audio aero capitole- how good vs analog?

I do not have the Capitole and have listened to it but once (though I was impressed when I did), so I cannot contribute much there. On the other hand, there are loads of threads in the archives which address the relative merits of the Capitole. Is the AAC better than similary-priced analog? That inevitably leads to trouble (and there are loads of those types of threads in the archives too). Whether or not the AAC will be better for you than a similarly-priced analog setup may depend on your listening priorities. It seems from your other posts that you listen mostly to classical music. If you give more guidance as to what floats your boat, people may be able to give more precise commentary.

If you are looking to make a decision about whether to get one OR the other, I would say that it would depend on the music that you already have or the music you want to get from here on.

FWIW, I think most people who own both the AA Capitole and a similarly-priced analog setup are going to say they like both, which is why they spent so much money on each. I imagine that most who have both do NOT buy the same music on both and then choose to listen to their collection on one source more often than the other; instead they play different music on each source (some is much more readily available on one of the two formats) and rejoice in the fact that music sounds good on both.

Hi Samuel, I too would like to have my digital rig sounding like vinyl (velvety smooth sounding and airy treble, fleshed out midrange, full midbass). There are recordings that sound like that. But it is in the recording! Most digital remasters and newer recordings (DDD of course) don't sound like vinyl and will never sound like vinyl. In case of digital remasters, some engineers are not paying enough attention to the final results: for them it is only a routine job and they don't want any hassle. So the CD sound sucks and there is none who can do anything about it. If there is some digital gear that always sound like vinyl, then something must be wrong or the manufacturer has applied some technical trick to get this sound. The better the digital gear, the more transparent and true to the source (CD or SACD) it is and that doesn't necessary mean that you get a more vinyl like sound.

The Capitole is a mid to high level player, far from state of the art. For a comparably priced analog system, if matched correctly, I would expect the Capitole to be the clear runner up.

T-bone nailed it, this subject has been beaten to death, there are analog
lovers and digital fans. They both have benefits and limitations anyone not
willing to admit that has some vested interest in one format or another. I will
add that we have seen the rise of analog its been tweaked and more or less
perfected(as perfect as it can be) it has been around for roughly 100 years,
the ceiling has been reached, chances of an analog break through that will
ever trickle down to a price less then that of a new BMW are slim to none.
Digital is a young pup in comparison, with HUGE improvement over its short
(25 or so year) life, and will continue to get better at a rapid rate as
technology gets better. Will the answer be SACD, DVDa, redbook??? I doubt it,
probably something that doesn't exist yet, but will with in 10 years. As
information storage becomes cheaper, smaller and more reliable someone
will fill the cracks in and have the universal format. It will be cheaper and
better then anything currently available, just the way its going to be. Now
only if we can get better engineer's in the studio's!

As for the audio aero Capitole, I owned a cap mkII when they first came out
and while its a great cd player in its own right, it can't compete with newer
comparably priced units(in particular those available from modifiers like
modwright, exemplar, apl, etc...). That was less then 5 years ago, and now it
can't compete - IMO - that's how fast digital is changing.

The ritual,

Yeah that's right and I'm as bad as any. Vinyl still trounces the very best of digital, and that's that. But wait, the ritual, which is a genuine pain in the wazoo.

Those that know vinyl know the ritual, first ya gotta scrub, then vacuum, then rinse, then vacuum again.

I have 2 Monks units so I can do records in half time or twice as many in the same time is more accurate.

If you don't clean your records, you don't get the full glory and noise free sound vinyl is capable of.

So ----- one also has to evaluate the hassle, mess, time, and storage of a larger software medium. For me vinyl is the way it's got to be. However it may not be for you.

I also began collecting vinyl before the digital age, as in even the first computer was toobs. So I have a large collection. Currently I am dropping as many as I can to CD's via a HHB 830 Burnit Pro+ CD burner. That way I have ----- dare I say it, hassle free, portable vinyl.

so choose wisely, if you don't have a vinyl collection I suggest you may wish to avoid it all together.

das es un crazed audiophool,

loon