2. analog
  3. 140184-113812

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
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
1,368 posts
 
Any specifics on what turntables, cd players and amps were used, which specific recordings? Those details could affect the outcome pretty significantly and I’d hate to have to throw away my cd player and solid state amp.

I can understand that if the gear was not very good, turntable and tubes would be the way to go, but I don’t think that a lower quality tube amp would satisfy most audiophiles more than a good quality solid state amp in the long run. Cd player vs turntable? I don’t think we need to go there again.
uberwaltz's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
uberwaltz
4,946 posts
 
Cd player vs turntable? I don’t think we need to go there again.
??
Is that not how this thread started??

😎😎
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
Ooops, good catch!
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
Well, I had owned over 8000 Classical LPs... Last time I moved I tossed about 6,000 of them At the time of that move I owned about 100 Classical CDs. Now, almost 12 years later I still own about 1200 Classical LPs (always trying to weed..) and I just bought about a 100 Classical CDs (paid about $2 each) Mainly because I only owned a hundred! and the ones I bought are decent stuff. from my favorite used record store...              
So I could claim "I am throwing out LPs and buying CDs". Or, I could say "I own well over a thousand Classical LPs and only 200 Classical CDs."
Both are true, yet each sentence is biased one way or the other.
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
1,368 posts
 
Is that not how this thread started??
Yes it is. We’ve got 10 pages of posts accumulated over almost two months. Do we need to start over again, or have our positions on that been pretty well aired? I don’t want to stifle debate, though. Feel free to tell us what your opinion is on the topic. Mine is both can sound very good and very bad. Listen to whatever brings you enjoyment.
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