Analog vs. CDP: A fair comparison?


Ok, in summary, I'm planning on selling my Cary 303/300 and taking the funds and buying a TT rig including Table, Arm & Cartridge. I'll worry about the phono stage, record cleaning machine, etc. later.

Assuming I get $2,500 from the CDP, will I be able to get a used rig that will at least match the sound quality? Assume also that I will have a phono stage budget of $1,000.

Rest of the system if Cary 300SEI.

Is this a fair comparison? Or, will the sound just be different (i.e. tubes vs ss).

thanx much
pawlowski6132

“Billt1, why didn't you just buy a used Cary amp and new (NOS) tubes?????”
It was just a comfort level thing. Tubes are a new game to me so until I am very familiar I just figured it was a safe bet.
The one aspect that I discovered about vinyl which was totally unexpected was the family involvement that it brought along. My kids love to look through the records and have me spin them up and they love listening. My wife has been on the hunt for records for me and brings ones she finds home, cleans them on the RCM (which she got me for father's day), and we listen together. The kids also love going to antique stores and flea markets looking for LPs. For whatever reason, vinyl is more enjoyable for everyone. I wish that I had started with vinyl much earlier.
I was in this boat a year or so ago, though I was not interested in selling my digital gear, but simply diving into vinyl with a handful of LP's (5 I think, maybe 12). I contacted a good friend of mine who was interested in helping me out. He set me up with a really nice Thorens TD166 that he had rebuilt (parts from a 160 and 166 merged) an Alphason arm and Grado Prestige Silver cart. He lent me his Clearaudio Basic and then he gave me the little Rat until I had the money to buy a decent phono. All in all I had the setup for 3 weeks and I was hooked. I loved the sound and I enjoyed the mild tweaking.

That said, I knew for myself, that doing the gradual upgrades would kill me in the end and so when the opportunity arose a month later to get a full on setup (my current one listed under my profile) I was locked in. In just over a year my LP collection has gone from a dozen LP's to between 500-600 LP's. How? Donations from friends, yard sales and folks gutting their collections on the cheap. Craig's List is your friend among other local used sites. I've spent maybe 400 on LP's, the vast majority of my music being in the .25-1.00/LP then the other new LP's ranging from $20-$30. The stuff I REALLY want on vinyl I buy on vinyl and take the hit, otherwise I stick with the RBCD.

I would say my listening is split evenly between CD and LP. My CD collection is a bit over 1k albums and I have not slowed on my purchases, having bought perhaps 50 albums this past year. I like the flexibilty of having both options when purchasing new. That said, you have a computer, if you don't want to get rid of your CD's but want to dive headfirst into vinyl, you can play your discs on your comp and get a decent DAC/amp combo for your headphones. This way you don't lose your ability to stay with your digital media but you now have some sweet cash to plunk down on vinyl. However, given what most have stated, don't just chuck your digital stuff in favour of vinyl "site unheard." Make sure you have a backup plan, the option of using your comp for listening via an outboard DAC, buy a cheaper vinyl kit (something in the $1k zone, table/arm/cart) get a decent phono (P75 used for $350-400) and you still have more than half you cash for that DAC and cleaning supplies for your vinyl.

In the end, the vinyl exists, and it is still available on the cheap, it just takes some time to find it. Once you do though, the wonders of new old music is at your finger tips and usually at prices CD's can't match just yet. But for new music, keeping CD's in the mix is a must as most is never issued on vinyl.

GL!