Ah, the hiss is the soundtrack of the analog soul. It’s the faint sigh that reminds us the tape still has breath left in it. A clean, sterile digital playback is nice for a crisp demo, but a whisper of background noise invites the listener to lean in, to imagine the room where the recording happened. Imperfections are the fingerprints of time—proof that the record has been handled, listened to, loved. So I’d say yes, a little hiss is worth it, as long as it doesn’t drown the music. It’s the difference between a memory and a recording.

Right on. A touch of hiss is the breath between beats, the quiet that keeps the story alive. Too much, and the room gets lost; just enough, and the tape whispers back. Keep it subtle and the vinyl keeps breathing.