For the first time...

@michaellent 

"it will take 92 years to play 2000 records at two hours a day."

There's hope!!

You might get through all 2,000 albums after all?

DUH….oh I get it now.

@mijostyn I am sure you are close enough :)

@grislybutter , Then I guess I am not a serious analog lover.

@mijostyn 

No serious analog lover has less than a few 100 thousand records. Get real.

@michaellent I assume he was being dry, tho sarcasm is hard to pick up online. You bring up a good point about the sheer number of hours needed to listen. I'm not one to hold on to records or books or media I no longer listen to or read. 

@mijostyn Great question. The Clearaudio is most similar to the projection of digital, but the Hana is more accurate and resolving. 

@mulveling Yes, when I had a Hagerman previously, I rolled the tubes based on recommendations from Brent Jessee. I'll do the same and take your advice, too. Oddly enough, I loaned out the Hagerman to a friend and slotted in an unused Schiit Mani phonostage and I swear the sound is, well, more digital and wide open. Sheesh. 

mijostyn  said

And there folks is the problem. Simao is not an LP collector. In order for LPs to sound better than digital you have to be an LP collector with at least 2000 LPs.

What a ridiculous statement. I have 400 records. I probably listen to about 100 of them on a regular basis. I couldn’t possibly play anymore. I played at least two hours a day every day of the week. I’m retired.

it will take 92 years to play 2000 records at two hours a day.

Bent

You don't need 2,000 LPs to invest in vinyl nor do you need a $100K TT to get really good. But digital is a way better value IMO. 

Yet I have zero regrets with a 1:5 spending ratio on digital vs analogue.

@simao the advice on Tube Rolling from @mulveling is solid, there is a very good experience to be had from experiencing how a swap out of a Valve can influence a end sound being produced.

Running this experience parallel with your interest in vinyl replays will bring dividends.

400 LP's is a nice collection, the chances of playing one daily is unlikely, so there is plenty of choices for a listening session to be listed and getting on with and the odd new addition which is inevitable.

When I listen to Vinyl, I usually select 10 LP's to be used over a few days with my Wife, and as the Selections are played over a few periods, there is always one or two sacrificed for a new choice that is made, could even be a CD is the only Album available of the one desired to be played.

Hmm I have a very good digital setup. It sounds great. My turntable still sounds much better to me. if I had to live with just the digital I would be OK with that, but I definitely prefer the sound of analog. 

Now seriously, which cartridge do you like better. Which one sounds most like your digital?

Honestly your analog chain looks solid. The Trumpet MC is certainly not a weak link, but you can get more sparkle, detail, and clarity by rolling those tubes to anything other than the stock Mullards. Might be worth a shot. The Trumpet MC is definitely on the warm side. Even without delving into NOS, the Russian Tung-Sol 12AX7 will brighten it up a bit. In the 12AU7 slot you might try Philips ECG 6189, which should be cheap and plentiful even if NOS (1980s). 

That said, some people favor analog (for whatever reasons, psychological or hearing-based), and others digital. You might be leaning into the latter camp. I’m decidedly of the former camp - even with all the deficiencies of a Fluance RT85, I still dig listening to that (through a Trumpet MC, incidentally - which is a great match to the lean & slightly bright 2M Blue) over even the Gungnir, Yggdrasil, and even more expensive digital chains.

@tomic601 Yeah, I get pretty anal about cartridge set-up: Fozgometer, Feikert Protractor, USB micro and protractor for VTA, digital VTF. Half the fun is in dialing in as close to perfection as one can get. 

@simao  : I said " You can do whatever you want ".

You ask I only gave my common sense answer and obviously your common sense is " Nah ". Good, go a had with analog.

R.

NAD is the weak link and or your cartridge setup…… tools and precision are required to get the “ rock “… aligned in the groove….

Also, audiophile…know thyself… ditto curator, collector, music nut, java addict…. what really floats your boat ?

Best to you in Music

Jim

@rauliruegas Nah. I still love vinyl to much to give up on it. And though I think/hope @mijostyn is being sarcastic, I doubt I'll ever have 2000 lps. I actively listen to all my vinyl steadily. And there are many jazz lp's I can't find on streaming or CD.

