by TBR Contributor Alex Bunardzic
I love good sound. Good sound makes me happy, and as a musician I particularly enjoy those moments when the playback is flowing, the music is flooding the room, and I feel fully involved, touched by the unstoppable dynamics of the music.
Good sound is the reason I pursue good playback equipment, but the more I’ve upgraded my system the more I’ve realized that, at the end of the day, it is the source, the signal carrier, that makes or breaks the listening magic.
I spent a lot of time and money in the pursuit of good digital sound reproduction. Eventually I was forced to throw in the towel and go back to vinyl. Simply put, vinyl sounds more engaging than any digital sound reproduction I’ve ever heard.
But vinyl is a messy medium (to say the least), and a lot of people I know are taken aback when attempting to get into vinyl playback and they realize that much dreaded ‘surface noise’ often comes with the territory. Pops, clicks, and maybe even a little bit of a grinding sound from the groove – for some these can be at the very least distractions and at their very worst, deal breakers.
I guess if you’ve grown acclimatized to the clinically clean digital playback that has zero added noise to the signal, hearing typical vinyl playback may shock you. And even the cleanest, most pristine vinyl carries some added noise; it’s unavoidable. Sadly, that added noise often drives many audiophiles away from enjoying the unparalleled virtues of vinyl.
How intrusive really is surface noise?
The brain is a marvelous apparatus. It has the evolutionary advantage of being able to filter out irrelevant signals when zeroing in on something that’s deemed important. Thanks to that capability, if a person listening to vinyl playback gets emotionally drawn into the music, that person’s brain may filter out the extraneous sounds. Amazingly, that level of adjustment can happen within seconds, and I’ve personally experienced it many times over.
Of course if we put on an LP that’s in pretty bad shape, the popping and cracking noises still grate on even the most tolerant listener. We may want to jump up and take the record off the turntable, but if we resist that urge long enough, and provided the LP playing was mastered and pressed properly, once the music starts playing we can find ourselves forgetting all about the crackling noises, and soon our feet start tapping and we’re nodding our head in delight.
What I’m trying to say is that it’s very easy to lose oneself in good music reproduced with gusto. When the music grabs us by the collar and pulls us in, in that moment nothing else matters. Who cares about surface noise when our heart is filled with joy? Who cares about pops and clicks when we’re happy to be alive and feeling the privilege of owning this LP and enjoying the amazing music in its grooves.
Why miss out on a good thing just because of the packaging?
The reason I want to bring these concerns here is to lament the fact that many music and sound lovers tend to miss out on a good thing because they find surface noise SO off-putting. Yes vinyl is not an optimal way to package music. It IS noisy and it necessitates a high-touch approach.
But why throw out the baby with bathwater? As we’ve all seen, our brains can quickly and easily throw out the dirty bathwater and give us a squeaky clean baby. We have the ability to disregard surface noise and give those venerable old LPs a chance to win us over.
It’s a sad thing to me that audiophiles who have a distaste for surface noise pass on purchasing original and early pressings, opting only for modern day reissues. Sure, these reissues are noticeably less noisy, but they also carry an inferior signal. Is it really worth it to sacrifice sound quality just so we can minimize the noisy packaging?
The Math Favors Older Pressings
My LP collection (nearing around 900 LPs) consists of many old pressings, as well as some modern day reissues. While almost all my newer reissued LPs sound audibly inferior when compared to the early pressings, a surprisingly large number of my old LPs sound amazing! I never hesitate to purchase 40 – 50 years old pressings because I know that chances are, after I wash them properly, those LPs will sound really good on my turntable.
When buying a modern reissue I pretty much know that I stand a 90% chance of being deeply disappointed in the sound quality. So the math, for me, is clear. When given a choice between an old, and somewhat worn original pressing and a squeaky clean reissue of the same title, I will always go for the old one. Despite knowing it might be noisy, I still prefer the sound of the early pressings.
I get much more enjoyment from a noisy, crackly old vinyl record that was mastered and pressed properly than I get from a quiet reissue that was produced with different equipment, a different skill set and different aesthetic sensibilities than the original.
Old Records Can Be A LOT Cheaper!
The good news is that, on average, buying an early pressings is considerably less expensive than buying a shiny new reissue. Some people say that buying those old used records is a gamble because we cannot know if the LP came from a good stamper or from a worn out one. Perhaps, but in my experience most old used records sound just fine, and some of them sound phenomenal! And that’s despite the fact that I found many of them in a used bin for $2.00!
The moral of the story is this – before shelling out the big bucks on some fancy modern reissue, visit your local record store and do some digging in the used bins. You will do doubt find a few cheapo LPs. Make sure you wash them (or pay the merchant to wash them for you if they offer that service), and then sit down for a listen.
When you crank it up does it sound sweet? Does it sound like it’s caressing your ears? If yes, you’ll be pulled in by it and you won’t be able to pay attention to the surface noise. Instead you’ll fall in love with the music, and for that it only cost you pocket change.