Help my analog sound as good as my streaming

you got it; you need to see if you can go to a local dealer or someone where you can hear decent quality analog, before you invest in it.

it might be you still prefer the streaming. it’s not hard to acquire good streaming. good analog has a higher upside, but steeper learning and investment curve.

enjoy the streaming until you get your world rocked with analog. there is no hurry. OTOH if you have a wild hair to jump into analog you will get lots of help here to spend your $$$'s.

The weak link is you are using digital as your reference. While it is possible to make your analog rig sound as bad as streaming (sorry Mike, but your level streaming and his, come on! At your level everything even streaming sounds good!), why? Don’t put legs on a snake. Learn to recognize and appreciate what your analog rig is doing. Because I assure you, it already sounds leagues better than streaming.

Now as far as how to go about making it even better- always work to get the most out of what you have before paying for upgrades. Because upgrades are sunk, while other improvements are forever.

Something like Synergistic Research PHT for example will be equivalent to a better cartridge, but with the advantage they do not wear out. Your table is a little light for Townshend Pods, and they are also a little pricey for your system. So you might want to wait on that. But Nobsound springs are perfectly affordable and will make a huge improvement. Another good one, TA-102 or fO.q tape. Put this tape between the cartridge and head shell, run a strip along the underside of the arm tube, use some under the platter and on the plinth, around the motor, and hear a huge improvement in presence, clarity and inner detail.

Note: Nobsound springs $30, fO.q tape $60, PHT $200.

Definitely do all these first, and only then look at upgrading components. When you do, I suggest taking a long term system building approach. In practical terms this means one thing at a time and big leaps not baby steps. So for example your next move could be to something like a Decware ZP3 phono stage. A big jump up in price, but huge in quality, and lifetime warranty so no worries there. The phono stage is a huge factor in analog sound quality. Your jaw will drop as you hear performance never dreamed of coming out of your little table.

Most guys will upgrade the cartridge, or table, or phono stage, but in tiny little increments so you get a little improvement but never anything like what I’m talking about here. A killer phono stage is a game changer.

But again, seriously, stop comparing your phono to your streamer. It’s the other way around.