SweetVinyl SugarCube SC-1 real-time vinyl noise and click repair processor, promises to bring the music on your treasured damage vinyl out of the background noise.
Those of us with large vinyl collections will inevitably have a handful of records which exhibit high levels of surface noise, clicks and pops. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to hear the music as it was originally intended, free from those irritating and jarring clicks?
SweetVinyl SugarCube SC-1 promises a revolutionary approach to real-time vinyl “restoration”…
Enjoy your damaged irreplaceable records as intended
Playback noise: it’s the scourge of all analogue music formats, but one which can be greatly minimised, if not entirely eliminated by proper handling and media care regimes. In the case of phonograph records, a care regime of regular cleaning and dust removal, along with proper handling care, is usually enough to allow for exceptional playback potential.
What if the recording we have available though has suffered from mishandling and playback accidents? Scratches to the surface of a record can lead to irritating and highly invasive pops and clicks which invade the performance and compromise the enjoyment of the record.
One solution is just to buy another copy of that record which hasn’t suffered the same mishandling; however, it may not always be so easy to replace certain records. Rare records may be difficult, expensive or plain impossible to replace with a better copy; plus, let us not forget the sentimental attachment we form with particular records over time.
If only there was a way of somehow removing the clicks, pops and noise? Now, thanks to Californian based company SweetVinyl, there is, and it comes in the shape of their SugarCube SC-1 noise removal processor.
SweetVinyl SugarCube SC-1
SweetVinyl SugarCube SC-1 is a revolutionary product, which uses state-of-the-art digital processing to remove invasive clicks and pops in real-time, at the push of a button. Whilst analogue purists might first question the notion of running their records through digital processing, the benefits in click and pop reduction far outweigh any disadvantages.
So how does it work? The SugarCube SC-1 is an innovative packaging of technology which has been available to professionals for some time. A surprising number of modern re-releases originate from a vinyl or shellac commercial release; this is often due to the original master tapes being unavailable or having deteriorated beyond use.
The same kind of technology which has been used to restore historic recordings, is now available for use in your living room; what’s truly clever about the SugarCube SC-1 is how seamlessly and discretely it integrates into your Hi-Fi system. No external computers, D/A converters or special equipment is necessary.
The SweetVinyl SugarCube SC-1 is placed “in-line” in your phono signal path; this can either be between a phono preamplifier and amplifier, placed in a tape loop, or between pre-amplifier and power amplifier, for example. An audio quality relay switch ensures that when not needed, the A/D and D/A conversion is completely removed from the signal chain.
Hearing is Believing
We were recently privy to a demonstration of the SweetVinyl SugarCube SC-1 and were hugely impressed. A simple button press on the SC-1 front panel engages the advanced and patented click removal process, leaving the music from those damaged records to come through as intended.
What’s perhaps most impressive, is that the music doesn’t sound at all processed or as though it’s been run through digital conversion. This is partly down to the excellent processing algorithms, and partly down to the Hi-Res 192kHz 24Bit converters used in the SC-1.
For dedicated vinyl collectors and archivists, the SweetVinyl SugarCube SC-1 restoration processor isn’t just a desirable item, it must surely be a “must have” unit; liberating much-loved music from tired scratched records in a way which has never before been possible.