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
audiotroy's avatar
audiotroy
3,779 posts
 
Imgoodwithtools,

We are familiar with both sides of this coin.

It is possible to get digital to sound like the best analog but it really matters what your setup is. We have heard a few really amazing digital setups, the T+A SD 3100/Innous Statement or the Light Harmonic Davinci are like really top of the line analog front ends that will beat most CD players.

We just picked up a turntable that has completely blown us away, so much that we are going to be importing this table, it is called the Onkk Cue, we are running our Cue right now with a $1k arm and a $3k cart and the sound is absolutely amazing.

Right now in our shop the Onkk is even more electrifying than our best digital front ends, the issue with analog is that so many front ends are difficult to use or to setup.

With your digital it depends on what you are using and how it is setup, it may be easy to improve your digital by changing cables, or by adding a server if your CD player can be used as a dac. 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ


imgoodwithtools
236 posts
 
As far as CD digital goes, I have a Berkeley Audio Design Reference 3 DAC fed by a PS Audio Directstream transport through a Synergistic Research Galileo AES/EBU cable. I have a T+A PDP 3000 HV for SACD play. The Berkeley rig surpasses the T+A for CD, IMO.

If I was to pursue high res downloads, one option would be to consider an Aurender product to feed my Berkeley DAC.
audiotroy's avatar
audiotroy
3,779 posts
 
Imgood we have tested many Dacs running DSD or upconverted PCM  and the difference is huge. 

Try running a high ned USB cable into the T+A and run DSD 512 and you might just find that the T+A  will sound better as a dac then the Berkley. 

The Berkley will only do 192k  and when you run a high end dac at DSD 512 you start getting a very analog like presentation.

Try to get a demo of an Innous Statement  running DSD 128 into the T_A and you would be amazed at the level of improvement.

That is one reason why we are not in love with the Aurender products, many dacs go from good to amazing at higher sampling rates.

Roon allows software up-conversion so you can take a 16bit CD quality file and reprocess it to DSD or to high res.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ


imgoodwithtools
236 posts
 
I appreciate your input, Audio Doctor.

I do have some digital flexibility here with both the T+A and the Berkeley. How much mainstream recorded music is available at DSD 256 or 512?  I bought the T+A strictly as a SACD player, but recognize its other abilities. 

I bought the Berkeley strictly based upon audition from CD sources. It's the best I've heard thus far. And I suspect MQA will become more readily available, better or not.

Is there a music server available that will do DSD 512 and MQA, something I could feed Both DACs with?
audioarchon's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
audioarchon
37 posts
 
@imgoodwithtools the LUMIN U1 will do both DSD512, MQA and can feed both DACs.

Mike
Audio Archon - LUMIN Dealer
More to discover