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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
orpheus10
5,988 posts
 

Minor, not everyone see's things from an Audiophiles perspective; that means there are some very good buys out there.
orpheus10
5,988 posts
 

Chakster, if nothing was available but the "mid fi" crap that we thought was good for playing records, I wouldn't give you a nickel for a boatload of vinyl.

The OP is right; if his analog rig isn't together, the digital will cream it, and all you have to do is stick it in the player. Since my rig is together, vinyl is all I'm doing lately.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
4,908 posts
 
For those who like "Americana" music, know that New West Records, home to many of my favorite artists (Buddy Miller, John Hiatt, Rodney Crowell, Richard Thompson, plenty of others) offers some of their titles on cassette.
kahlenz's avatar
kahlenz
168 posts
 
Man, the hipsters are into pro audio.  They'll go direct from their phones to a pair of active studio monitors.  The extra cool kids have a two channel audio interface or a small mixing board so they can plug in their turntables, CD players, playstations, guitars and microphones.  They'll play whatever media they can get their hands on and plug into their boards.
edgewear
119 posts
 
@geoffkait 
'Less wobbling equals less jitter' 

It's true that Japanese cd's are better centered than most others. This is easy enough to see with the 'open' transport bay of my Bow cd player. Perhaps the player needs less error correction, because the laser has an easier job reading the disc. I remember reading once that error correction requires bit capacity. Is this what you mean?

So perhaps with eccentric discs 'more error correction equals less resolution', which might explain why Japanese cd's generally sound better. This definitely concurs with my own experience, even before the introduction of SHM material.

IMHO the Japanese must be applauded for single handedly creating an entirely separate world of truly collectable cd's. These mini LP sleeve cd's have superior sound quality as well as meticulous recreation of the original vinyl release artwork. Great stuff!

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