Upgrade CD player or get into LPs? Suggestions

"Do you own several hundred records in perfect condition? Do you want to go from a quiet background to clicks and pops? Instead of buying a turntable look for an early ('85-'89) Magnavox CD player. Leave it on for several days and you will think you are listening to a turntable with a MM cartridge without the clicks and pops."

That is so ridiculous, it's hard to know where to start....

Nothing is going to sound like vinyl, but vinyl. I love my digital rig and enjoy it often. But it doesn't sound as good as my WT Amadeus, nor should it. Don't listen to these naysayers, especially not the one I quoted above. You have a good cdp, spend the money on a good turntable and preamp then start hitting the used record stores. You will be glad you did.

Shakey

Forget cds. Go for a TT or digital streaming.

Wow. Clicks and pops??? What are you listening to, some vinyl that used a nail? The discussion between vinyl and digital has gone on for some time. the real question is do you listen to music or use it as background? First, to answer your question, have you considered an external DAC first? You would be amazed at the difference between an internal and good quality external DAC. Before you go down that road, please understand that a DAC is three things. 1. A digital component that processes the digital signal. 2) a power supply and 3) an analog output stage.

Very important to know that the analog output stage should be judged just like a good quality pre-amp. People get so caught up in computer music and ease of use that they completely forget that the analog portion better be top quality or it doesn't matter how good the digital side it. This also includes a high end pre-amp quality power supply. if the two are present, then the DAC suffers. This is typically why internal DACS compared to good external DACS don't compare well. Go borrow a decent DAC and plug it into your system and you will hear the difference. I would still get the vinyl rig going anyway, because, well, it is wonderful to me.

But, I can tell you, in my long years of experience, that a good vinyl rig (phono stage, turn table, arm, cartridge, etc.) vs a good digital setup, if the music was originally digitally recorded to digital master and then mastered to vinyl and cd, you won't hear as much of a difference as opposed to music that was originally recorded to analog master and then to vinyl and cd.

enjoy

Minorl,

You can read many threads on this site complaining about noisy Lps. Have you really never heard an Lp that pops and clicks?

I used to listen exclusively to LPs back in the 70s- early 80s. When CDs came along I bought in mainly to save wear and tear on my LPs, which I stll considered my reference source for music. CDs replaced cassette tape and the convenience of using them became addictive, supported by the lack of surface noise LPs (and tape) always produce.

Fast forward to today and I have all but forsaken vinyl, but plan on resurrecting it. IMHO 16 bit resolution of standard CDs is just not enough to provide the low level details of vinyl, surface noise notwithstanding. The higher resolution digital 24 bit may be a lot better, I don't know. I do know that 24 bit music selection is meager at best, and there is little to no hope that the hundreds of LPs or CDs I have accumulated over the years will ever be reproduced in high res 24 bit sources.

If you have never listened to a vinyl rig, you owe it to yourself to find one and listen. You may wish to freeze your digital CD based system where it is and start a vinyl setup. After you have made the comparison, then go from there. Vinyl does require a lot more tweaking and attention than playing CDs require, which require more than steaming from a music server. LPs also wear out while digital sources do not.

Surprisingly though, LPs for many artists are still available, with CD sources still being the most common.