Want to get into Analog

Nice post, whart.

**** But where you realize magic is pretty individual ****

Exactly! That was precisely the point of my post. Most of us who have been in this hobby for a long time know all too well that what is considered “better” sound is often very individual. “Magical”? .... that takes the question to an entirely higher level of individuality. To say that a well chosen and very expensive vinyl playback system would sound better than a budget system is stating the obvious; but, I also chuckle at the attempts to assign a specific price point to when it is that the “magic” happens.

For this individual there is a fundamental difference in the way that analog sounds compared to digital. It can be a very subtle difference which gets more and more subtle as the quality of the gear in question improves (more expensive...usually). Other times, depending on the recording, the difference is huge. However, my point was that this fundamental difference can be heard (to varying degrees) even with a modestly priced, well chosen and well set up truntable system. Whether that difference constitutes “magic” for any one listener is another matter entirely. Many listeners new to lp playback are immediately turned off by the presence of even the slightest bit of lp surface noise to the extent that this obfuscates for them what analog is doing right. Others are not and are turned on by the qualitative difference in the sound and their emotional reaction to it; and, for them, it rings true in a way that some digital playback does not. Is he the type of listener that has to sit in “the sweet spot” to enjoy the experience? Or, is he the type of listener that can fully enjoy the music while being in the adjoining room? Again, a personal matter. What is “better”? How much experience does the listener have with live music and what are the preferred genres? These are not judgmental questions as they are often made out to be, but they factor into how the difference is perceived. However, to deem it necessarily a waste of money to not initially invest thousands of dollars to get one’s feet wet in the analog experience? Hardly! Again, it should be obvious that my tricked out TNT6/ET2 setup would sound a lot better than a modestly priced vintage Thorens. But, tell you what, the reason that listing caught my eye was that a neighbor and fellow audiophool owns that same model Thorens and in the context of his modest well chosen system that turntable sounds, to me as well as him, consistently more “magical” than a couple of currently (recently?) popular mid level CD players (OPPO, EAD, ?) that have gone through his system.

Your mention of the AR XA brought back some memories. My first decent turntable was back in college when I purchased a Technics SL-1700 (or, was it 1600?). I was perfectly happy with it and its ADC XLM going into vintage SAE electronics and EPI speakers (I’m showing my age). Perfectly happy until my college buddy brought over his AR XA with XLM. Well, magic would be a pretty good way of describing what I heard as the difference. Having said all that my next turntable will probably be a Technics SP10; or something along those lines.

Personally, I think every person who fancies him/her-self an audiophile and music lover should experience, first hand, analog sound in their system and on their terms (time, place, etc). It may not strike that chord that it does for some; but, it may and at least they’ll know for sure.

A few years ago, serious and learned audiophiles had a debate as to what price point that analog exceeded digital, and we arrived at 3K. Since that was a few years ago, it must be at 4K now.

Once money is spent, it can not be "un-spent". When someone who doesn't know about analog, but wants some serious sound, why recommend something that will not even get them there halfway?

Freediver, is that the cost of your rig $250. ?

Spin away...Rock on.

I always thought playing vinyl creates noise and less detail compared to playing a 16 bit and 24 bit CD?  If I am wrong, I would like someone to explain otherwise.  Also, can you really hear a sound difference when playing a $20,000 turn table?  What if you purchased a $600 turn table and added an $1,800 cartridge.  Wouldn't that still sound good.  I would like to hear a demo comparing CD to vinyl and compare a cheap turn table with expensive cartridge to a $20,000 turn table using the same cartridge.

I have been listening to records since I was born (over 70 years ago), and then CD's came along; good bye, and good riddance noisy records.

Now records have been re-discovered. No, what has been discovered is records + high end audio. Records without high end audio is still a "no go" for me. None of the people I know, are about to pay the cost of high end analog to hear their records in the fashion being discussed, which means they only play CD's.

Now, according to some, all you have to do is dust off those old record players, and you're in business. Anybody who was around the first time knows that's a lie; the average CD player will leave those old record players in the dust.

Why you are trying to entice young people who don't know, into believing there is something special about an LP without expensive analog gear is beyond me.

Oh, I know, I just can't hear what's special about the LP; I couldn't hear it then, and I can't hear it now; not without expensive high end gear.