Gadgets

Back into vinyl but hate the clicks and pops? There’s a gadget for that.

One of the great selling points of the compact disc was that the technology eliminated the clicks and pops inherent to vinyl. Dust, static electricity, and damage to the grooves were the culprits.

These annoyances only increased through the 70s and into the 80s as the quality of the raw polyvinyl chloride got worse. With the price of petroleum byproducts skyrocketing, labels began to rely on recycled vinyl which introduced all sorts of impurities into the process. That led to even worse-sounding and easily-damaged vinyl.

There were some audiophile solutions to the problem. I remember a device manufactured by a company called dbx that reportedly EQ’d out some of those clicks and pops. I never tried it, but it was an analogue solution (these were, after all, pre-digital days) and didn’t work in certain situations.

Now there’s some new technology. If you don’t find those vinyl clicks and pops charmingly retro, you can excise them with a new device called the SugarCube SC-1.

Read more here after you watch the video.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 38025 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

3 thoughts on “Back into vinyl but hate the clicks and pops? There’s a gadget for that.

  • or you could switch to cd- which is one of the things that made the cd great (plus you only needed one component).

    Reply
    • Haha… I think this was a major reason as to why we were so quick to dump vinyl the first time around

      Reply
  • Shameless plug. Sugarcube is available to order at 331/3 Record Store in Aurora.

    Reply

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