old vs. new , wich one is better?

as always, this is personal preference in listening, i have been around audio since i bought my first sal marantz tube gear in the 50s. the 60s brought to me advent speakers, 70s dalquist speakers, threshold amps, 80s ,vandersteen, audio research,90s ,cary tubes with jm labs, totem, aerials, and i loved it all, just like i loved my lp collection, but limitations were always present. not that cds , computer digital has pluses over lp, tapes, but the quality of product that you can buy reasonable today is incredible. i just bought a new entry level marantz player, entry level nad amp and moderately priced speakers, monitors at that, and i am blown away for under 1,000.00 , added a real good set of calbes and i am in love. no , i loved all the systems i owned, or they owned me, but it has always been abought listening to the music...ill take todays product from anywhere, i remember the big japan surge in the 70s with televisions, sony who? , china who? ,not that chinese or japanese equipment is better , that is personal preference, america has always lead the way, along with england....but ill take todays product anyday...keep listening.....dwhitt

I would avoid early SS, in general before about the mid 80s. Classic tube equipment can sound better than it ever did with new parts. Caps, resistors etc are drastically better now than in the past. I have been at it since 62 so have seen most of the history myself. Old is not necessarily either good or bad, but remember that older equipment MAY be in need of parts replacement. The best now is better than it has ever been but cost levels can be very high. I myself, in equipment for which I am not a dealer, pursue a course of buying top grade components from say 8 to 15 years ago. They are much cheaper than current ones and will not give up much if anything in sound quality. Very good old beats mediochor new in almost every case and will likely return your investment when you want to change. But remember , the first rule in buying equipment is that there are no rules, every purchase is a special case.

Often you can get the best of both worlds, old and new. Take the tube Cayin products, which are built in China from top quality current components, but the design is vintage HK, Marantz and McIntosh. I have a few Cayin products and have compared them in my system to rebuild Mc's and HK units of the same design. The Cayin have the edge, and they are a great value with super service in the USA, if you need it. In summary, it is the design, executed with top materials that wins.