I had a similar dilemma, and, like Tireguy, I went digital--for any number of reasons. I've heard some world-class turntables in my life (Rockport, SME Model 30, TNT HR-X), and to say that the Meitner gear (or any digital, for that matter) can't match a great analog rig is selling the Meitner stuff (and digital in general) WAY, WAY short. Personally, I like the Meitner gear better in most respects than any turntable I've personally heard, and as I mentioned above, I've heard some pretty good ones. IMHO the Meitner is the first digital component to truly play on an even ball field with the very best of analog. But to each his/her own. They're just different flavors of the same ice cream.
Meitner DCC2 vs. Analog - Opinions Please
I have been been contemplating the move to analog for a year or two, and have collected about 70-80 discs in preperation. I also have 600 or so CD's and a smattering of CD/SACDS.
I was thinking along the line of VPI HRX (7k or so used), a Shelter 90X cartridge (2.7k), and a phono-stage such as an ARC REF used (4.5k?) or Aesthetix Callisto (4-5k?) and interconnects ($500 or so). I would also need to reconfigure my rack and maybe get longer interconncets for my amps, but lets leave that out for now. That would add up to about 17k or so if I threw in a VPI 16.5.
Now, it seems I can get (new) the Meitner DCC2 and CDSD for the same 17K, less about 8-9k I could free up by selling my ARC REF2 MK2 pre and ARC CD3, for a total outlay of about 8 - 9k. I could also sell one pair of my Audioquest Diamond X3 (might not do this, I really like them) and I would not have to change my rack.
Can anyone comment on how close the Meitner gear might be to a rig such as I described? It seems like upgrading my CD player and adding SACD would be more cost effective than spending all that money to play less than 100 discs.
Also, can anyone comment about the pre-amp section on the DCC2 vs. the ARC ref2mk2?
Thank you all in advance for your thoughts.
Ron
I was thinking along the line of VPI HRX (7k or so used), a Shelter 90X cartridge (2.7k), and a phono-stage such as an ARC REF used (4.5k?) or Aesthetix Callisto (4-5k?) and interconnects ($500 or so). I would also need to reconfigure my rack and maybe get longer interconncets for my amps, but lets leave that out for now. That would add up to about 17k or so if I threw in a VPI 16.5.
Now, it seems I can get (new) the Meitner DCC2 and CDSD for the same 17K, less about 8-9k I could free up by selling my ARC REF2 MK2 pre and ARC CD3, for a total outlay of about 8 - 9k. I could also sell one pair of my Audioquest Diamond X3 (might not do this, I really like them) and I would not have to change my rack.
Can anyone comment on how close the Meitner gear might be to a rig such as I described? It seems like upgrading my CD player and adding SACD would be more cost effective than spending all that money to play less than 100 discs.
Also, can anyone comment about the pre-amp section on the DCC2 vs. the ARC ref2mk2?
Thank you all in advance for your thoughts.
Ron