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
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rauliruegas
13,103 posts
 
Dear @prof 1 :  IMHO there is a wide distance between sound lovers and MUSIC lovers and for the adjectives you used to explain sound characteristics in your last post for me you are not a MUSIC lover but a sound lover and nothing wron with that. That's what you like but please read this link:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/turntable-got-absolutely-crushed-by-cd/post?postid=1684132#16...

Btw, @millercarbon  perhaps you need to read it too.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.
schubert
7,386 posts
 
If you are listening to say , Bach. there is a lot wrong with that !Rock matters not .
prof
3,479 posts
 

@rauliruegas

Dear @prof 1 : IMHO there is a wide distance between sound lovers and MUSIC lovers and for the adjectives you used to explain sound characteristics in your last post for me you are not a MUSIC lover


What rubbish. You don’t know me. There’s nothing wrong of course with loving sound quality - again if YOU didn’t care at all about sound quality YOU wouldn’t be on a site like this. We all care about sound quality here.

But the idea that I’m not a music lover is flat out ignorance on your part. Gee...I only grew up with a mother who was a piano teacher, a father who was a music teacher and jazz musician, our house had several pianos, drums, synthesizers, saxes, trombones, clarinets, guitars and more and we all played music. I played since I was young, played in bands for many years, and have had a voracious musical appetite my whole life, and I’ve continued to search for and order CDs and LPs from all over the world, especially when I get obsessed with a certain type of music.

So, please, don’t go telling me what I like or don’t like. It’s judgemental snobs like you that give audiophiles a bad name.

Hence it’s worth a repeat of my previous comment:

Prof: "Whenever someone says "there are music lovers and then there are sound lovers" you can bet they put themselves in the "music lovers" camp. It’s a sort of self-re-assurance one is in the more pious of the two camps because, really "it’s all about the music," right? :)"

tomwh
150 posts
 
Prof.

You stated above real words about what made your heart sing.  Raul show his hand again and again with his distortion, anti tube and even digital is the real thing stuff.

When a person grows up playing in bands and orchestras, they have real advantage of knowing what real music sounds like and feels like.  Most people just listen to what they like or told to like.

So it is nice that you brought the heart felt aspect into the equation.  The only question is how many people caught it or care.

Enjoy the ride
Tom
prof
3,479 posts
 

Thanks tomwh.

It’s funny that raulirugas shows his hand with his last sentence " enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS."


A sentiment that could only come from someone invested in the SOUND of a system. Most people could happily listen to music through systems with the type of distortions raulirugas woud likely decry, because they are focused on the music, without worrying about the teeniest distortions. Only someone really in to SOUND would have motivation to go on diatribes or evangelize about certain types of equipment, distortion profiles etc.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that ;-) But that’s the problem of being all judgemental and trying to separate people in to camps, and "other" them (when it’s all much more diverse and complex than these simplistic divisions). In a place like this anyone who claims "YOU are interested in sound, I am interested in music" is casting the first stone.


As I said, all of us here care about the sound of our systems. (How music sounds via our system). And plenty of us can still enjoy music in other situations as well. I often listen to music right out of my iphone speakers (it’s often the most convenient way depending on what I’m doing) and I get musical joy from that too.
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