On the Fence with Analog Vs. Digital. Need Help

My advice comes from similar experience. A few years ago I owned the Paradigm Studio 60v.2 powered by older Japanese electronics. Things could get unbearably harsh sounding. There were several system upgrades through Audiogon purchases which improved things over the past few years. Here are a few of the things I've learned to help tame digital harshness.
The single biggest improvement to alleviate the digital nastiness was the purchase of a Resolution Audio CD-50 cdp. I believe it listed for $3k+ when new but I got it on ebay at a steal price, maybe no one in the know was looking that week. The point is, there are cdps that can sound wonderful.
Another thing is those speakers. I remember auditioning my Paradigms and falling in love with them but they would never be called smooth.
One more thing which has been mentioned above is the room. That takes work but is extremely important for good sound.
As for vinyl, my experience is way different than yours. I owned 500 or so albums that were stored in a closet. There is so much work that goes into listening to vinyl it isn't for me. I auctioned off most of my albums here and honestly haven't regretted it. Can vinyl sound wonderful? Most definitely. Can digital sound wonderful? For me the answer is most definitely. They both take some work to get good sound but it is achievable either way.

Jwglista: I bought the Playstation One because I was saving my few pennies for a CD player I wouldn't be able to afford for a good while, and in the meantime all of my CDs were sitting practically unlistened to because I couldn't stand the harsh treble glare I thought just went with the territory of digital. $25 didn't seem like too much to part with, so I tried it--and it's impressive. People compare it to $5000 dollar players--6moons does, anyhow--and while I don't know that that's true, it does play music beautifully. I said it has a laid-back sound, but to my ears that isn't at the expense of detail: it's simply well-balanced, vivid, dynamic and if anything more tonally realistic in its portrayal than many of other "detail"-oriented players I've heard. If you want something other than a cheap gray plastic box, the Paradisea DAC or another "analogue-like" player could be a good bet--PS Audio DAC, Rega, Jolida, Eastern Electric, etc. I haven't heard all of those, but they're the bunch I was considering. For $25 to see if CDs can still be worthwhile? Worth it.

I have a low-budget vinyl rig--old Technics table, Shure cartridge, and Cambridge Audio preamp--and the only constant as I've cycled through a series of amps this year (beginning and ending with NAD) was that it always sounded (in certain aspects) better than my CDs. With the Playstation, I'm listening to CDs again for the first time in a while, though, and my choice of which to listen to has to do not with which format I feel like listening to, but which album. For me, the greatest benefit of vinyl has been the ability to find jazz albums that have never been released on CD, and I'll likely upgrade my vinyl rig at some point just to deepen that pleasure--maybe even before I replace the Playstation. But if you already have a lot of music you like in the CD format, why not at least try a different source before pursuing a whole different medium ?

Hope this helps in some way. I'm no authority by any means, but I've driven myself nuts on a similar roadway. Happy listening.

Oh, if you want some Vinyl propaganda this guy writes a pretty informative and entertaining (keep in mind it is subjective however) online column about the relative merits of vinyl (I like his choice in music as well):

http://www.furious.com/Perfect/vinylanachronist.html

I re-read your post, whatever you do, don't get rid of your CDs. Depending on what sort of music you listen to, some of it might sound better on CDs (hip hop, electronic, jazz re-remixes etc). Zeppelin, Hendrix, Black Sabbath and Metallica definately sound way better on vinyl though.

Also with the Playstation, it's only the first model scph 1001 that is considered worthy for CD playback.

FWIW, I also liked the Playstation. It was $35, I wanted to spend my limited resources on a computer based system and analog. Pretty low risk. I only have about 60 CDs, and have very limited experience with gear, but I agree with Ablang, I like my CDs a lot more now through the playstation.

www.canuckaudiomart.com/forum/
viewtopic.php?t=6886&sid=40b2653d39999f53df246da72ef9d7c6

I have a really cheap NAD 325bee integrated with my PS1 and it doesn't sound at all bright.. maybe it's your speakers?

Also I'm in the same boat with analogue. I was thinking of the MMF-5 because it's all inclusive but I"ve decided to go for the Rega P2 or P3 (older Planar as well) in the meantime. I can't afford any of the Michell decks, and then you start thinking you need a better phono stage to warrant such a nice deck etc etc. Waiting for one in the $350-450 range. Especially with it's RB250 tonearm.

Supposedly the RB250 is better than the RB300 arm due to it's infinite tweakability.

You can upgrade the table piece by piece (groovetracer.com) or arm (origin live.com) should you decide to go that route.

Should you get into it, you can keep the RB250 tonearm, as a lot of higher end tables don't come with either the arm or cartridge. Rega has quite a following. Especially it's lower end stuff.

Since you have a phono stage already, you're good to go for $350-400. My first medium was vinyl, and even before I heard about a record cleaning machine (thanks audiogon) I loved the music from my LPs. I think you were right with your first instinct, you're ready to go with a brush and some records... besides, you can always sell for what you paid.

FWIW.

I'm actually planning to audition the MMF-5 or 5.1 (whichever he has) tomorrow afternoon. The more I think about vinyl and search the websites looking for albums, the more fun it seems. It's as though being an audio enthusiast becomes even more of a hobby with vinyl. I did think along those same lines as well. I know that individual parts of the analog setup can be upgraded by themselves. I'm pretty gung ho about it, so the final step will be listening to the 'table to see how it really sounds. I might try the PS1 as well just to experiment.