Turntable got absolutely crushed by CD


Long story short, i've just brought home a VPI classic 1 mounted with a Zu-Denon DL103 on JMW Memorial 10.5 with the appropriate heavier counterweight. Had everything dialed in..perfect azimuth, VTF, overhang, with only a slightly higher than perfect VTA. Levelling checked. All good. 

I did a comparison between the VPI and my Esoteric X03SE and it's not even close. The Esoteric completely crushes the VPI in all regards. The level of treble refinement, air, decay, soundstage depth and width, seperation, tonality, overall coherence is just a simply a league above from what I'm hearing from the VPI. The only area the VPI seems to be better at is bass weight, but not by much. 

I'm honestly quite dumbfounded here. I've always believed that analogue should be superior to digital. I know the Esoteric is a much pricier item but the VPI classic is supposed to be a very good turntable and shouldn't be a slouch either. At this point I feel like I should give up on analogue playback and invest further in digital. 

Has anyone had a similar experience comparing the best of digital to a very good analogue setup?

Equipment:
Esoteric X03SE 
VPI Classic, JMW Memorial 10.5, Zu-DL103
Accuphase C200L
Accuphase P600
AR 90 speakers

Test Record/CD:
Sarah McLachlan - Surfacing (Redbook vs MOV 180g reissue)



chadsort
Doing the experiment, It is true. When I dropped my turntable on the CD player. No damage to the CD player. When I dropped my over 50 lb Sony SCD777ES on the turntable. bad.. very bad. The TURNTABLE GOT ABSOLUTELY CRUSHED BY CD (SACD)              

Dear @edgewear: I almost agree with what you posted. Of course that always recorded music ( no matter what. ) is totally crushed by live MUSIC and yes any one but a deaf man can identify  live music sound from a street player even if he is playing way out/distance of our sigth/eyes. 

Sound lovers against MUSIC lovers and what am I trying to say?:

all those adjectives that use as " sound/music " characteristics that certainly  we are accustom to by many many years  is a kind of sound that does not exist in live MUSIC events at distance where normally the recording microphones are positioned.

 These microphones are responsables to pick-up/first hand the MUSIC ( of course that at the very first moment that that live MUSIC goes into de microphones and the cable to the mic-electronics the signal is degraded, no question about. ) and from here pass through several steps till we can listen it at our home audio systems.

Now, we analog lovers always want that MUSIC sounds in our systems with all those " sound lovers " adjectives/characteristics but from where came all those wrong MUSIC adjectives?, this is a critical issue:

I learned as all of you from the AHEE where we all belongs and reviewers, manufacturers, audio distributors etc, etc.
What told us the AHEE? things like BD TT is the way to go, LOMC cartridges is the only way to go, tubes is the rigth way to go, tonearms with fixed headshells is the way to go, passive speakers is the way to go, subwoofers? only for home theater, and a lot of more information that still today we all received from there.

The overall audio industry is a business and the AHEE always protect what they teach os from the begining of the analog audio.

All of us learned through the corrupted AHEE that 2x2=5 not 4. Even today we still think in that answer as rigth and never as our self: what if what we learned is just wrong. What if it's?

Digital is what is nearer tothat true 4. It's not exactly the 4 but way nearer than the analog alternative.

Digital is truer to the recording than analog, the microphones signal through digital recording/playback overall process is way way less degraded that the analog alternative but because that disastrous AHEE when we listen to the digital alternative what the adjectives we use to speak against digital are exactly the same true characteristics that LIVE MUSIC owns/has.

So why want we the LIVE MUSIC sounds in a way different way?

I said that overall digital is truer to the recording ( even with all degradation steps where the signal pass through. ) and be truer to the recording means nearest to the LIVE MUSIC.

A few years now I made my self that question: what if many of what the AHEE teach was just wron? and I start to learn for my self in my system and other audio systems that the AHEE teach us wrong " things " on purpose.

From some years now my system target is to stay truer to the recording no matters if I'm listening to the analog alternative or the digital one, my system is builded around that target and to be nearest to that target my first premise is to mantain at minimum every single source of everykind of distortions that can affect the incoming audio signal.

