Vinyl vs. top-notch digital


I have never had an analogy rig. My CD player is a Meridian 800, supposedly one of the very best digital players out there. From what I've read, it appears there is a consensus in our community that a high-quality analog rig playing a good pressing will beat a top notch digital system playing a well-recorded and mastered CD. So here are my questions:

1) How much would one have to invest in analog to easily top the sound quality of the Meridian 800 (or similar quality digital player)? (Include in this the cost of a phono-capable preamp; my "preamp" right now is a Meridian 861 digital surround processor.)

2) How variable is the quality of LPs? Are even "bad" LPs still better than CD counterparts?

Thank you for any comments and guidance you can provide.
jeff_arrington

Showing 1 response by albertporter

You're going to get answers all over the place.

Basically, if you're happy with digital and never owned analog, you are not likely to be prepared for all the work involved to make LP playback enjoyable.

Musical enjoyment is basically a trade off between quality listening time and the amount of work required to reach that level. Factor in cost of the music and you get an idea of what's worth what.

If your taste dictates that you build a library of Jazz, classical and rock that's mostly older music then LP might be just the ticket. If you listen to mostly new music, it's all on digital with some exceptions pressed to LP.

Me, I'm an LP guy, don't enjoy digital but accept the fact that I must own a digital playback rig because a lot of music is only available that way. That's true for analog too, plus it's (in my opinion) a more musical and natural presentation.

You must decide how much of your favorite music is on each format and if the money and effort spent is worthwhile in terms of enjoyment and access to content.