Dear @simao  : Thank's. You can do whatever you want but if I was you I invest any single dime improving the digital alternative.

R.

I have record player,  a 1914 Victor-Victrola console that still works perfectly I never play it though  :  ) I just really like all the convenience of streaming from my smartphone, and nevermind all the new artists that l have discovered from streaming I also own the OPPO BD105 Blu-ray player and l love it I use it to connect my two Subs in my 2 channel stereo rig and use its DSP I also bypass it's internal DAC to an external DAC and also play the occasional SACD and CD's

And there folks is the problem. Simao is not an LP collector. In order for LPs to sound better than digital you have to be an LP collector with at least 2000 LPs.

Seriously, the only reason to be into records is you already have a pile of them and you really love playing them because you have been doing it for 65 years. I am guilty of both. However, a good uncompressed or lightly compressed digital master will trump any analog by a substantial margin. Only a few 45 RPM and D to D come remotely close. Am I going to sell my records? Hell no. I am a music collector.  

Hey @rauliruegas By original? But i have about 400 lps. I really curate my collection and if I haven't listened to an lp in a number of years I sell it. I can always stream it if needed. 

Dear @simao  : How maNY ORIGINAKL lpS DO YOU OWN?

tHANK'S,

r.

I always felt Oppo was highly over rated as a CD player...I’m long time owner of 105 and 103

@simao endless pursuit. Analog and digital will most of the time sound totally different.
Few ways to deal with it -

1. continue upgrading both digital and analog (you will end up doing just that because every upgrade presents a possibility of pushing digital performance beyond analog and analog performance beyond digital)
2. Acknowledge that your analog front end will sound different and at times not as good as digital and leave it at that if you are so attached to your vinyl rig
3. Abandon analog altogether, at least for time being, and focus on digital only, since having both will land you neither here nor there, unless you have unlimited budget and time.

My preference would be option 3. I’m pretty much in the same spot right now.

@solypsa I had a VPI HW-19 Mk.4 before i left the hobby for a while. I know the NAD is a weak link

I can't know what you are hearing for either digital or analog but guessing... It will take a Technics GR or a Lenco or similar and that, as a generalization, is the price of entry. Probably keep the carts you have.

@solypsa meaning...?

$1700 anyways....

Thanks for the replies, everyone. In some ways I feel I'm betraying analog, a medium I'll continue to champion no matter what. But @grislybutter is right in that I would most likely gave to spend another 3-5K to get my analog rig up up to what my digital is now. 

I had the same gob smacking feeling and reaction when I replaced my Halide Designs HD DAC with a Schiit Yggdrasil. Mind-blowingly better, and the effect increased when I replaced using my Mac laptop as a streamer with an Aurender. MUCH better than my vinyl rig ever sounded.

there is no reason why you shouldn't upgrade your analog components for 10 of thousands of dollars. 

@rauliruegas +1: I agree that the limits of what can be gotten out of the LP are here. 100K turntables with 10K cartridges into $35K phono stages are laughable attempts to achieve life-like sonics from a rock dragged through a spiral groove on a rotating plastic disk! 

The LP - and magnetic tape - are inherently flawed. They both depend upon the quality and the material properties of a physical medium. Digital recording and playback transcends the physical by encoding/decoding pure information. Technology advances and the old methods get discarded. Witness aviation’s progress from prop planes to today’s jets. Next is the change in the automotive world from gas engines to electric motors. Film cameras to digital. Analog audio is on the same path of obsolescence. Enjoy what you have now with its limitations because it has a dwindling future!

Dear @simao : " with some recent additions and changes, my digital side sounds much better and I’m uncomfortable with that ""

You don’t have to mbe uncomfortable because for some time now digital already ( everything the same ) outperforms the LP experience.

Almost all anlaog lovers ( I'm an nalog/Music lover. ) do not accept thereality  do.

For the years to come you can be sure that digital technology will continue in constant new developments and improving when LP is just " stand ".

Digital is improving almost everyday just as cel phone or computers and LP just can’t improve, it’s at its limits at least is what is showing.

Regards and enjoy de MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.