It can't be a merely "What I'm doing is good enough and probably probably better." So here, the "best" sound has to come from the trying and listening. The proof of the pudding is in the tasting, as the saying goes. In the end, we're an audio, high fidelity enthusiasts community. And not all ultrasonic machines provide the same level of result either, as one of Michael Fremer's videos talks about. Yet Harry Weisfeld, the owner of VPI, acknowledges that he has gotten even better results from an ultrasonic machine. The VPI Cyclone, a $1200 retail vacuum record cleaning machine, is supposed to provide superb results.
And ALL of your records would get the benefit of such a cleaning system. Moreover, if your system cost $20,000, the less shocking a $4000 cleaner would be. The higher end your system, the more you'll likely have spent on it and the more likely you'll hear the benefits of a cleaner record. And if your system is a modest one, that may be sufficient, but you'd only know if you got to clean a record with a different, ostensibly "better" cleaning system. A Spin Clean will get your records respectably clean. Even midrange details are a hair more defined, because that extra level of cleaning allows the stylus to get into parts of the groove which has that subtle information. It allows more low level details to be heard. When I use the basic cleaner, the Super Record Wash, it gets the records respectably clean.īut when I use the Super Deep Cleaner prior to using the Super Record Wash, the background noise level of the vinyl drops. The other two include a basic cleaner and a deep cleaner. One has an enzyme cleaner which I only use if there is literally gunk on the record. I use 3 different types of Mobile Fidelity fluids with it, depending on how dirty the records are. I have a Nitty Gritty built Record Doctor, hand-spun, vacuum cleaning machine. Those who have compared the Spin Clean to a good vacuum or ultrasonic cleaning machine consistently say that the Spin Clean, by itself, is decent, but not as thorough. They're expensive, as are good ultrasonic cleaners. The best vacuum type machine is generally considered to be a Keith Monk style machine with a string cleaning the machine. The best non-machine cleaning system I know of is the Disc Doctor system of brushes and fluids.īut ultrasonic cleaning machines have consistently proven to clean records better than standard record cleaning machines.
There HAVE been shootouts as to what types of cleaners and solutions work best. After that, cost and effort come into the equation. You'd put money on something because of a feeling? Doing a decent job, or a better job than nothing does not make a record cleaner "the best".