Upgrade path question. Upgrade analog or turn to digital?


I am running a full analog rig and my beloved cartridge needs service soon (6 months about) so I am wondering if I should sell the analog rig (tt+phono+lps) and rather buy digital source. I am planning to upgrade it later if I am not going digital. 

I am satisfied playing lps, I do it when I can focus on music, but sometimes it`s tempting to have the same quality, just a button away. I can afford either the digital or the analog upgrade and I don`t have the space for both. I am thinking about two scenarios. 

A,
Change the diamond in the Ikeda, rewire the tonearm, change the bearing, add a DS Audio ION-001, max out the VPI Classic 1. It`s sittin on a Shun Mook maple board and heavy sandbox right now, looking for a serious platform north 2000 dollars used or that money goes to the phono upgrade.
Upgrade the phono later, what I save on the digital goes here. I am hoping for a used Aries Cerat, but would be happy with other OTL solutions.

B,
I sell the analog rig and going digital. I was thinking about to buy a streamer north 5K used and either a ESOTERIC D-02X, Aries Cerat Kassandra II, or similar. 

I am planning to upgrade the integrated amp either way, the room treatment almost done.

Or a C version,

Gryphon Diablo 120 with DAC and call it a day.

 

 

 

korakotta

Showing 1 response by audioman58

With digital having over 35 years in it ,you have to spend as much as good analog to beat it very good quality digital cables , roughly in the $1k range ,a very good Ethernet hub the Synergistic research is the best sounding under $2k 

Quality power cords, clean line conditioning ,dedicated line copper outlets ,

and a very good dac such as the Denafrips terminator2 ,or the T+ ,or Holo springs May KTE , the best sounding dacs under $10 k, at 1/2 the cost , imo 

in total around %$12-$15k. To get  very analog sounding digital through streaming ,

equal or better then at $30 k  turntable setup , far better S/N  ratio, distortion much lower blacker backgrounds, much lower bass, a turntable is capable to roughlless then 2/3rds the bits resolution of digital . Digital is capable of 20 true bits ,no more .

Having owned a audio store ,I had many opportunities to compare the last few years digital has gotten much better ,but if you get frugal in even one area you  will hear the. Difference ,if you build a dedicated computer or purchase something from little green computer then you can purchase HQ player dedicate a 2T SS hard drive to i5 and a top 6 core processor and graphics card, memory then the sky is the limit

you can literally Taylor the sound exactly to your liking but it has a learning curve .

i am speaking if you truly want to go all out .