Allright fellas, "pops" and "clicks"... romantic, or annoying?

I used to love the scratchy sound of a record. Now, with a quality DAC, and the elimination of the pops, clicks, and vinyl detrius, I don't think I'm as fond, as romantic about it.

And you?

Annoying. Very annoying.

While having a blast playing so many of my favorite records once again, now that I have a new addition to my system (the Dual CS-5000), I'm continually amazed at how good a lot of my records sound, or in the least, how much better they sound now. Still, after popping in a classical Telarc CD, and hearing the orchestra appear from a dead silent background, I have to admit that I find the snap/crackle/pop of records every bit as annoying now, if not more so.

I once read a quote from an audiophile who hated CD's that stated that the cracks and pops of records are essentially the sonic equivalent of the rustling and various noises audience members make in a concert hall during a symphonic performance, and that since no one ever actually hears a symphony without at least some extraneous noises, the background noise of vinyl was therefore more "realistic."

Nonsense, and nothing more.

An occasional pop or click doesn't bother me unless it is one of deep pops that sound like the stylus fell into the Grand Canyon. Then I just cringe. The worst was years ago when I bought a new lp and had just replaced an AT cartridge. I was listening when there was a snap and the arm skittered across the record! Looked at the lp and found a pimple on it. Must have seemed like Mt. Everest to the stylus.

Absolutly Romantic.
Love it!

I'll add, there's majik in some of the pops and clicks.

But with the clarity of a nice CD, sometimes, for the first time ever, I'm finding the CD to be a bit more enjoyable.

But trust me- the records ain't gettin' tossed out yet!

I find them very annoying. Deep cleaning is the best remedy.

Nothing beats the sound of a clean absolutely pop free lp, IMHO.

Pops and clicks don't bug me as much as a skip or a stick/repeat. But they're still a bit of annoyance.

when you coming over with your Nitty Gritty?

I had the same experience with a CD the other day, but don't remember whether it was a dupe or an original.

More pops and clicks than the geriatric ward at dinner time.

I've always taken great care of my albums, and most of the old ones
still sound good.


I prefer nice clean sound, and a few noises go a long way toward
my nostalgic need.

I love "Girlfriend" by Matthew Sweet,
where he inserts a "side flip" midway through
the trax. It's also a great album.

I would agree.

Pops and clicks are dirt for the most part. I do not have a Nitty Gritty or the likes, I do have a spin clean and use it. Deep thorough cleaning is the answer, if your lp's are scratched, replace them. At home over 95% of my listening is to lps, I very seldom play cds.

SAE and some others have made pop and click removers, some work better than others, but in order to work they remove some of the sound also.

Did anyone happen to read the thread at AK about cleaning lps with glue? I have not tried it but the photo results were amazing.

Jim

I know I'm running the risk of starting yet another "which is better - vinyl or CD?" - argument, but my vote insofar as the context of this thread is an unequivocal endorsement of the CD.

I've stated before that I've always believed the CD has always had the potential to outperform vinyl, though it doesn't always do that due primarily to cost restraints in the manufacture of the CD, and the overall ability or prowess of the recording engineer. I own numerous duplicate LP's and CD's, and for the most part, I find the sound better on the CD than the LP.

I think what's important here is that the turntable/cartridge combination, as well as the CD player, or CD transport/D/A converter combo be of commensurate quality before one can make a fair assessment as to which is the superior medium. A TOTL Lynn-Sondek turntable, equipped with a Benz moving coil cartridge will almost surely outperform a $99.95 no-name CD player. On the other hand, a costly CD transport (The TEAC "Esoteric" type, for exmaple) combined with an equally costly D/A converter may give that Lynn-Sondek/Benz combo a run for its money.

My turntable is the excellent, though not unsurpassed, Dual CS-5000, equipped with the Stanton Collector's Series 100 cartrdige (Stanton's best ever cartridge) connected to a Parasound PH-100 phono preamp, as my Parasound PLD-1100 "Line Drive" preamp has no phono input. My CD comb is an Adcom GCD-600 changer, connected to an Adcom GDA-600 outboard D/A converter via a fairly costly (though nowhere near as costly as some) coax interconnect. The Adcom combo vastly outperforms my older Denon 1500II player in every way imaginable.

My turntable/cartridge combo vis a vis the CD transport/D/A combo are, in my opinion, of commensurate quality on the overall sonic/price spectrum, so comparisons between the two are fair.

So, in that case, which sounds better? Almost always the CD, and even older CD's which, upon their initial release were criticiized for being overly bright and shrill. A perfect exmaple is Simon and Garfunkle's "Bridge Over Troubled Water." On older equipment, I always found the LP to be more pleasant to listen to, but now, there's no doubt the CD sounds better in every way.

And, of course, there are the well over 100 Telarc Classical CD's I own, which have no peer in vinyl - period. The overall richness, depth, and deep, throaty sound of brass and/or French horns has never been duplicated on LP, and of course, there's Telarc's famous use (perhaps over-use) of bass drums that also has no vinyl peer.

In addition, just to get back on track here, the CD's are always silent with no pops, clicks or background "grunge" whatsoever, which even some of my most expensive, direct-to-disc LP's have. For some reason I can't explain, the surface noise of an LP seems less now when listening on the CS-5000, but after listening to vinyl for a while, the complete lack of any nosie whatsoever from a CD is a blessing.

My two cents, again.

The better the TT / Arm / Cartridge combination, the less surface noise, pops and clicks you will hear. That is a well known fact among vinyl fans.

There´s no arguing with your arguments, Ed, they are all valid IMO.

Jorge

I did. here they are: