2. analog
  3. 194290-5063

How much do I need to spend to make vinyl sound better than digital?

All,

I have a solid vinyl setup that I like to think of as entry-level “plus:” Project Debut Pro with Sumiko Moonstone cartridge.  I enjoy vinyl for the ritual but find that my digital gear - a $400 ifi streamer and the AKM DAC built into my Anthem preamp - beats the analog rig in most ways.  Far better imaging/soundstage and much tighter bass without the occasional distortion/sibilance/warbling of the vinyl rig.  I haven’t messed with cartridge setup other than to check the factory-performed alignment, which looks perfect.  The table is perfectly balanced, counterweight set correctly with an electronic scale, etc - so I have no reason to think there’s a setup problem.  
 

Is this par for the course for this level of vinyl gear?  What do I need to spend to get my vinyl gear to match the performance of decent digital?  I’m thinking of upgrading to a Clearaudio Concept, perhaps with a Hana SL cartridge, but I want to make sure doing that is going to deliver a fundamentally different experience than what I have right now with the Project/Sumiko combination.

 

No interest in flame wars or rehashing the vinyl/digital debate.  I know vinyl can sound wonderful and am simply trying to decide whether I can afford the price of entry for a system that can gets the basics right (no audible distortion/sibilance, decent imaging).  I thought the Project/Sumiko would have gotten me there, but for whatever reason it hasn’t fit the bill.Thanks for any insights. 

lousyreeds1
rick_n's avatar
rick_n
305 posts
 

I think that @tablejockey is giving some good council.  Let's say you decide to pull the trigger and upgrade your table & cartridge.  Surely you would want an external phono preamp.  Why not add the phono pre now and see if it gets your system closer to where you want to be?  If that doesn't get it done, then you have a phono pre to upgrade your table around.  There's tons of great phono pre's out there with all kinds of different sound signatures.  Good luck and cheers.  

gano
356 posts
 

buy a set of cheap speakers. 

hook it up to your digital chain.

you are done. 

jpan
148 posts
 

The issues you describe sound like it could be a less-than-optimized set-up.

My guess is that if you haven’t spent the time to fine-tune your table set up, then that’s where I’d start. Now, perhaps your particular model doesn’t allow for much fine-tuning, which would be a related issue. Nevertheless, if your cartridge isn’t perfectly aligned and sorted out together with your arm and table, then you’re not hearing what your rig is capable of.

I’d start there.

You’ll learn more about how it all fits and works together. There are various tools that can aid you. Do all that before investing in a new anything. Then, from there make a call.

Vinyl is an incredible medium but it takes work to optimize it.

mulveling's avatar
mulveling
2,161 posts
 

These results are inevitably some combination of: 

  • You might simply prefer the tyically "clean" sound of digital
  • The kind of music material you enjoy has generally good mastering quality on digital; at level with or better than the vinyl alternatives
    • I enjoy a lot of 60 - 80s pop & rock - and this material fares much better on vinyl, IMO (on average)
    • Some of the 1990s+ Redbook CDs I have from Japan sound just as good as vinyl
  • Poor isolation. A good headphone setup can reveal if that’s the problem or not!
  • Your analog rig might not be that great. It could be one weak link in the chain, multiple pieces, or a bad match between anything. That said, if the above factors don’t swing you to vinyl, then there’s little point in spending gobs of time & money to improve your vinyl chain. 
bigtwin's avatar
bigtwin
1,330 posts
 

And yet another opportunity for one of my favorites:

 

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