Rega P25, would it sound better than my CDP?

Count me in on the convinved club. I started with 0 (zero) LPs in 2002 - I now have well over 1000

Basically, the only thing Digital has over Vinyl is a wider soundstgae and more resolution to detail. Highhats are more pronounced as well as little tiny nuances that I just dont hear with Vinyl.

Dude you also need to get that Ray Barreto album. Get the virgin vinyl LP and CD versions and then report back. At this time what you're hearing is what I despectively call 'analog' sound. The Benz don't have reputation for being good trackers either. So, you are using a deck that lacks proper speed/rotational stability and a poor tracker. Great combo...

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agent193-Its complicated.

Vinyl is tough to get 100% right. Pressing versions, cleaning, setup, cartridge arm matching..etc etc.

Another issue. What your used to hearing. Poeple over on the speaker and cable forums have long discussions on this. Your USED to hearing bright false edgy highs. Thats a given. Musicians and seriuous concert goers on those other forums argue what real life music is suppose to sound like. They go on forever about things like highs and lows depending on where your sitting in the hall vs how the concert was miked. They say that 90% speakers are waaaay too bright. 99% modern music from 80's on up is waaay to bright and compressed.

The thing is. Only vinyl wil give you the true inner detail of the music. You don't see yourself turning up the Sharpness knob on a tv set. Thats a big no no. False sharpness. Makes the image full of artifacts and edgy. Same thing with audio. You have to remember that the music industry makes their music for cars and boomboxs and MP3 headsets. Radio station playback.

When your asking recomendations on buying Tubeamps vs SS amps, Speakers, Cables, etc you will get advice from very experienced fans on this topic. Some people will buy a Paradigm speaker from one addition thinking how great it sounds on the demo floor. Then after living with it for 6 months they get headaches. You see those people trading up to a more correct speaker. As an example.

The best advice anyone here can give you at this time in your audio carreer is this. Kick back and listen to alot of records. Give it a few months. (I dont even know if your cartridge is broken in yet! When that happens its night and day)
Listen to alot of differant records and clean them well with good cleaner and vacuum. When you get a hang of what vinyl is about you will start to become more aware what your listening too. Your judgement on what our listening to will be better.

Another example: poeple that are used to listening to fat bloaty mushy bass with basic Monster cables. When they upgrade to some real cables they dislike the lean tight accurate bass they are getting. Its when they listen to that for several months then happen to put back those Monster cables are they blown away. They say "yuck! I can't believe I used to listen to that shit!" :)

One last thing about record pressings. Thats a tough one. Not only are you trying to get this down but you have this to worry about. Its tought figuring out weither your particular record is the good version. Or if its in good condition. The recommendation that you listen to alot of differant records will help you in this aspect. Im allways weeding out my collection and have an eye out for something better. I should put stars on the records I know are the best and make some sort of spread sheet to take along shopping with. lol

I hope this more down to earth advice helps some. Good luck!

I agree Seandtaylor99. It depends. That's why I posted an alternative opinion but yes, I should have stated this. New Vinyl? Yeah, depends on what you listen to. Redone classics cost a lot of money but new music, new vinyl is relatively the same as cd. I bought my Shins and Neutral Milk Hotel vinyl for $10 each. If one is gonna spend $2,000 on a new source and it would put one in a hole for a long time with respect to music purchases, then perhaps one shouldn't be spending $2,000 on anything non necessity.

also, after having heard some players, I don't think you're buying much in going from $1K to $2K (that's a subjective judgement - another no right or wrong here).

Agent193, listen carefully to Stylinlp's advice. You can't assess the difference between the 2 media on the basis of a few records played on a cartridge that isn't broken in and possibly improperly set up. I don't know about the others but LZ II is not a great recording and therefore not a good tool for analyzing your system.

Everything you described will change as you change the set up and what it is sitting on. You can't just plunk in a new cartridge and have optimal sound. Does the Rega have adjustable VTA? If it does is it properly set? If not the Benz might not be tracking properly. Are the VTF and azimuth optimized?

The difference in detail and resolution you hear could well be the edginess of digital playback vs. a cartridge that is not broken in and needs to be adjusted.

It takes time, money, and a commitment to learn about set up to get vinyl right. Once you do it is clearly the better of the two. IMO Those who say CD is as good as vinyl have never heard a first class analog rig properly set up.