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Can You Live With Crackling & Popping Noise?

I just got my first turntable, a Rega P5 and not sure whether I'm supposed to be delighted or otherwise. When I put on my first record, there was intermittent popping, hissing and crackling noise at low to moderate volume levels. Having lived with digital for half of my life, I find this to be somewhat annoying. For a while I was feeling disappointed and pondering whether I would end up selling this thing. After a while I thought what the heck, since I had got this thing home I might as well turn up the volume and enjoy the music. I started to crank it up to reasonably high levels and all the hissing, crackling and popping noise began to drown and disappear into the background music. Somehow the annoyance turned to musical bliss, well almost.

My question, especially for those who own high-end turntables, can you live with all the crackling and popping noise? I reckon all these noises will be quite noticeable especially when playing some clean vocals with minimum background music? What actually cause all these noises? Is the noise caused by dust sticking on the surface of the record assuming the record is in good condition? Is there any way these crackling and popping noises can be reduced or eliminated completely by cleaning the records?

The manual states as follows:-

"Don't worry about visible dust on the record surface, this is brushed aside by the stylus and any that collects on the stylus can be easily blown away. In general, record cleaning is overdone and one should not believe all the claims made by record cleaner manufacturers."

Does this mean that cleaning records is pointless? If that is the case how do we get rid of the crackling noise in the event the dust and fine particles are the ones that are causing these noises? Is there any easy solution to clean the records by ourselves?

For any newbie who wants to take the turntable route, I would urge you to reconsider your options particularly if you have minimal tolerance towards popping and crackling noises. Even all my good old cassette collection that ended up in the rubbish bin years ago didn't exhibit all these popping and crackling noises.

If all these noises do not exist in records then analog is really the one to beat.

Thank you for your patience.
ryder
jsd52756's avatar
jsd52756
345 posts
 
In response to the titles question. Yes & I almost like it.
I can drag out an album I havn't listened to in years & years and remember the pops, ticks and even skips from the 70's 7 80's. Kinda brings back old memories & puts me into perspective on how time flys. Almost always puts a smile on my face.
-John
macdadtexas
1,794 posts
 
I 100% disagree with Avrij. After years of what I thought were glorious and fully realized digital playback systems, including SACD, I found that relatively inexpensive turntables blow away digital. Much fuller, richer sound.
tvad
9,467 posts
 
IMO, there are too many subjective variables in audio to proclaim absolutes that apply to every system and every listener.

Digital and analog each have their benefits and problems.

Noisy vinyl is a problem inherent in the medium. Some listeners can overlook it, and others cannot.
ojgalli
165 posts
 
Ryder:

What you're hearing is called reality. Sorry you fell for all the hype. Are you thinking about tubes too?
almarg's avatar
almarg
8,673 posts
 
My question, especially for those who own high-end turntables, can you live with all the crackling and popping noise?

Some excellent comments and suggestions have been made by the others. I'll just add, re this part of your question, that how objectionable the tics and pops are, besides being dependent on vinyl quality, record condition and cleanliness, etc., is highly dependent on the dynamic range of the music you are listening to.

If you are listening to typically compressed popular music, where the volume level never fluctuates very much, you won't hear much of the extraneous noise. At the other extreme, if you are listening to a well-recorded, minimally compressed classical symphony performance, the tics and pops and surface noise will be much more bothersome, since most of the time the music is at much lower volume levels than at the occasional peaks.

That's probably a major reason why different listeners object to the problems of vinyl to different degrees -- they're listening to different music.

Regards,
-- Al
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