Rega P25, would it sound better than my CDP?

DIGITAL - Completely silent backgrounds all the time, more crisp at the frequency extremes.

ANALOG - more natural/organic tonality, more inner resolution

dynamics are a wash

No one would complain about surface noise on 95% of my records - essentially silent. If you play clean records on a well setup vinyl front end, surface noise is basicly a non-issue. Some cartridge minimize surface noise better than others. The denon 103 series are excellent in this way.

I personally would rather listen to a well setup Rega 25 than ANY cdp including meitner, dcs, etc. When I listen to vinyl I'm able to get into "the zone" where I don't pay attention to the playback and just enjoy the music. With digital, it doesn't usually happen.

If you have a collection spend the money, if not upgrade the cdp/cdp power cord/cdp IC. You won't regret it.

My LP12 matches my Wadia 301 in PRaT, but not in any other catagory. Still I'm going to upgrade my TT. Why you ask? Because I have about 700 near mint/mint lps that I've picked up at local garage sales for between free and $1.00 a pop. This is a great way to expand my music collection. At $5.00 a cd used, that would be $3,500. I payed $1,500 for my TT setup. So to me it makes sense.

Digital offers: lower noise floor as a rule, convenience, ability to swap music with friends, no worry about tweaking turntable/cartridge parameters, and access to a vast range of music that will NEVER be available on vinyl.

Vinyl offers: the ability to inexpensively sample a vast array of older music, much of which will never be available on cd, indulgence in a ritual that helps you to remember music is more than background noise in our multi-tasking lives, and that effortless, palpable, organic, flowing musicality you have with vinyl.

If I have the option, I usually prefer vinyl when listening to rock and jazz. The limited dynamic range obscures the more limited signal/noise ratio of vinyl. Yes, there is the occasional exceptional classical lp that is eerily quiet, but no matter how well I dust & vacuum most lp's, there are ticks & pops that intrude on quiet sections. I also find it's easier to immerse yourself in long musical pieces when you aren't getting up every twenty minutes to change sides. On many older rock & jazz recordings, the mastering to cd's is inferior. Many recordings haven't been remastered after engineers began figuring out how to do digital right. Some remasters still are substandard to their original vinyl incarnations, as I was reminded last night listening to Van Halen's first album. Each medium's strenths and weaknesses are on display to varying degrees on every recording.

Rega bashing? Nah...Get Ray Barreto's "Acid" on Fania virgin vinyl LP and CD versions--and find out for yourself. Don't be afraid! "Acid" is a Fania crossover album so you might be able to take it better than *hardcore* salsa. The recording is good enough to do critical comparisons between power cords and Lak can verify this fact. He also liked the album (he's never heard hardcore Barreto...we'll leave it there).

I'd rather listen to CD on my Dan Wright modded belt drive transport than LP on a lesser belt drive. In my system vinyl and CD sound as close to each other as possible. I've achieved this goal by compensating the weaknesses of each format. That will get them closer to the performance.

With psychic power and primal intensity,

My rather opinionated take:

The cd player will sound less "open" than the properly setup P25 thereby making the cd sound dull in comparison. Call that distortion or whatever, it just sounds better.

PRAT will be good on the table. Regas excel at this. Better PRAT than a cd player? I might actually agree with what's his name on this one. But it will still sound dull because it will sound boxed in when compared to the P25.

Pitch stability will not be as good as the cd. An aftermarket power supply will work wonders on a P25 and also improve soundstage depth.

Separation of instruments in the soundstage will be more noticeable with the P25.

The lp will be noisier but you likely will find that you don't really listen to this.

All things considered, the P25 will sound better if you have it setup correctly.

Lastly, the idea that you should stick with the cd player if you don't have a vinyl collection is erroneous. Maybe if you're 90 years old, sure. All that matters is if you have used vinyl shops close to you. I started with less than 100 lps.