WOW! Pbb sounds like a lover scorned. What will the digital afficienado do when the digital format-de-jour becomes yesterday's news? Will he weep for the format or curse it? Will he continue to tweek the old format with his trusty green pen? Will he place his outdated machine on the latest generation of sandbox foundation or replace the interconnects all in an effort to make is sound "more like analog"? Or will he toss his love (and his thousand CDs) away like an old shoe to get the latest nuclear-powered system that Madison Avenue will, no doubt, once again proudly proclaim to be "the perfect playback system"?
Of course, there are plenty of bad CD recordings just as there are plenty of bad LP recordings. Although, many of my friends have listened to a random LP at my place and are astounded because they have believed the hype that CDs are "perfect" and somehow better than vinyl, yet they are actually hearing otherwise. In fact, CDs almost didn't make it in the marketplace because of poor sound quality when they were first introduced. (They have obviously improved.)
Saying that a "quality CD player" (whatever that is) will better provide the subjective qualities of service, enjoyment and sound quality than "even the best turntable/arm/cartridge combination" is as irresponsible as saying that vinyl is an absolutely superior medium. Both take time and effort to maximize their performance and both can be simultaneously rewarding and frustrating.
For those who are fans of digital playback, Audiogon offers a digital subject forum to debate the multitude of digital formats (warts and all) and which one comes closest to analog. This particular forum (Analog Forum) is for folks who enjoy and want to get the most from analog (warts and all).
To answer the original question posed by David, my experience is that, from an overall sonic perspective, around $3K to $4K (full retail) will get you into an analog rig that will compete with just about anything that digital has to offer, assuming that both are playing reasonably good recordings.
Of course, there are plenty of bad CD recordings just as there are plenty of bad LP recordings. Although, many of my friends have listened to a random LP at my place and are astounded because they have believed the hype that CDs are "perfect" and somehow better than vinyl, yet they are actually hearing otherwise. In fact, CDs almost didn't make it in the marketplace because of poor sound quality when they were first introduced. (They have obviously improved.)
Saying that a "quality CD player" (whatever that is) will better provide the subjective qualities of service, enjoyment and sound quality than "even the best turntable/arm/cartridge combination" is as irresponsible as saying that vinyl is an absolutely superior medium. Both take time and effort to maximize their performance and both can be simultaneously rewarding and frustrating.
For those who are fans of digital playback, Audiogon offers a digital subject forum to debate the multitude of digital formats (warts and all) and which one comes closest to analog. This particular forum (Analog Forum) is for folks who enjoy and want to get the most from analog (warts and all).
To answer the original question posed by David, my experience is that, from an overall sonic perspective, around $3K to $4K (full retail) will get you into an analog rig that will compete with just about anything that digital has to offer, assuming that both are playing reasonably good recordings.