Analog vs. CDP: A fair comparison?

Personally I think you should not look at this in a piecemeal way. You should budget for everything now, or else you will regret it later. (Obviously you are concerned about a budget, so take it into account now.)

You should budget for cleaning supplies (RCM, fluid, brushes, etc. - figure a few hundred dollars, if not more), as well as inner and outer sleeves and record racks to protect your precious records. You will need these things in order to really get the most out of your LPs, so don't put off buying them until after you are dissatisfied with the sound, get them now.

Also, you will probably need a turntable stand/rack as well, which can cost hundreds of dollars too. Plus, new LPs tend to be more expensive than new CDs, especially the heavy vinyl reissues, be make sure you can truly afford it.

(If you don't already have a LP collection, you should make sure you really want to commmit to analog. I made this choice myself a few years ago, and don't regret it, but I already had a fairly large (1,000 LP) collection, from before I switched over to CDs in the late '80s.)

As far a sound quality, I would say it will be close. The Cary is a good CD player, no question about it. In order to really give your analog system better sound, I highly recommend going with a good MC cartridge, (the Shelter 501 is a good budget cartridge @ $850 new). However, it is a low output MC cartridge, which means making sure your phono preamp is not only a good quality unit, but it needs to have plenty of gain (at least 55 db of gain, if not a bit more), and needs to be fairly quiet. (I recommend going with something of good quality like an EAR or an ARC, at the very least. My best advice is to not cheap out on the phono preamp.) This is another reason why not to put off buying the phono stage until later, as your choice of cartridge my restrict your choice of phono stages, and visa versa.

Personally, I much prefer the sound of my turntable to my cdp, and they are fairly closely matched in terms of costs.

My analog system is slightly more than your $2,500 budget: My Basis 2001, RB 900 arm & Shelter 90X cart, (all bought used for around $3,400).
The sound of my analog system vs. my CDP (Resolution Audio Opus 21, with AU 24 I.C. - used price was $2,700), is pretty close, as they both sound great. However, I just prefer the sound of vinyl vs. digital. (I'd estimate I use my analog system 90% of the time!)

IMHO, if you truly wish to make sure your sound is better than your cdp, you should increase your budget a bit more. (My two cents worth anyway!)

Good Luck!

PS Make sure you have someone help you setup your table, arm and cartridge, as it can be a bit tricky. (Even if you have to pay someone to do it, as I did. It is very much worth it, to enable you to get the most out of your system.)

for an informed (if opinionated) view of your situation, try calling John @ The Audio Connection in Seattle (not the NJ audio connection). He carries Cary and also is a big analog fan. He ought to be able to help you through your dilemma. My personal opinion is that the sound will be better, but you are correct to cite phono stage and cleaning machine as factors.

The largest cost for either format is not in equipment, but in music software. If you get rid of the Cary how will you listen to any of your CDs? How many albums do you have to play on your new turntable. There's no rule about the ratio of music to equipment costs, but I would hope that anyone with a system such as yours would have several hundreds (if not more) CD/albums. Your software collection should determine which format(s) you use.

I agree with the others when they wonder if you already own lps, how many cds you have now, etc. The availability of software (lps) is a tough one. If you've never owned a turntable before, I'd suggest holding on to your Cary and buying a budget TT combo pack--TT+phono preamp. You can get new packages for less that $500 and used--well take a look on audiogon. After a year you'll have a better feel for what you are getting with analogue. I like the sound of my old Thorens TT (with a gram slee preamp and cheap audio technica cart) but because of the selection available on cd, I don't think I'd ever trade in my digital equipment for a better analogue set up. Reading the mags about analogue certainly makes this a tempting proposition, but for me the reality of do it whole hog would be too bleak. Good luck whatever you decide!

A Record doctor cleaning kit, a decca brush and a zerostat should surfice as a start(about$100.) I would spend most of the budget on the cartridge/phono stage. Used Well Tempered Table/arm combo usually sells used for $1100. I like the Dynavector P-75 phono stage, very versatile, you can use the cartridge of your choice. This should sound better than the Cary. There are many bargain cartridges in your price range to choose from, maybe a Shelter 501,Audio Technice AT-33PTG from Japan, Benz, Lyra, Denon, Dynavector,etc.