Turntable got absolutely crushed by CD

@fleschler - Actually, that LP was recorded in stereo.  Very early stereo but indeed stereo.

Which LP are you talking about the Ramsey Lewis or the Mitropolous?  Both are stereo, great stereo at that on CD.  Stereo Columbia orchestral recordings are particularly peculiar sounding, bright and thin relative to Living Stereo, Living Presence and Decca Stereo.  The more recent remastered Sony Columbias can be superb-it's all on the tape and finally revealed via the CD.

It is a Reference Recordings LP, RR-7, 45 RPM, "Professor Johnson's Astounding Sound Show"  All the tracks are excellent, the track I mentioned above is 3rd cut on Side 1.  I don't know if this was ever put on CD.  If so, I'd buy it!

RR is still around - https://referencerecordings.com/

 So, yes a cheap LP set up can conquer a cheap CD player with low end ancillary equipment.

lol! The CDP my Technics first trounced was a $1200 California Audio Labs that I had selected only after home auditioning a dozen contenders. I really liked it. Wife really liked it. Except compared to vinyl.

That first system was anything but low end. Nor was the next one it trounced. Budget, yes. Low end, no. This was a CDP based system I put together as a gift, that sounded so good I had friends over just to prove to them you do not have to spend a lot to have truly good sound. I'd say about a dozen people, none of them audiophiles, just normal people. Every single one was stunned- at first, how good a budget system can sound and second, that the records killed the CD. Not even close.

By the third time it became painfully unfair because the Kenwood was gone so I had to use the ARC PH-3 SE. Only did this once because of the hassle and the ARC being like using a microscope to look at a flower.

Later on it was a Basis 2001/Graham 2.0/Glider when a friend challenged me for playing records when he could be listening to "better sound" from CD. (I forget what CD it was, CDPs being eminently forgettable.)  Now its true, if you compare a crap recording on vinyl to a good recording on CD the good recording will, uh, may sound better. Duh. Which I told him. Which he asked well do you have the same thing in both formats? Yeah sure, MFSL Original Master Recording. Ten minutes later my friend is telling me, "I kept thinking you were playing one louder, or that you did something, but actually no everything was identical. The record just sounds better." And his wife, equally amazed, nods in agreement.

Main thing I always make a point of saying, these are all normal people. Normal people who just love music. Normal people, in my experience, always hear the better power cord, interconnect, Cone, whatever. Always. I've had parties, room full of people, swap a power cord, everyone hears it. I've had wives shout from the kitchen which one sounds better. Even one old guy who thought it would be a waste of time because he wore two hearing aids.

Ancillary equipment doesn't seem to matter. Cost doesn't seem to matter. Only one thing seems to matter: Is it a person? Or an audiophile?

We report.

You decide.