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 inna

Well, if we could always listen to master tape dubs we wouldn't listen to either vinyl or digital. Both are consumer grade not pro grade formats.
Digital cannot, at least at present, capture the emotional content of music. You have to 'imagine' it with digital, with analogue you don't have to. That said, compressed analogue recordings are no fun, but still better overall than digital. 
Sadly, I too listen to more digital on youtube through headphones than vinyl and Nak tape deck through speakers because there is so much new to me music over there.
Mint good pressing vinyl can be very quiet, no ticks and pops. Most of my favourite records do have some noise, though. Also depends on your table set-up and how well the records are cleaned.