Bicycle acoustics are a hard thing to pinpoint. You may think you know the area a sound is coming from and you can also easily be wrong. I think bicycles of today are probably better in most respects than ones of 25 years ago, but my eight speed steel bike of that era was silent when riding and my current 10 speed CF bike frequently creaks and pops under normal usage. I think increased noise is somehow inherent to having more gears and complexity of today's bikes. I do agree that keeping the seat post lubed can be helpful.