Vinyl VS Digital


After 20+ years I broke out my turn table from the 70's again.  I have been mostly listening to CD and streaming music for the last 15 years on higher end gear in a dedicated and treated home theater room.  I also have a dedicated two channel system in the same room.  

All the hype surrounding analog has prompted to me to purchase a dedicated preamp so that I could once again hook up my TT.  I also purchased an Aurlic Aries to compare.  I'm ready to upgrade my old Technics SL 1600 MK2 running a Grace Cartridge.  But I have concerns.  

I could care less about the additional hiss, crackle and Pop thats not in digital.  I think its cool to put on an album and just listen to my 30 year old small collection from when I was a teenager.    

I started doing A/B comparisons by switching between the TT and the Aries (FLAC).  I even bought new vinyl to do so.  The thing keeping me from going "All In" is the imaging.  No matter what I do with (aligning the cartridge), I cannot get the imaging to match that of digital.  Specifically, voice and instrument that stems from center stage with digital cannot be reproduced with the TT as source.  One might say the stage is wider but its too wide to point where definition is lost.  Don't get me wrong it still sounds good but is it right?  Is it my TT or is it in the recording.  Or is this the difference I am suppose to be hearing?


  
ap_wannabe
Your turntable is not the greatest. Have a listen to a good one before deciding. 
Not having a centered image can be caused by phase reversal, which makes everything appear diffused.  Usually, this happens when the speakers are connected incorrectly, but I guess it is possible for this to occur anywhere in the chain.  Check this out again.  Even a cheap tt should provide a centered image.  
Imaging problems, no center stage, very wide and no focus ....  those are symptoms of one channel out of phase.   I would check the cabling.
Perhaps it has been asked and answered before, but is it possible to achieve as good a sound stage/separation of instruments spending $1,000-$1,500 on a turntable/cartridge as it might be spending that amount or less on digital?

Has anyone else heard a sound stage difference between the same recordings at the same volume vinyl versus CD.  It is so pronounced in my system. On digital recordings its as if I had a center speaker playing.  On albums there is no center speaker.