Bought a MoFi StudioDeck with the MoFi cart that it came with and an iPhono 2 with a linear power supply from AliExpress. This system was superior to my digital. Upgraded to an AT-OC9/III cart which was major upgrade. From this experience I upgraded to:
Triangle Art Concerto with upgraded platter
Triangle Art speed controller
Reed 2A tonearm
Triangle Art Zeus cart
Chinese all-tube phono stage
Hashimoto SUT
This setup was a very large upgrade again. It's greatly superior to my digital system which composes of the following:
Custom audio PC (linear PSU, isolated SSD, battery-powered Paul Pang V3 USB card)
Yggdrasil Analog 2 DAC
Yaqin B-2T and sometimes a Freya as preamps
Before the Yggdrasil I had tried various DACs. The vinyl system was so much better than the digital I had to figure out if digital was worth continuing to perusing for serious listening. The main difference was dynamics: the vinyl setup produced greatly superior lifelike dynamic swings. It's very pleasing. The only area the digital was superior in was bass definition. When I added the Yggdrasil the gap finally closed, but only partially. The digital is closer but is still clearly beaten by the vinyl. Additionally I'm sure the cheap Chinese phono is holding it back. How much more do I have to spend to get digital up to par, let alone beat, my vinyl? If I have to spend $5-8k on a DAC what would happen if I spent that much on a better cart? Realistically is the vinyl always going to be ahead?
Triangle Art Concerto with upgraded platter
Triangle Art speed controller
Reed 2A tonearm
Triangle Art Zeus cart
Chinese all-tube phono stage
Hashimoto SUT
This setup was a very large upgrade again. It's greatly superior to my digital system which composes of the following:
Custom audio PC (linear PSU, isolated SSD, battery-powered Paul Pang V3 USB card)
Yggdrasil Analog 2 DAC
Yaqin B-2T and sometimes a Freya as preamps
Before the Yggdrasil I had tried various DACs. The vinyl system was so much better than the digital I had to figure out if digital was worth continuing to perusing for serious listening. The main difference was dynamics: the vinyl setup produced greatly superior lifelike dynamic swings. It's very pleasing. The only area the digital was superior in was bass definition. When I added the Yggdrasil the gap finally closed, but only partially. The digital is closer but is still clearly beaten by the vinyl. Additionally I'm sure the cheap Chinese phono is holding it back. How much more do I have to spend to get digital up to par, let alone beat, my vinyl? If I have to spend $5-8k on a DAC what would happen if I spent that much on a better cart? Realistically is the vinyl always going to be ahead?