Will a $700 turntable outperform a CD player?

Buying a TT today is justified either as a lifestyle choice (should I squeeze "hipster" somewhere here?) or by a large collection of good old analogue vinyl that you already own. And by analogue vinyl I mean albums that were recorded and produced properly i.e. in analogue domain. An original or a truly good pressing often may cost you an arm and a leg. Now, if you are going to collect recent shiny issues to play on your new TT, just forget about outperforming a good digital source. Simply because this "analogue" record is a conversion of a digital studio recording. The proverbial "human hearing" here is nothing but a myth: you are listening to a digital file in a form of a vinyl. Also a TT is a major money pit, buying it is just a beginning, and for most the very nature of a TT will lead to tinkering and upgrades. On the other hand DACs have progressed tremendously in the last 5-6 years. I had several DACs in the last 20 years - Trivista, Reimyo, Naim and some other names I don’t even remember. Now I have Innuos ZEN mk3 + Aqua La Voce S3 as my main source and this modern R2R ladder DAC just trounced everything I had before and made me completely forget about a TT. It doesn’t have a trace of digital nasties that plagued older DACs. And it is modular, so it can be upgraded in the future. The only downside it is not cheap. But the difference between a £1000 DAC and a £3500 DAC is huge in terms of "human hearing". And a good proper TT setup can easily cost you even more. I expect DACs and digital file sources to progress even more in the next years, whereas with a TT you are stuck. The only way to progress here is to pay insane money for top cartridges etc.

In my experience, a $700 turntable, if well sorted, or well set up, will equal or out perform, the best that digital can do or has done so far. 

So I gather you have the experience of listening to the best digital DACs in your home setup...  Wow. I am just curious what was the very best digital transport/DAC you have auditioned in your own setup? 

The fact that this discussion is ongoing for such a long time means that actually the outcome it is not so obvious. :)

Imagine no limits in money and imagine 2 scales beside each other...One with a series if digital tech in price ascending order, and another one with TT in ascending order  of price and tech also....

Which one is the better someone will ask?

It depend of wich one we pick in the 2 scales of ascending order of price and technology to cdompare to...

Those who know the ultimate asnwer are not here on this thread and if they are they are single individual, able to afford the costly test, and nobody will trust them anyway for the result except if listening by himself...

 :)

I picked up a SL1200 MK2 a few months ago for about $500.  I have way more than $700 into it now, probably close to $2K.  It came with the KAB RCA jack upgrade and had no dust cover.  I bought a new dust cover for it and have since added the KAB fluid damper and put a Funk Achromat on it and replaced the feet with MNPCTECH feet.  And then of course (at least with the RCA jack upgrade) you have cables and most importantly, the cartridge.  And since I have a few cartridges, those need headshells, and then I need something to put the headshells in... 

Up next, I just got some Fo.Q tape which I plan to use on the tonearm.

After doing all those things, it rivals the sound of my VPI Classic 2 with a Kiseki Blue NS cartridge and both sound better than my Marantz KI Pearl SACD player, which is no slouch and when new retailed for $3000.

And then there's my $2000 TEAC NT-505 streamer, which is probably my best sounding component, a very "analog" sounding digital device.  However, it doesn't quite have the "magic" that's in the grooves of some of the better pressings I own.

In short, $700 for a turntable all in probably isn't going to rival a good CD player, although it might sound as good or better than a $700 CD player.

If you start with that $600 platform and are willing to chip away at upgrading it, then you can achieve great results.  Of course you could just spend more and start with a better table and get similar results.  It's been a lot of fun for me to tweak away on the Technics and take it to a point where it rivals a much more expensive table, but that's not for everyone. 

Most of the budget belt drive turntables are not going to respond to upgrades as well as the SL1200 MK2, due mainly to it's solid build and isolation.  If you don't start out with a good foundation, you're wasting money on upgrades.