of quality in phono stages that the better phono stages actually deal with surface noise, pops etc. in a manner that makes that type of noise much less noticeable. I experienced exactly that this week with a phono stage I have been auditioning, expensive but not outrageously so (by high end phono stage standards) at $900. I was shocked at how less obtrusive that type of noise was using the better stage.

Note to jmcgrogan2,

IME "pops and clicks" are usually the sign of biological contaminants. These are especially likely on older records and RRL will not remove them. Try Vinyl-Zyme.

Thanks Doug, I will have to try that.

John

HDM - thanks for the clarification - that makes sense.

Update: Well, the seller replaced my defective LP, and the new one is better, in that it doesn't have the label adhesive on the vinyl. The problem is side 1 is off-center exactly like the first one. I'm going to keep this one as it costs me too much to send it back and I expect they're all that way. This is a Lambchop LP - "Damaged", and you get a free download of the CD from the record company, so I'll get/burn a CD and see how much different side 1 sounds. As for the Johnny Cash LP, the seller reminded me that I bought a second, that was advertided as such, and he didn't have any more of them. I had forgotten about that and agreed that it's unfair to expect replacement. In addition, the defect in the LP is minor, on one track only, and I'll tolerate it.

all and all, At least I feel I got a fair deal.