On the Fence with Analog Vs. Digital. Need Help

In your case, I would try to get into tube gear before getting into vinyl - getting into vinyl at this stage without any collection is difficult. I took the jump 15 years ago when everyone was getting out and records were easily available on my student salary at the time. Unless you are willing to invest into record cleaners, used records are off-limits. New records can run from $10 to $50/piece which will get you excellent quality but are you willing to spent that much?

For me the natural sound came mostly with the move to tubes rather than the move to vinyl. Vinyl takes it a step further, but I could be happy listening to music on either system now.

It's fun to buy records. That is if you like collecting things, going to garage/estate sales, used book-record stores etc. It's an involving experience. And it can be really cheap. As well, you can be the "different" kid on the block. Also like the guy above said, records are more tactile.

As far as sound, I think it sounds better. But most of the time (entertaining/background tunes while you wash the dishes) digital is good enough.

I just bought a Monarchy M24 for about $750. It's a tube Dac/tube linestage (pre-amp). One optical, one coaxial RCA and one linestage for you phono. So you can connect an Apple Airport Express to your optical for internet radio/MP3's/Wav (whatever), I personally don't think it sounds too bad (I have a cheap DAC attached), the coaxial to your CD player (so you don't have to ditch your collection) and the a phono stage to the linestage.

The DAC has gotten good reviews. The tubes might smooth out the sound for you.

I'm new to all this, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

I agree with Plato and the combo of the Adcom and the Paradigms with a mid-fi CDP could be a big part of your problem. That said, you have to spend pretty good $ to get a CDP that beats a modest cost TT, but you do need to budget for a phono stage and i/c unless the adcom has a phono stage.

I agree with Calbrs03 and Plato. Evolve your digital and slowly work toward LP until you see if the performance difference is worth it for you.

I'm crazy about LP's, they work perfectly for me, but I have many years experience so there are no problems and no surprises. Getting into LP's when your primary experience is with CD is a big commitment.

Have you had a chance to hear an entry level LP playback rig in your system? Any friends or local dealers that would show you what it's all about? That would go a long way in settling the issue of performance.

As already stated, you might have cable or other problems making CD performance disappointing. You may only need some correction to get back to enjoying music with CD and not be forced to change everything.

Thanks guys, this has all been great advice. I know I could count on the Audiogoners for some help.

I think it’s good advice to continue building the CD collection and just build the LP collection along side of it. I figure the worst case scenario could be that I end up not liking it and just sell all my vinyl gear and take a small loss. While I do have an NAD C 162 preamp that has a built-in phono stage (and a good one from what I’ve read), I didn’t realize that so many other important things are needed, as Calbrs has stated. I was thinking all I had to pick up was the Music Hall MMF-5, a needle cleaning brush, and one of those red record cleaning pads my dad used to have with the spray bottle of anti-static record cleaner. But I guess I have to realize I’m not playing beat up 45s on my Fisher Price turntable like I was when I was 7 years old.

Honest1: I have been searching around on various sites including Amazon.com to see what’s available. I was actually surprised at some of the things I can find, but also alarmed at how much some of them can cost, depending on whether it was out of print or not.

Kthomas: I’ve looked at a few of those products. Haven’t heard any of them yet. It would nice to have BOTH a vinyl playback system and a good DAC/computer system.

For everyone else that suggested isolating the problem in my system, that is also a very good suggestion. I’ve considered going with possibly a tube DAC, or a tube preamp, but since I don’t have the money to spend on both a tube preamp and a new DAC at once, it’s hard to decide which is more important. I would guess that the DAC is more important. But all I’m trying to do here is tone down the harshness in the system. I’ve also considered the tube buffer, but read that the results from those things are less than what most would expect from them. I am planning to incorporate some kind of room treatments, building my own sound panels from rigid fiberglass panels. That should really be my first step, because no system is going to sound good in a room that isn’t treated properly.

I guess in the end, the “journey” into vinyl is more interesting than just purchasing a better DAC and/or a tube preamp, but I need to evaluate this whole thing on a cost level too. Ideally I’d like to see if my local dealer could lend me a Music Hall MMF-5 to bring into my own home, and borrow some of my dad’s old LPs just to give it a whirl, and then make my decision based on that.