Will a $700 turntable outperform a CD player?


I’m looking into getting a second source as I don’t want to be tied down to internet and a streaming service as my only source.  Will a $700 turntable and inexpensive phono preamp out perform a Cambridge CXC transport / Schiit Gungir Multibit?  
The Schiit Sol / mani preamp look enticing but I know nothing about turntables.

I used to dj and always used technics Sl1200’s and really liked them.  I can pick up a nice SL1200 mk3 used for $600...

I figure that before I start spending hundreds, possibly thousands, on cd’s or vinyl, I should be sure which format I want!

Thanks for any advice / input regarding this 😁

Best Regards,
Bruce
b_limo

Showing 1 response by fleschler

Yes, an inexpensive, well built turntable can outperform many CD players (especially the 40 or 50 I tried from it's inception to 2005).  I have found that modern CD players, and; in particular, recent DACs with separate transports with well mastered CDs will sound superior to an inexpensive turntable.  My reference is a souped up VPI TNT VI/modified SME IV/Benz Ruby3 versus an EAR Acute and COS Engineering D2 DAC.  Now I have leveled the playing field and I get tremendous pleasure from my best records and best CDs.  My ratio of great CDs versus great LPs is is higher.  I have many less than spectacular LPs in my 25,000 collection whereas, especially jazz and classical, I have so many finely remastered CDs.  If I were a analog novice, a good old Technics would have been better than my initial setups of a Dual 1209, an Empire,  a Rotel then a Connisseur table with an Audiocraft arm.  To really get into high quality analog, I purchased a VPI 19 (upgraded to a -4) with a moded SME IV arm with a Dynavector Ruby.  That killed CDs in the 1980s and 1990s.  By 2005, my current system made CD listening as good as LP.