Will a $700 turntable outperform a CD player?

Rochard,

Not sure what maintenance costs you experienced with TT. My P3 is at least 10 years old and I've never taken it in for bearings, belts, etc.

Maybe I'm speaking too soon (fingers crossed)?

G

So much of music is subjective as far as the individual listener is concerned.  A young listener who has not yet ruined his/her hearing will hear music differently than an old listener like myself who has hearing aids.  I do have memory, however.  I received a portable record player in 1955 and fell in love with music and vinyl.  In 1966 I built a Knight-Kit receiver and with speakers and turntable my music sounded wonderful. Then while serving in Vietnam I acquired some great equipment and my music sounded even better. But vinyl was subject to clicks and scratches and when CDs came out in the early '80s I grabbed one and relegated my turntable to the attic.  About 5 years ago I bought a new turntable (actually I bought two new ones and two vintage ones--I couldn't help myself) and I began cleaning my remaining vinyl records and picking up other used ones which I cleaned.  I had an old vinyl copy of a Bad Finger record which I had loved.  When I bought a CD of it some years later I wondered what I had liked so much about it.  So I put my clean Bad Finger vinyl on and played it and was astonished.  I again loved the sound of that recording.  I can no longer hear well enough to spend a large sum on either a CD player or a turntable but I certainly prefer the sound of vinyl that I hear. I would love to have a really nice CD player but I will likely get by with my old Denon.  I also stream through my Sonos to my good ten year old Marantz receiver and my good speakers.  Each person needs to consider what their hearing capability is and what their listening environment is in addition to budget before making decisions about what is best for them and that is not necessarily what will be best for anyone else. Just my opinion.

Buying a TT today is justified either as a lifestyle choice (should I squeeze "hipster" somewhere here?) or by a large collection of good old analogue vinyl that you already own. And by analogue vinyl I mean albums that were recorded and produced properly i.e. in analogue domain. An original or a truly good pressing often may cost you an arm and a leg. Now, if you are going to collect recent shiny issues to play on your new TT, just forget about outperforming a good digital source. Simply because this "analogue" record is a conversion of a digital studio recording. The proverbial "human hearing" here is nothing but a myth: you are listening to a digital file in a form of a vinyl. Also a TT is a major money pit, buying it is just a beginning, and for most the very nature of a TT will lead to tinkering and upgrades. On the other hand DACs have progressed tremendously in the last 5-6 years. I had several DACs in the last 20 years - Trivista, Reimyo, Naim and some other names I don’t even remember. Now I have Innuos ZEN mk3 + Aqua La Voce S3 as my main source and this modern R2R ladder DAC just trounced everything I had before and made me completely forget about a TT. It doesn’t have a trace of digital nasties that plagued older DACs. And it is modular, so it can be upgraded in the future. The only downside it is not cheap. But the difference between a £1000 DAC and a £3500 DAC is huge in terms of "human hearing". And a good proper TT setup can easily cost you even more. I expect DACs and digital file sources to progress even more in the next years, whereas with a TT you are stuck. The only way to progress here is to pay insane money for top cartridges etc.

In my experience, a $700 turntable, if well sorted, or well set up, will equal or out perform, the best that digital can do or has done so far. 

So I gather you have the experience of listening to the best digital DACs in your home setup...  Wow. I am just curious what was the very best digital transport/DAC you have auditioned in your own setup? 

The fact that this discussion is ongoing for such a long time means that actually the outcome it is not so obvious. :)