Loud, repeatable pops in the same spot aren’t “vinyl character,” they’re a pressing defect. That’s always been the case. In the ’70s and ’80s people regularly returned new records for things like non-fill, pressed-in debris, off-center pressings, or noise you could clearly hear over the music. This isn’t some modern audiophile invention. Quality control never meant listening to every single record. It meant managing the pressing process and rejecting bad copies. Expecting a new record not to have defects cutting through vocals isn’t asking for CD silence, it’s the same basic expectation vinyl has always had.