it all sounds good, but.....

Indeed, I have to agree with Pawlowski132. There's nothing like vinyl. Get some awesome albums. The 180g or 200g pure vinyl albums sound quite wonderful. When you can pick up those pressed on 200g, one-sided, on 45T, you will forget all about digital and find it sounding cold and distant. The more I listen to vinyl, the more I think digital isn't that good at all. Digital is perfect when you use it in a computer system, but in a home hi-end system, there's nothing more wonderful than the sound of vinyl, pops and cracks included. Don't spend too much on digital gear, buy a pile of vinyl records instead. You won't regret it. Trust me. Tubes and horns simply shout vinyl. So don't worry about it, and just play those records! Good Luck!

first of all, you've got a great digital frontend.

While horns have their pluses a good pair of full range dynamic speakers can change your opinion for the better;me thinks.

thanks for all the responses.

It is sounding like LPs are the easiest and maybe only way to get REAL sounding music(not real as in imaging, spacing, etc., but for a clarinet to sound like a clarinet, alto sax to sound like an alto sax, etc.). I used to play different instruments, so i know what i'm hearing just doesnt sound right... I've even heard $70k systems with digital front ends... its sounds great/good/pleasing/almost 3d/etc., but not real.

Reason for this thread, is b/c a lot of the other threads on high-end front ends make it sound like they are reproducing real sounding music... i guess not.

Although all the responses offer valid points, I would take this more in the direction of Avguygeorge, and suggest looking at the speaker/amp combo and dynamics. However, finding the right combo for a "realistic" presentation could be significantly dependent on your music preferences, which you did not state. Rather than go looking for the holy grail, you might want to first take some of your favorite cd's and go listen to them on your friend's systems or at your local dealer's to get a better feel for the type of sound you are looking for.