My personal thoughts on my system.

[Enossification]

you have good taste in equipment (i.e it matches mine )

[bumpy]

My experience since has told me that a budget CD player will sound better than a budget turntable, but as you upgrade your vinyl rig you reach a point where it becomes a serious competitor to CD and from there it can kick on to become either better than or at least different in a fulfilling way.

Pete

Dont forget that you can also upgrade the CD player, for instance with a separate DAC, then it will pull away again from the vinyl.

[Enossification]

I did use a Cambridge transport and Audiolab MDAC but this unit is now way better than the old ones. This one is also SACD of course and I own quite a few of those.

[Enossification]

or at least different in a fulfilling way. Pete

Certainly different.

[Pigmy Pony]

Certainly different.

But as long as they are close enough to both be enjoyable that's the main thing.

I find myself happily using either format - vinyl about 40% of the time, and CD when I'm feeling lazy/pissed/whatever which makes up the remaining 60%. I do actually prefer the sound of my vinyl rig, but at fifteen times the cost of the CD player I bloody well should do. And that's before you factor in the cost of stylus wear and vinyl purchases.

I wouldn't mind changing the player at some point, and yours and Martin's players would be top of my list, but I'm in no great rush

[Enossification]

But as long as they are close enough to both be enjoyable that's the main thing.

I find myself happily using either format - vinyl about 40% of the time, and CD when I'm feeling lazy/pissed/whatever which makes up the remaining 60%. I do actually prefer the sound of my vinyl rig, but at fifteen times the cost of the CD player I bloody well should do. And that's before you factor in the cost of stylus wear and vinyl purchases.

I wouldn't mind changing the player at some point, and yours and Martin's players would be top of my list, but I'm in no great rush

I so agree with all you've said there but one question that sticks with me is, why does the vinyl side of things have to be so damn expensive when compared to CD ? And, as a result of that, is there any wonder the majority of people stick with a digital source ?

[Pigmy Pony]

I so agree with all you've said there but one question that sticks with me is, why does the vinyl side of things have to be so damn expensive when compared to CD ? And, as a result of that, is there any wonder the majority of people stick with a digital source ?

No wonder at all Martin. Although vinyl prices have probably only increased over the years roughly in line with inflation (My first album, T. Rex Electric Warrior cost me £2.30 iirc, which would be about £30 in today's money), it's the lower cost of CDs that makes it look bad.

Regarding the hardware, well you can see better with a turntable where much of the cost has gone, that engineering won't come cheap.

My only real gripe is the quality of the vinyl itself, which with modern pressings is unpredictable at best. And that will probably put an end to my record purchasing. Especially when a used CD version can be had for a tenth the cost, and with zero issues pretty much guaranteed.

As for streaming, not going to happen as long as I can make the journey between my sofa and the stereo

[Jimbo]

No wonder at all Martin. Although vinyl prices have probably only increased over the years roughly in line with inflation (My first album, T. Rex Electric Warrior cost me £2.30 iirc, which would be about £30 in today's money), it's the lower cost of CDs that makes it look bad.

Regarding the hardware, well you can see better with a turntable where much of the cost has gone, that engineering won't come cheap.

My only real gripe is the quality of the vinyl itself, which with modern pressings is unpredictable at best. And that will probably put an end to my record purchasing. Especially when a used CD version can be had for a tenth the cost, and with zero issues pretty much guaranteed.

As for streaming, not going to happen as long as I can make the journey between my sofa and the stereo

That small journey may keep you spinning discs longer.

[Enossification]

As for streaming, not going to happen as long as I can make the journey between my sofa and the stereo

[Pigmy Pony]

No wonder at all Martin.

My apologies Dave, er Rodney, er Shaun

New bloke at the builders merchants used to call me Stuart. It went on for so long I didn't have the heart to correct him as he was what they used to call "Care in the Community" and I didn't want to mess with his head. So I became Stuart. No biggie, I've been called worse.