All those discussion about tubes vs SS electronics or LOMC vs MM cartridges  and the like was provocated by our wrong learnend audio information for that 5 and some of us  just can't understand ( even by ignorance of how live MUSIC really sounds. ) that the true/real answer is not that false 5 but 4 and to understand why the 4 is the rigth answer we must have first hand experiences of live MUSIC at near field position experiences.

Pweople do not like SS electronics because belongs to that 4 and like tubes because is the 5 that destroy every audio signal that pass through where SS is truer to the recording and nearer to the 4.

And that's why I posted a difference between " sound lovers " and true MUSIC lovers where sound lovers are in reality hardware lovers and it's not their culprit but that corrupted AHEE that till today almost never gives us that 4 answers.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.


and not only that but that AHEE never never said us why 5 is the rigth answer for live MUSIC instead 2x2=4.

If I talk with a tube lover or even a tube manufacturer always they told me why tubes are the rigth way to go why the 5 is the " true " but never told me any one of them why tubes is nearer to the LIVE MUSIC instead SS electronics that is the real alternative nearer/truer to the recording and the live MUSIC. SS electronics is part of the 4 answer and tube is part of the 5 answer.

Here and everywhere I posted many time supported by common sense facts and with first hand experiences in live MUSIC at near field why the 5 is totally wrong and why the 4 is the rigth answer and till today no one every where told me why I'm wrong other that " they are just sound lovers: that's what I like it ".

The 5 AHEE ha no foundations, precise foundation.

Sooner or latter LIVE MUSIC will win as is winning the digital alternative that always is growing up and minute after minute up-grading its technology, rigth now is almost a reality the 32/768 DACS where the limits of the analog alternative end years ago, exist no real grow up because there is nothing to do about but little refinements of " more of the same " but nothing through different up-grade.

Yes, I'm still an analog lover with over 7K+ LPs and at the same time I love the digital alternative.

Any one of you sound lovers can make an easy test through your 5 audio systems:

buy the 1989 Original Motion Picture Sondtrack Glory in CD and the 2000 from Gladiator CD and buy the respective LPs and then listening both in your analog rig and in any decent 24/192 CDP. Any one with the LIVE MUSIC near field experiences will know which one is nearest to.

Of course that to attest that the roo/audio system must be a true full range one with active/passive speaker " set ".

There are other examples of CD vs today LPs that like those two LPs are audiophile pressings levels. I own both and many more about.

But indeed digital is not superior from 10 years now but just almost from the begining and we can attest it through many of the digital recordings using the Soundstream PCM digital recording electronics in the Telarca LP's or the Delos or Denon labels and many more, even that in those old times the digital alternative was in the begining of its learning shape. 
At any standards many of those LP digital recordings are just outstanding.

R.



I love digital through my nuprime dac 10 or iPhone/dragonfly red/sennheiser6xx massdrops. I love analog through my nottingham space 294, Soundsmith zephyr Star, and musical surroundings Nova II.

Some albums sound better on digital. Some sound better on vinyl. I don’t see what the big deal is. There must be something wrong with me??? 

Dear @fleschler : I prefer too the 10 row for the same you like. My nearfield experiences were an " open eyes " to say the least and the greattest learning lessons in all my audio life.

So: am I throw away my LPs and analog rig?, certainly not. Because all what I posted here the anlog experiences are " appealing " when the audio system is truer/nearest to the recording.. I enjoy the analog experiences.The only system audio link that I always try to avoid is any single tube in the cartridge signal ( even that I used for many years tube electronics. ), full SS electronics is IMHO the rigth way to go till appears something better to honor the LIVE MUSIC.

I know a very well regarded cartridge designer that marketed and co-designed an all SS phono stage and knowing this gentleman I understand why.

That same gentleman was whom told me in  the cartridge MM extremely long thread that LOMC cartridges were lower in distortions than the very good MM alternative.

But in those " old times " I was really motivitaded/exited for my new MM/MI cartridge re-discovery and I said that MM was better.

Years latter I learned and he was totally rigth LOMC is way superior to the MM/MI alternative and there are several reasons about but this will be for some other thread. 

R.