2. analog
  3. 140184-113812

Turntable got absolutely crushed by CD

Long story short, i've just brought home a VPI classic 1 mounted with a Zu-Denon DL103 on JMW Memorial 10.5 with the appropriate heavier counterweight. Had everything dialed in..perfect azimuth, VTF, overhang, with only a slightly higher than perfect VTA. Levelling checked. All good. 

I did a comparison between the VPI and my Esoteric X03SE and it's not even close. The Esoteric completely crushes the VPI in all regards. The level of treble refinement, air, decay, soundstage depth and width, seperation, tonality, overall coherence is just a simply a league above from what I'm hearing from the VPI. The only area the VPI seems to be better at is bass weight, but not by much. 

I'm honestly quite dumbfounded here. I've always believed that analogue should be superior to digital. I know the Esoteric is a much pricier item but the VPI classic is supposed to be a very good turntable and shouldn't be a slouch either. At this point I feel like I should give up on analogue playback and invest further in digital. 

Has anyone had a similar experience comparing the best of digital to a very good analogue setup?

Equipment:
Esoteric X03SE 
VPI Classic, JMW Memorial 10.5, Zu-DL103
Accuphase C200L
Accuphase P600
AR 90 speakers

Test Record/CD:
Sarah McLachlan - Surfacing (Redbook vs MOV 180g reissue)



chadsort
prof
3,480 posts
 
@snowdog212

I have to echo the sentiments some others have expressed.

I'm not sure how to reconcile your observations about all the terrible surface noise obscuring the delicate musical content on LPs, with my own experience of vinyl on my system.

One of the most surprising and gratifying observations I had upon upgrading my old turntable and cartridge to my new system is how low the noise floor seems to have become on most records, and how incredibly clear and finely rendered even the most delicate musical detail is.

When I play LPs for some of my musician pals, they often comment it sounds as silent (in terms of record noise/hiss) as a CD.  I'm constantly amazed at how the tiniest musical detail just seems to go the edge of audibility.  I often can't even hear the noise floor on an LP.  Even when there is a slow fade out of a song, often it seems to fade slowly to the very edge of audibility and disappear in to blackness.   Not all records, of course.  But on a good portion of my records.


Now, I'm not going to jump on the 'your set up must be crap' bandwagon, as I don't have the greatest turntable one can buy, and yours sounds like it should be excellent.

So all I can do is notice how utterly different my observation and experience seems from yours.   Weird.
glupson
7,842 posts
 
"Remember when you lost a Hard Drive with all information on it, it happens with computer hard drive."

4 TB hard drive can be had for $99 at times. They are simple to copy as a back up and can be stored in different locations for safe-keeping. Different houses, towns, continents. It does get a bit tedious to populate all those back-up drives with new music as it takes as much time as cleaning the record but there is something called "cloud storage" these days, too. Used, but "very good+" condition of 2014 Sgt. Pepper's mono record can be had for a bit over $100, if you are lucky, and more likely $150. In the most-space consuming digital formats, that hard drive can fit hundreds of Sgt. Peppers'. I may be the only one out there who has ever lost a record, but I am looking for two single records that I had somehow misplaced/lost. I bought new ones now and am, to prevent further loss, putting them on hard drives. So, I do remember when I lost a record but have not lost a hard drive yet.


PS: All the examples above are from my own experience. Hard drive, Sgt. Pepper's, houses, towns, and continents. No cloud yet, though.

zerobias's avatar
zerobias
73 posts
 
Boy, was this predictable.
glupson
7,842 posts
 
"Vinyl and analog gear is an investment, the real things that only rise up in price in time."

Not so fast...


https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis97c3b-technics-sl-7-linear-tracking-turntable-turntables


https://www.gramophone.co.uk/editorial/review-technics-sl-7-turntable.


http://www.in2013dollars.com/1981-GBP-in-2018?amount=200


"In other words, £200 in 1981 is equivalent in purchasing power to £744.59 in 2018, a difference of £544.59 over 37 years"

chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
I stream digital all the time in my car and I LOVE it

This is what digital is made for, i do stream news in digital format on iphone when i’m cooking.

But when i want to play an album LP or a single "12 from my favorite band, i want to play original vinyl in analog system not as background music, but as a serious listening session. Since my favorite music was recorded way before digital was born, i want to play the original source, not a bad digital copy.

Digital copy can not be better than the original source such as tape or vinyl. It’s a copy.

Only if the original source of modern music is digital then it make sense to use digital. Even vinyl pressed from a digital is just a "digital on vinyl", not the analog.

But i know a lot of bands who’s still recordings on master tape in 2018. An average age of the band members is 20-40 years. They want to record on mastertape and press vinyl, that’s what they do. I appreciate it, this is a cultural thing, vinyl never die!

Vinyl gives people more that just a music. 
If the music is just a background then you don't need a vinyl. 

Not everyone who's buyin records is a record collector. 


Kids loves records too, watch this 12 years old kid interview by M.Fremer on AnalogPlanet 


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