A record of clean health
Buy more records
There are two sides to this argument. The first says simply that a wider, more diverse record collection is an upgrade to your system in itself, and will have you focusing more on your enjoyment of the music than getting too systematic or mathematical about how your system sounds.
If you do want to get analytical, however, picking out a record you may not have otherwise listened to could be a useful way of highlighting any particular aspect of your system’s sound that needs upgrading. Read a few of our hi-fi reviews and you’ll notice an eclectic mix of test tunes – there’s no point judging a product using only one LP.
If you prefer streaming to crate digging, it’s worth subscribing to a service that offers higher-resolution files, such as Tidal, to really hear the intricacies and subtleties of your music without having to fork out for a physical copy of the album.
Keep your kit and your records clean
We’ve all heard what a dusty turntable needle or a scratched CD sounds like, and it isn’t great. And we all know we really should clean our kit more often than we do, despite it being up there with boring tasks like ironing.
Vinyl junkies among us have probably the most work to do, unfortunately: there’s better care you can take than just a quick dust before you drop a record on the platter. If, for example, the record comes in a cardboard or coarse-paper inner sleeve, it can be replaced with a decent anti-static poly-lined alternative. Investing in a decent microfiber cloth will serve you better than a square of kitchen roll, too.
Peruse any vinyl-focused online forum and you can spend hours reading about the ways people clean their records: if you’re after optimum sound, this is something you need to take very seriously indeed.