Turntable got absolutely crushed by CD

Hmm... I have a VPI Classic 1. I've compared it to loaned CD/DAC's in my system. 

Digital playback, while very precise and accurate, doesn't hit the emotional nerve like a good record on the Classic. IMO, setup with a cart and best phono state you can afford, may help you "see the light"

The Classic gives a good slice of what serious rigs offer, with some effort. The choice of cart, phonostage & settings all important.

Reissue LP's? Part of the problem.May as well stick with the CD or file. 

My $0.02 of subjective opinion.

According to the "Vinylites"; that's the religious order that resides here, a "Midfi" dual turntable will kill any CD player; that's crap, it takes a minimum of 3K before analog sounds better than digital.

Chad, if you want to get to vinyl heaven, and surpass your excellent CD player, you got to put out a lot more bucks, and get some help with set up.

You just need to mess with it more.  There will come a time when playing records make sense.  There is a certain "stillness" to vinyl, and I find it's easier to engage with the music.

Because of the critical initial conditions of the transducers and amplifying such a low source signal, cartridges evolved along a line of compromises, with different design decisions producing different euphonic solutions.  These can sometimes strike a deeper emotional chord than a more detailed and analytical presentation (which requires more intellectual processing and can be more effort to listen to).

Wow thanks for all the advice here.. didn't really expect this much response on this. I only began my vinyl journey a year ago and I'm definitely still learning. Please pardon my ignorance.

With regards to alignment, I've tried to get it as reasonably close to perfect as I can with the supplied jig. VTA is slightly higher due to the bass weight I'm hearing but I don't really see that as being the reason for the huge gap in performance? I've seen somewhere that the jig is not the best. In that case, what should i be looking at for a more accurate alignment?

On the point of a mediocre cart on a mediocre arm.. the ZU-Denon (Mk.1) was mint when I recently bought it. I know the DL103 is far from the best and maybe that wasn't a fair comparison, but will a better cart... like the Dynavector dv xx2 mkii actually push the vinyl setup way ahead of the Esoteric? A cart like that is a significant investment and I fear that even then it still might not match up to the Esoteric...and hence my question on whether anyone has had experiences of comparing high-end digital to high-end analogue? 

I was also under the impression that the JMW 10.5 tonearm was capable enough to take high-end cartridges since I've seen many mounting Lyras and Koetsus on this thing. Am I wrong about this?

The C200L and P600 was restored and recapped when i bought them from HifiDo. I'm thinking the C200L might be the bottleneck here with its in-built phono stage. Yes I'm on the 100ohms loading as the Zu-Denon DL103 mk.1 brochure actually recommended a load of 80 to 200ohms and quite a number of people seem to be on 100ohms too. Coming back to the mention of  Dynavector dv xx2 mkii, maybe that will be a better choice given a recommended >30ohms loading?

@ jmolsberg-   Gotcha!   I too had a short, "chuckle"(more of a derisive snort).   Attention to detail is everything(and everything in the chain- critical), with analog.