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
The more LPs or CDs one has the worse the sound. Ironic, ain’t it? It’s ironic because the most enthusiastic hard core audiophiles are destined to have bad sound. It is their fate. 😳
Dear @prof 1 :: Good that first of all you are a music lover.

"  spaciousness and richness that makes my heart melt... "

those kind of adjectives ( that are " audiophiles " adjectives. ) no one can find out in a live music event seated at near field  (1m-2m- ) at true live SPLs.

""" A sentiment that could only come from someone invested in the SOUND of a system ..."""

My dear @prof  all music lovers and sound lovers invested in the SOUND system.
I started that way and still I am enjoying the SOUND of my system. 

Things are that in the past I was truly a sound lover even that at the same time I was and I'm a music lover.
Trhough the last years I made my self a question:  where are " seated " the microphones that pick up the recording sessions ? and I found out that are at " near field " position.
So, I had several opportunities to listen big symphonic and band orchestras and instruments alone at true " near field " position and trhough those experiences I learned that what we listen at home systems is only an " illusion " that is far away of the sound of music at near field position.

From those nearfield experiences and my audiophile experiences in my and many many different home audio systems I changed my main audio room/system target that always was focus in quality levels of my system.

Today my main target is not that spaciousness/richness or other sound lovers adjectives but to stay truer to the recording that for me means leave all my room/system generated/developed distortions/ everykind and  everywhere at minimum.
That puts me " truer to the recording " and nearer to the near field live music. Yes I know I'm far away from here but that is my target.
When an audio  room/system is truer to the recording always is achiving the best quality level performance and always we will like what we are listening on it.

@tomwh , I'm not against tubes per se but because always goes against my target ( for many years I was using tube electronics till I learned. ), it's the worst link in any audio system. Tubes not only goes against MUSIC but against quality SOUND levels: no matters what.

I like the analog experience but digital is way way ahead my more distance that what we analog lovers like to think.


Btw, in the February Stereophile magazyne from 46 choosed R2D4 ONLY 13 are full analog. This is less than 29%, go figure ! !.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

@tomwh , do you know why almost all the big symphonic orchestras Directors and players of almost any kind of instruments ( even those in jazz quartes or rock music. ) that made that work for " all their lifes " are almost " deaf "?, because were exposed all those years to very high SPLs that's the way " sounds " the live MUSIC at near field position where they were seated or stand up.

I respect every instrument player opinions but I understand the why's of their opinions. Did you?
and 4 of those analog recordings came from MF/AD that are not exactly " honest " about but both must deffend what their mouth talks.

R.
those kind of adjectives ( that are " audiophiles " adjectives. ) no one can find out in a live music event seated at near field (1m-2m- ) at true live SPLs.

@rauliruegas


Nonsense.

And something of a red herring as well.

First, when I hear live un-amplified voices and instruments, one of the first words that come to mind is how rich the sound is.  (As I've expressed many times on this forum).  Whether I'm playing an instrument myself, or listening to someone else.

Secondly, when I attend the symphony, I tend to prefer closer seating and I ABSOLUTELY perceive both the richness of the instruments - richer in terms of fullness, presence and timbrel complexity than typical reproduced sound - and spacious as all get out.  No consumer system I've ever heard can even come close to the spacious scale of a live orchestra.


Today my main target is not that spaciousness/richness or other sound lovers adjectives but to stay truer to the recording that for me means leave all my room/system generated/developed distortions/ everykind and everywhere at minimum.
That puts me " truer to the recording " and nearer to the near field live music. Yes I know I'm far away from here but that is my target.


And those are all "audiophile" targets.  You are no more "purer" in your persuit of music than anyone else here.  So please don't throw stones in glass houses.




My dear @prof  all music lovers and sound lovers invested in the SOUND system.I started that way and still I am enjoying the SOUND of my system.



Right...therefore the division you (and some others) make between "sound lovers" and "music lovers" is bogus.  One can enjoy both aspects - in fact they are obviously interlinked, given it's sound that we are responding too.

If music were only about the notes being played and not the specific characteristics of the sound as well, chosen by the musician, then musicians and audiences wouldn't care if a piece were played on a Stradivarius or a plastic violin from Toys R Us.  Bass players, guitarist et all wouldn't put all the care they do in to the particular tone and sound they are going for.

Not everyone appreciates or cares about the sound as much as the notes, but musicians do, and it's makes total sense that music lovers could as well.   So, again, it just doesn't follow that if someone describes some appreciate for the sonic aspects of the music they have listened to (whether it's the tone of the instruments, or the tone as pleasingly reproduced on the sound system), that they are therefore as you are trying to claim "NOT MUSIC lovers."

That's absurd.
Look, you have had your own audiophile journey and have come to a set of criteria that please you.  That's great, fine.  Just don't use your own desires to be judgemental about others, naively putting them in another box as not being a music lover.   That is silly, untrue, egotistic and needlessly divisive.



Dear @prof 1 : """  I tend to prefer closer seating... """

at one two m.? because this is near field I'm talking about.

Yes, for you " that's absurd "" or """ silly "" and I respect your opinion. Btw, I'm not making any " judgmental " of you, I don't care about.

Facts are only that: facts. Got it? and know don't tell me just that is absurd or what ever you think. Tell me with facts why I'm wrong but before this tell me the distance to the live music source you are seated and next time bring with you a Radio Shack SPL meter and post here what you measured at your seated position.

R.