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
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
I am in the same historical camp as prof and edgewear...  I dumped all my LPs and TTs soon after buying into CD playback. I actually was lucky when in the 1990's a huge pile of Classical LPs had the chance to be mine. ?Did I want them? did I want to go back to playing LPs? I decided yes. And lucky I did as I was also getting into Jazz, and bought over a thousand used Jazz Lps at a time they were dirt cheap.                   
SO I have no 'nostalgia' abut Lps. They are not easy to play well. CD is way way easier to play well, and all those folks who bought into CD were not stupid, nor sheep. They liked it way better. Period. And that mostly for ease of use and it sounded just as good or better on the equipment they owned.                            

prof
1,741 posts
 

I was really just too lazy to bother dumping or selling my old LPs I accumulated while growing up.  They sat at my mother's place for years so they were available when I decided to re-visit them.
paulcreed
110 posts
 
I bought a vpi classic 2 with Soundsmith cartridge to replace my lp12 cirkus, pink triangle pink link power supply. Vpi sounded like it was going down a gravel road and was set up properly, sold it, kept my Linn, so glad I didn't sell it. I have a Exemplar Audio modded Oppo tube CD player and Exemplar Denon 2900 tube CD player. Both CD players sounded better than vpi, Linn sounds better than both CD players, I did keep the Soundsmith. Most people hate linn, I think it's a very musical table, I guess it's all personal.
noromance's avatar
noromance
1,780 posts
 
I have an old Valhalla LP12 and yes, it is very musical. Compared with my 401, it is all over the place unfortunately. However maybe it's not set up right I dunno.
But I did hear a VPI Scout once and thought it was very dull and grey. The VPI 40th sounds pretty good but it's $15k.
orpheus10
5,988 posts
 

When I listen to CD's, I hear music, when I listen to records (thanks to exquisitely set up high end rig) I hear music in a much deeper fashion; I hear nuances in records that I've heard hundreds of times, that I've never heard before.

I hope to God when I play CD's, I never hear what the "Vinylytes" hear (they're an analog religious order that describe in the worst way what they hear when they play a CD).   It would ruin my life if I ever began hearing "digitalis" or any of the other strange things they describe about CD's and everything digital; I would no longer hear music when I played my CD's.
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