I have a Technics SL-1200 family turntable and I absolutely love it. But CDs still sound better for the same money invested in hardware. Okay clearly that’s debatable. What’s better, potato salad or coleslaw? I like them both, but the main reason I still have a turntable is a matter of what I can get in that format. Old records of obscure things that aren’t available streaming, and my existing collection of vinyl is what keeps my turntable connected to the "good system" in the house. If I were only streaming and wanted to start a new media collection that I could keep on site, I’d be going for CD - no question. The reason is simple. CDs today are where LPs were in the mid 90s - abundant and very cheap in the used market. And - added bonus - used CDs almost always sound exactly the same as new CDs!! That really isn’t true with vinyl. If this were 1994 I’d be telling you to get a turntable and take advantage of all of the wonderful records that sell for pennies, but those days are gone. As for absolute sound quality, again it’s not an apples to apples comparison. Vinyl has certain qualities that CDs do not, and vice versa. On paper, CD smokes vinyl. But that’s like saying lobster smokes Twinkies - not if you want something sweet it doesn’t.
How far up the food chain do you go for X$ in CD vs vinyl? In my opinion you get way closer to the top performance in CD than you do in vinyl. Because vinyl is a mechanical reproduction system (doesn’t sound as elegant when you put it that way, does it?) there’s almost no limit to what you could do to improve it, and that means cost. CD being and optical/electrical/logical system can only be pushed so far before there is no meaningful upgrade. I think you get very close to perfect, in terms of true sound quality, for much lower cost with CD. That was always been CD's fidelity advantage over vinyl - cost, not absolute quality.
How far up the food chain do you go for X$ in CD vs vinyl? In my opinion you get way closer to the top performance in CD than you do in vinyl. Because vinyl is a mechanical reproduction system (doesn’t sound as elegant when you put it that way, does it?) there’s almost no limit to what you could do to improve it, and that means cost. CD being and optical/electrical/logical system can only be pushed so far before there is no meaningful upgrade. I think you get very close to perfect, in terms of true sound quality, for much lower cost with CD. That was always been CD's fidelity advantage over vinyl - cost, not absolute quality.
