Help my analog sound as good as my streaming


Hi all - total newcomer here, really enjoying the forum and looking for some advice.

Relevant details: Pro-ject Debut Carbon EVO w/ stock Sumiko Rainer cartridge, into a Hegel H95 via a Parasound Zphono XRM. It sounds great-ish, but doesn’t blow me away like Qobuz via Bluesound Node 2i into the Hegel DAC. I’ll acknowledge that this entire system has a lot of room to improve in the eyes of many here - while I suppose I’ll eventually want to upgrade, I am absolutely thrilled with the streaming sound for now. 
Question: is the cartridge the weak link here, or am I expecting too much out of the PDC EVO? If the former, does the Ortofon Bronze seem a good option?

Many thanks for any suggestions/thoughts!
coys21

Showing 1 response by mapman

Get a better cartridge. I am a DENON DL103r fan. I think that would work well on that table with that arm. A Higher mass tone arm is best. Also it’s a MC cart so might need a step up transformer depending on phono preamp used.
Like Mike said, getting vinyl right is not easy and can be costly. Unless you already have a large record library to play I would stick with streaming. Or if you must attempt to get the most out of vinyl, loosen up that bank account and have at it. But I’d steer clear of current record releases. Many are digitally mastered the same as what’s streamed then put on vinyl for a nice product to buy and hold that may also be warped, have surface noise, off center grooves and all the rest that makes records special. Then play the record only once and convert it back to digital for safe keeping and easy access from anywhere.  Or just stream the same darn thing to start with.  
I’m only half joking......