Going SACD or analog?

Gary (Gdolin) makes some very good points pertaining to the various musical formats and has obviously experience the pluses and minuses of vinly ownership.

I don't see why you need to make a choice; unless money is the concern. If it is then I would suggest you go with the digital format for reasons Gary suggests.

However; I would buy the Sony and if you are not satisfied with is redbook performance, which by the way is quite excellent, you could always have it modded by the likes of Richard Kern (Audiomod). At which point you will have one of the finest sounding players on redbook(IMO) and SACD to boot.

Chuck

Pbb it's a shame that you never had a decent record playing rig. Either that or you have a personal problem about analog.

I don't think there has ever been a thread at Audiogon where you don't go ballistic complaining about noise and problems with LP. I'm sincerely sorry that you never got it together and made it work, but it gets tiring to have you knock everyone who even considers the format.

If you lived near me I could embarrass you with the facts simply by listening. If you cannot make the visit I will give you the names of about a dozen high end manufacturers that have heard my system and can testify that not only does my analog destroy CD and SACD, it is about as silent on 70% of my 6,000 LP library.

My response to the poster of this thread is to keep your CD library and get a SACD player that plays Redbook well and enjoy what you have.

I would save up for that Linn analog set-up you lust after, buy LP's as you have the chance and enjoy what each has to offer. You may then decide that you want to keep both or decide only one is the best for your situation. I will say that for young people it is very difficult to begin a library comprised of recent releases and popular artists in LP format. There are however, tens of thousand of Jazz, classical and rock titles available for those who seek it.

I am a bit taken back by Pbb's comments as well. I buy 6 or 8 used lps a week from ebay or gemm.com. Maybe 1 or so are a bit noisy, so i clean it on a wet vac, the rest I play and do not even clean. They average 5 or 6 bucks a piece, so 9 or 10 with shipping. I have a good turntable and a smart and quiet cartridge, a Dynavector xx-2. I also have a 3k cdp. The cdp sound is very good, but just does not have the life that the analog setup has. I think it never will. I find used records very easy and fun and cheap, I also do not find analog that difficult to deal with.

Analogue. Hands down. As for the 'noise issue', buy a VPI 16.5, problem solved. The amount of software available in LP's versus SACD's really doesn't even make this a question. Ad in the superior sound quality, analogue wins, case closed.

I have found that I enjoy my analog set-up much more for listening to music, when that is all I am doing. For background music while working, tieing flies, doing the dishes, etc., the digital is much more convenient. There is nothing worse than running to the TT with wet, dirty, soapy, greasy, etc., hands, to rescue your cartridge, because you spaced out regarding the last cut on a LP.

For me, analog is magical and greatly prefered (clean those LP's!), but the CD is more convenient.

Dave