Vinyl vs. top-notch digital


I have never had an analogy rig. My CD player is a Meridian 800, supposedly one of the very best digital players out there. From what I've read, it appears there is a consensus in our community that a high-quality analog rig playing a good pressing will beat a top notch digital system playing a well-recorded and mastered CD. So here are my questions:

1) How much would one have to invest in analog to easily top the sound quality of the Meridian 800 (or similar quality digital player)? (Include in this the cost of a phono-capable preamp; my "preamp" right now is a Meridian 861 digital surround processor.)

2) How variable is the quality of LPs? Are even "bad" LPs still better than CD counterparts?

Thank you for any comments and guidance you can provide.
jeff_arrington
to echo Dan's comments, i'll be glad to compare any digital hi rez format to the inner grooves on any of my classical Lps.

yes; i've owned world class linear tracker arms and they do give you some benefits. however, the better and best pivoted arms properly set up eliminate any audible inner groove distrotion. i have many reference and test tracks that happen to be in the inner grooves without ever needing to concern myself.

as far as Carmina Burana, i have 4 or 5 pressings of it....and another 3 or 4 digital examples of it. come on over and let's do the comparison.
Not all grooves are created equal.

Just one of the snafus of 33 1/3 lp vinyl.

Better rigs will care less.

All formats have snafus. You just have to choose your pleasure/poison and then make it work.
Mike, I know you'll appreciate this. I heard a pivoted Talea laugh out loud at a Kuzma Airline. The Kuzma does have something special when playing girl with acoustic guitar. But as soon as you add the second girl with guitar the Kuzma didn't know what to do with the extra vibrations so it just dumped them back into the cartridge. Linear trackers have their own set of problems.

dealer disclaimer
I was at that demo with Dan_ed. His description is spot on. The Talea is one of the best arms I've heard.
Just a general response to your responses; I wasn't comparing Vinyl with Digital, (hi-rez or otherwise), just vinyl in the first 1/3 with vinyl in the last 1/3. FWIW my "best" set up was the Scoutmaster with 9" arm and Dyna XX2 cart.

Dan, your mention of cannons leads me to believe you possibly interpreted my post as a lament about mis-tracking? Needles jumping out of grooves? If so, that wasn't my point. I never had a problem with mis-tracking, it was just depressing to hear sound "thin" as the arm proceeded through the last 1/3 of record. I'm just not interested in spending beyond the Dyna. If your systems do better, fair enough, no argument or suspicion from me. If you've obviated the problem then I'm happy for you. Indeed, I've never heard digital come close to the immediacy of the best vinyl. At least in the best 1/3. : )