I have had the same experience as Islandmandan. My set up is not as good though.
When Michael Fremer started at Stereophile he jumped right in with his cd is crap, vinyl is so much better line. So I thought that's great, I'll get a turntable and have this great sound and be the envy of all my friends and neighbors.
So I bought a SOTA Comet tt, a Sumiko Blue Point Special cartridge and an Audio Alchemy phono stage. All recommended by Stereophile at the time and considered good enough to demonstrate the magic of vinyl. I set it up as best I could (probably not that well) and started playing records. And nothing happened. Vinyl sounded OK but didn't blow away anything.
I eventually packed it up but got the rig out recently and tried it again. Same results. I am not a tweaker and my set up (I bought protractors, levels, stylus gauges, etc.)would make a vinyl lover cringe, I'm sure.
I think that a major factor in sound quality is how well a cd or lp is recorded, mastered and manufactured. I also think that we are just beginning to hear what cd is capable of. I'm not thrilled about that because I have a lot of cds and the idea of replacing them with remasters causes my wallet to hurt.
For example, I recently purchased the new Emmylou Harris box set "Songbird". I don't know how many audiophiles like Emmylou but everyone should give her a listen. She has a gorgeous voice and great taste in music, if you like country. Don't laugh, you may like it. If you don't like Emmylou though, you won't like any country.
Anyway, the sound on these cds is beautiful. It easily blows away the sound on the original releases. If any vinyl lovers have heard this box set, let me know what you think. These are not purist recordings. They are mostly close miked, built in the studio recordings, but I think they sound great. Maybe that's where my problem is. If someone doesn't think they sound great, could you explain to me why. Maybe I just have bad ears or poor taste in sound.
When Michael Fremer started at Stereophile he jumped right in with his cd is crap, vinyl is so much better line. So I thought that's great, I'll get a turntable and have this great sound and be the envy of all my friends and neighbors.
So I bought a SOTA Comet tt, a Sumiko Blue Point Special cartridge and an Audio Alchemy phono stage. All recommended by Stereophile at the time and considered good enough to demonstrate the magic of vinyl. I set it up as best I could (probably not that well) and started playing records. And nothing happened. Vinyl sounded OK but didn't blow away anything.
I eventually packed it up but got the rig out recently and tried it again. Same results. I am not a tweaker and my set up (I bought protractors, levels, stylus gauges, etc.)would make a vinyl lover cringe, I'm sure.
I think that a major factor in sound quality is how well a cd or lp is recorded, mastered and manufactured. I also think that we are just beginning to hear what cd is capable of. I'm not thrilled about that because I have a lot of cds and the idea of replacing them with remasters causes my wallet to hurt.
For example, I recently purchased the new Emmylou Harris box set "Songbird". I don't know how many audiophiles like Emmylou but everyone should give her a listen. She has a gorgeous voice and great taste in music, if you like country. Don't laugh, you may like it. If you don't like Emmylou though, you won't like any country.
Anyway, the sound on these cds is beautiful. It easily blows away the sound on the original releases. If any vinyl lovers have heard this box set, let me know what you think. These are not purist recordings. They are mostly close miked, built in the studio recordings, but I think they sound great. Maybe that's where my problem is. If someone doesn't think they sound great, could you explain to me why. Maybe I just have bad ears or poor taste in sound.