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Prices of CD vs. record players

People seem to agree that the quality of the music obtained from vinyls is far superior to the level that is reached with (red-book) CDs. Of course this depends also on the player, and for instance a very expensive CD player will give better results than a very cheap turntable. I wanted to know at which budget level record players are better sources than cd players.

I have a CD player NAD C541i (its value is about 350 USD), that I plan to upgrade with an external DAC that costs about 1000 USD (e.g., Benchmark DAC1 - I have not decided yet). How much should I invest in turntable + tonearm + cartridge + phone stage to have a sound that definitely overcomes the quality of what I could obtain from my NAD CD player + external DAC?
sbabu

Showing 1 response by arafel

arafel
32 posts
 
Having heard the Benchmark DAC, I would say that 1500 for a VPI Scout table would beat it. For a cart, something like a Dynavector would work nicely, and the ASL Tube mini phono stage. Total cost $2200. However, I think even the Music Hall MMF7 could compete nicely with the CD setup you want, and that with the ASL would be about $1350.

Good luck!
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