Jeff, thanks for the compliment. I sold off most of the stuff in virtual system, but hope to one day build another system in that messy room.
I've never tried the Stealth Varig but have read a lot of good things about it. I'd like to hear how it compares to the AZ MC2 when you've come to a conclusion.
In an antithetic example to this thread, the MC2 was a great surprise in my system. For $160 used I think this is a super cable. Just after Y2K, I compared it with four other digital cables over the course of two years and the MC2 and Virtual Dynamics Nite were the clear favorites to my ears.
As for the LP > cassette > CD transition, I can say that I was not disappointed in CD redbook reproduction when it was introduced because I never owned a good analogue playback system. Ignorance is bliss!
Now if I can just control my urge to interject audio irreverence every time I see an Audiogon thread begging to be made fun of, we might get some serious work done hear. Hah!