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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
dynaquest4's avatar
dynaquest4
368 posts
 
chakster: 

You covered too many bases and a response from me would just take too long.  I'm glad, though, that my post got your chops churning and interested you enough to provide such a verbose reply.

I used film from 1972 to 2004.  After digital reached 8mp I never looked back at film.  

I would recommend that when you make a point that is an opinion, you state it as such.
blueranger's avatar
blueranger
575 posts
 
Not so fast on doing a comparison. When I first got a TOTL sacd player this summer I thought it was going to slay my TT when I first heard it. I was impressed at first by the clean digital signal. Kinda like being blown away when u heard your first CD player especially if your TT was under par. After awhile I noticed that clean digital signal was not so clean on a lot of CDs. There was distortion jitter call it what you like. Some CDs are better engineered and will beat analog but on others that colored but warm analog sound is hard to beat.
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
I own the same SACD player as blueranger. I have to say it is really great.
(My analog main TT is a Kuzma Stabi Stogi S with a Dynavector 17D3)
I would say any problem is in the original album mastering. same as on LPs Try to listen to original Laura Nyro LP on a high end system. try. The mastering is terrible. If you have an average system, not nearly as problematic.
One thing having the Marantz SA-10 has given me, now I can really hear the differences way better in CD mastering than any time prior.For example, I used to really enjoy Tori Amos CDs.. Now with the SA-10 I can hear more, how the producers buried her voice in the mix and added some kind of fake quasi reverb to her voice, which just is terrible to put up with. Worse with some more than others of hers. But they all have it. Compare to Ani DiFranco recordings... clear, beautiful and perfect.
The beauty and curse of high end.
simao's avatar
simao
656 posts
 
I'm going to offer this for comparison:

The MoFi 45lp release of Dire Straits "Brothers in Arms" against both a Tidal streaming and a reissued cd version. 

Analog: VPI HW-19 Mk 4 with a Hana SH through a basic Lehmann Black Cube phono. 

Digital: Tidal lossless FLAC through an Oppo 105 and AcousticZen XLR's through the Pathos Classic One. 

That 45 pressing completely outsized any digital version. 

Some digital Versions are better than their analog counterparts, especially with a poorly pressed vinyl version. But I tend to research the best pressed vinyl version of a release and they almost always sound more complete and the digital version. 

And, then again, some inferior pressed versions of LPs can sound absolutely horrible. Like, I played REM's LP of Life's Rich Pageant, and that just sounded awful through the system. but the streaming version through TIDAL sounded incredible.
spatialking's avatar
spatialking
248 posts
 
Yep, back in the day, we used to say "garbage in, garbage out".   Today, we have not only that but we also have far better equipment to hear that garbage.  
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