Would you still pay $10k or more for a turntable not full analog front end these days ?


Or you would rather pay that for a streamer ?

 

inna

It depends on how many records you really need. $30 on average is very reasonable for excellent pressings if you are selective enough. I need hundreds not thousands and I can tolerate not being able to get them all at once. I have 99 cents records and $50-$100 records, the average is in fact about $25-$30. Best NOS power output tubes are expensive, that’s the problem for me. Great $300 NOS small signal tubes are not inexpensive but considering how long they last, that’s not much really.

There again, in the late 1980’s when I was buying CDs they were $25CDN, which an inflation calculator tells me would be $56CDN today, so used vinyl seems a but more of a bargain!

@dogberry CD sales have fallen off a cliff — down 96% from the peak in 2000 — and are down to where they were in the late 80s. Most new CDs still seem to be in the $13-$17 USD range so pretty inflation resistant, and I can easily find used CDs in good condition on Amazon for well under $10 including delivery (not that I even buy CDs much anymore), and they’ll only become more available as more people switch to streaming. So it’s actually a pretty good time if you still buy CDs.

My streaming rig (streamer and DAC and interconnect) is modest (by this channel's standards) at ~$6k. My analog (tt/pre/arms/cartridges) is slight higher. 

On my system, analog sounds significantly better for most recordings (old jazz and R&B). Fwiw, my cd player is also $6k and doesn't sound as good either.

That said, as several others have noted streaming kills analog it in convenience.

So for practical reasons I would turn the question on its head. Assuming, I am still talking about music created wit analog mastering, how much will I need to spend upgrading the digital side to not be able to tell the difference. 

Analog is more reliable and convenient, everything is right there, and with streaming you got nothing, something comes from somewhere, maybe, if you are lucky. Upgrade analog, you spent enough on digital already.

As to the question from the OP I would, actually did recently. Reading on WBF it seems the best digital streaming Wadix will run you up to 140 K and according to ML it can get you almost as good as your analog. 

Having pretty much all the music I can see myself enjoying I'll pass. Without my collection maybe do digital, maybe not. I want get as close to sublime as possible. That's where my pleasure lies for the most part.