Turntable got absolutely crushed by CD


Long story short, i've just brought home a VPI classic 1 mounted with a Zu-Denon DL103 on JMW Memorial 10.5 with the appropriate heavier counterweight. Had everything dialed in..perfect azimuth, VTF, overhang, with only a slightly higher than perfect VTA. Levelling checked. All good. 

I did a comparison between the VPI and my Esoteric X03SE and it's not even close. The Esoteric completely crushes the VPI in all regards. The level of treble refinement, air, decay, soundstage depth and width, seperation, tonality, overall coherence is just a simply a league above from what I'm hearing from the VPI. The only area the VPI seems to be better at is bass weight, but not by much. 

I'm honestly quite dumbfounded here. I've always believed that analogue should be superior to digital. I know the Esoteric is a much pricier item but the VPI classic is supposed to be a very good turntable and shouldn't be a slouch either. At this point I feel like I should give up on analogue playback and invest further in digital. 

Has anyone had a similar experience comparing the best of digital to a very good analogue setup?

Equipment:
Esoteric X03SE 
VPI Classic, JMW Memorial 10.5, Zu-DL103
Accuphase C200L
Accuphase P600
AR 90 speakers

Test Record/CD:
Sarah McLachlan - Surfacing (Redbook vs MOV 180g reissue)



chadsort

Showing 2 responses by pophaudio

Hi. Guys , im not crazy about streaming or TT gear, but im crazy about accuphase gear . I was advised by audiogoners to buy vault and it was good advice for the money I like it . But about tt I didn’t ask for advice, what I did I just wanted to try on my own, so I bought used vpi scout, from music direct new dynavector xx2 mk2 and ps audio nuwave phono , and here we go, have no clue about set up I got simple tool alignment screw down everything together. And all I can say even junk old lp sounds better than my deeper sound stage and warm and everything , compare to accuphase dp78 . Jaw dropping I never knew that lp can sound that good. I wish someone could help me to build analog gear right way. Because the experiment I did come out well .
Any recommendations for guy like me with no experience in vinyls. Should I just keep what I got now or should I get new equipment? I was going to replace phono preamp to match my accuphase ad2850 or even c37 and maybe I should also go with accuphase cartridge to continue to make it better match those components and what table to this idea . Any way if this idea is good? Or maybe somebody has better idea? Thanks