TT with Optical Out (A Blasphemous outrage!)

[mikmas]

But unless absolutely necessary why would you go from A to D then back again, i understand if it's a recording that's not available on any other format and you need to convert it so that you can put it on your ipod for instance, but for everything else it seems unnecessary and frankly a waste of money

In this case the difference in price between the Pro-Ject Essential III Digital and the Pro-Ject Essential III is about £40 - even if you only occasionally rip your vinyl this is already a much cheaper option than a dedicated, reasonably decent AD unit.

That of itself is enough reason (provided the Pro-Ject AD conversion reaches the quality required) but the less obvious advantage is one less box to make desk space for, one less interconnect cable + sockets and one less PSU muddying the waters.

There are more but those two would be enough to convince me.