digital vs vinyl thoughts


i suspect i have been comparing apples and oranges. i just bought a project debut 111 with a shure m97x and after a month have been less than overwhelmed. when i go back to my emotiva cd/musical fidelity v-dac the performance just blows the table away. i have checked everything several times. i have concluded that due to using power cords and ics[all morrow audio] on my set up that each equals the price of the table i was expecting too much from an entry level table. the vinyl reproduction is not distorted, seems to be tracking ok, is set up with good isolation, and after a month of use...broke in. but the fact that the project has a hard wired ac cord and less than stellar phono wires and a inexpensive cartridge must be the reason. the rest of the system is emotiva usp-1 pre and xpa-2 power with mmgs. any ideas? thanks john
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I wanted to add that I personally feel that both formats are essential for the playback of music. What good is any equipment without music to play on it?

I expanded my listening to audio files, not for convenience, but because I could not find certain music on LP or on CD. Or, it was only available on CD, or only available on LP. I would hate to give up music just because I'm a die-hard this or that.
I am able to enjoy both by not having to decide which is better. Just liking the music that I hear...
I'm not trying to get you to throw more money into something that you just may not be into, but...

Are your albums clean? There's no substitute for a good steam and vacuum cleaning to my ears. Vacuum cleaners don't have to be expensive (relatively speaking) - my KAB USA vacuum cleaner was about $170 and truly elevated my vinyl sound quality. Combined with my $25 or so hand held steamer, it's gone up another level.

Second thing - have you considered the Pro-Ject Speed Box? It doesn't just change speeds, it's a great sonic upgrade. There's no tradeoffs with it sonically; it's an across the board upgrade. It easily made my 1Xpression sound better than the next deck up the line. It's about $130 or so nowadays.

Thirdly - Acrylic platter. Combined with the Speed Box, it's like a different and far better deck. I think it's about $100.

But for about $250 or so between the acrylic platter and Speedbox, you may be better taking that money and selling the Debut and buying a better deck IMO.

But again, don't force yourself to try to like vinyl. You may convince yourself for a little while, but in the long run you'll come to your senses and kick yourself in the rear end if it's truly not for you. The best way to know is to hear some better decks. Hopefully you've got a dealer or two locally that has one or two set up on the floor. With dealers closing everyday and turntables being a niche within a niche, it's not easy to find one though.
thanks for the great opinions. yes kbarkamian i have read about the acryllic platter and the speed box upgrades. and i,m sure a great phono cart match would help. your advice about the changing horses decision is exactly right. then maybe just keep improving my cd/computer audio with more/better thingees with the dollars. but to stay tru to my goal of the most bang etc with a budget system i think i have to decide to focus on one choice or the other. i.ll probably just use the pro-ject for fun now and stick with digital because i suspect a couple of thousand bucks to get the right table performance. great responses and thank you everyone. i still like to look over and see a ferrari red table sitting there and i can play a record whenever i want to and not care if it is perfect. good for my audio soul. john
I'm a music lover first and foremost so I enjoy listening to both digital and analog, the one I prefer is usually the one i'm listening to at the time. We all prefer something a little different, why can't some people see and respect that. Some seem to think that there preference is absolute. I don't know if people should even debate the subject unless they have both formats in there system and have spent equal time and money setting them up. I guess I fall into that camp, except my analog rig is several times more costly. Which is better, you judge, because for the life of me I can only say there different, I have not found one to be clearly superior.

Regards Tim