Yeah, the DAK equipment was all brand new. I returned the first preamp mixer (which connected directly to my sound card's 3/5 mm jack, by the way) because I thought the problem was there, but it wasn't. I returned the whole schmere.

As for Adobe Audition, I checked it out and it seems pretty similar to ACID Pro, which is my program of choice. The only problem I had with the equipment and ACID Pro was the needle noise. I used DAK's DePopper for a filter. It worked really well, but some of the feedback I received suggested that it was effecting the quality of the music. I didn't really think so, but it was enough for me to close up shop and send the gear back.

Oh and yes, I cleaned all my vinyl prior to use, even if it was just opened. I have a special cloth, and I also kept the DAK record cleaner that also does away with static.

Here's a list of all the programs I used:

Sony ACID Pro

DAK DePopper 3

Acoustica Spin It Again

I think sometimes that maybe I expected too much and my recordings were as good as it gets, but I just don't know. You can only get so much silence from a fine piece of metal being dragged across a piece of plastic, I suppose. Maybe I'll order the DAK setup again someday, unless the discussion here leads me elsewhere. I'm wondering also, even if I do use that setup again, if getting the RCA to USB cable might yield better results than plugging into the sound card. The thing is, I think that cable converts at 16 bit only.

Also, DePopper has a setting called "Pulley Turntable" that seemed to help with how loud the needle noise registered, but I thought it was effecting the music. Of course my turntable wasn't a pulley system, but there you have it.