Will a $700 turntable outperform a CD player?

@chakster 
As a retiree that's a little insulting. But in my case it's also true. I am a candidate for knee replacement and I have no desire to sit through several songs I don't want to hear to get to the song I do want to hear. With CDs I can touch a button on a remote. Problem solved. If there was an option for me that meant I didn't have to get up constantly I would buy a turntable. But that brings me to another problem brought up bt paulburnett.

@paulburnett

I go to thrift stores to look for CDs and like you said they are there cheap. Some stores have incredible selections of classical recordings which is what I am mostly looking for. When I look over at the LPs there's always at least one person perusing through the bin. Those people know what they are doing and it's very unlikely they are going to leave any gold nuggets behind. The alternative is to pay exorbitant prices for LPs at specialty shops or eBay. Not going to happen on a fixed income, at least not for me.

@mahgister...By acoustical embeddings do you mean room treatment? If so, I'd be interested to know what you do. I feel like I should explore this before spending money to change components.

I'm not going to make the argument that CDs can compare in sound quality to vinyl. But let's not forget the importance of the engineer's dedication to sound quality. Some labels sound great. While others suck. Every jazz CD I have on Bluenote is of very high SQ. Most of Leonard Cohen's recordings on Columbia are superb. While some other artists I have on Columbia are of mediocre quality. There should be industry standards but it seems many labels don't care about the group of people who actually care about sound quality. 

@chakster 

People have tried to convince me to try streaming. Again, the convenience issue comes up. I don't know how it works. Do you access a complete album and have the ability to skip songs you might not care for, or do you seek particular songs? I have hundreds of CDs that I can see, hold, and make a choice. I can skip songs without having to get up. I know this betrays my ignorance of streaming, but unless someone can explain to me how streaming is as convenient as CDs I see no reason to make a change. If someone can explain why, at 66 years of age with a bad knee I should make the change to streaming, please do it. I'll be looking for advice on streamers. I'm not married to my CDs.

@guy-incognito

Thank you. You have convinced me that I need to look into it. I was in an audio shop in Richmond, VA where the manager was talking about streaming. I'll see what they recommend. I understand that some services have better SQ than others. Any suggestions?

@geof
If that's the case then maybe I could find the recording of Menuhin and Oistrack playing Bach's Concerto for Two Violins. There's a Youtube video but I've never been able to find the CD.