Will a $700 turntable outperform a CD player?

Imagine no limits in money and imagine 2 scales beside each other...One with a series if digital tech in price ascending order, and another one with TT in ascending order  of price and tech also....

Which one is the better someone will ask?

It depend of wich one we pick in the 2 scales of ascending order of price and technology to cdompare to...

Those who know the ultimate asnwer are not here on this thread and if they are they are single individual, able to afford the costly test, and nobody will trust them anyway for the result except if listening by himself...

 :)

I picked up a SL1200 MK2 a few months ago for about $500.  I have way more than $700 into it now, probably close to $2K.  It came with the KAB RCA jack upgrade and had no dust cover.  I bought a new dust cover for it and have since added the KAB fluid damper and put a Funk Achromat on it and replaced the feet with MNPCTECH feet.  And then of course (at least with the RCA jack upgrade) you have cables and most importantly, the cartridge.  And since I have a few cartridges, those need headshells, and then I need something to put the headshells in... 

Up next, I just got some Fo.Q tape which I plan to use on the tonearm.

After doing all those things, it rivals the sound of my VPI Classic 2 with a Kiseki Blue NS cartridge and both sound better than my Marantz KI Pearl SACD player, which is no slouch and when new retailed for $3000.

And then there's my $2000 TEAC NT-505 streamer, which is probably my best sounding component, a very "analog" sounding digital device.  However, it doesn't quite have the "magic" that's in the grooves of some of the better pressings I own.

In short, $700 for a turntable all in probably isn't going to rival a good CD player, although it might sound as good or better than a $700 CD player.

If you start with that $600 platform and are willing to chip away at upgrading it, then you can achieve great results.  Of course you could just spend more and start with a better table and get similar results.  It's been a lot of fun for me to tweak away on the Technics and take it to a point where it rivals a much more expensive table, but that's not for everyone. 

Most of the budget belt drive turntables are not going to respond to upgrades as well as the SL1200 MK2, due mainly to it's solid build and isolation.  If you don't start out with a good foundation, you're wasting money on upgrades.

@twoleftears Car B.... I used to race in SCCA. 

another vote for the mnpctech footers, they'll also do custom orders. I've got set on my Linn Sondek and Sota Sapphire.

https://www.mnpctech.com/collections/turntable-lsolation-feet  

If you want to play a vinyl record it will always be better on a turntable than the awful noise it would make trying to cram it into the CD player.

relaks

... if you are going to collect recent shiny issues to play on your new TT, just forget about outperforming a good digital source. Simply because this "analogue" record is a conversion of a digital studio recording ...

It isn't that simple. That's because many commercial CDs and digital files have been substantially compressed as part of the Loudness Wars, while an LP may be given kinder treatment and have a wider dynamic range. Digital often doesn't take advantage of its theoretical technical advantages.

... a TT is a major money pit, buying it is just a beginning, and for most the very nature of a TT will lead to tinkering and upgrades ...

Not necessarily. If you buy a good high-end turntable and pickup arm, future upgrades won't be required or even necessarily advantageous. (Although you will have to replace your stylus or phono cartridge every so often.)

I had several DACs in the last 20 years - Trivista, Reimyo, Naim and some other names I don’t even remember. Now I have Innuos ZEN mk3 + Aqua La Voce S3 as my main source ...

Hmmm, you make digital sound like a money pit.