How can we settle for digital?

Actually honestless, it's approaching 50 years.

And I believe you can play an album more than once a day.

Now go play in your sandbox.

Now go play in your sandbox.

Tut tut boys....don't argue over your toys. It is getting dark and time to go home. Analog and Digital can both be excellent but on any particular track either one or the other will be preferred - sometimes digital is best - sometimes Analog. Surely that is why people have both? Why bother with digital at all if it so inferior...send me your turd polishing CDP's (those at $3000+) and I'll promise to recycle them ecologically for no charge...

I'd like to address a point made by Bogartgl...namely, the EMM CDSA SE. I had the CDSA non-SE version only briefly, and thought it was good--in fact, better than anything I'd heard in that price range, and better than the Linn CD12 (against which I A-B'ed the EMM). But mostly I still liked my turntable better (where I could compare directly). Then the SE mod came out, and I left my EMM up at the dealer for quite a while for installation, during which time I was doing a lot of business travel, and enjoying my LP12/Koetsu/EAR 834P.

EMM had assured me that the SE upgrade would have only minimal effect on the sound. But I was stunned, and the dealer was stunned, by the difference, as was at least one other audiophile friend who heard the SE version. And in this, I agree with Bogartgl--The EMM CDSA SE really gives vinyl a run for the money...I believe more so than the 2 box EMM unit, frankly. It really is quite something, and I heartily recommend trying to take a listen. Ain't cheap, but it's not the most expensive SACD/CD player either. (And its virtues are clear on SACD or CD.)

And, to echo Fytunes (and my own earlier post, I guess), the Linn Klimax DS really gives the CDSA SE a run for its money...and very probably more so, the more I listen (except on SACD).

Based upon listening to both of these pieces of gear--the EMM CDSA SE and the Linn Klimax DS, I came to revise my view of digital. I think it can give analog a run for its money. I didn't think that 6 months ago. And, even still, I've got to say that, with the right Lp, my Linn LP12/Koetsu Black/EAR 834P (which is a really nice batch of analog gear, but is hardly the end-all, be-all in that department) will reproduce certain recordings in a way that I can't get out of digital. Period. So far.

If you've given up on digital, or are thinking about it, these two pieces of gear will at least surprise you. There may be a few other new-technology units that would do the same (such as the one mentioned by Dcstep), but I haven't heard them. But the point is, for those of us that keep thinking digital is just never going to make it (and I became one of those), there are still surprises in store, it appears. I'm certainly revising my view.

I have not heard the EMM Labs CDSA SE, and I would love to. The only CDP that I have heard that I thought came anywhere close to my TT was the Lector cdp7 mkII. I thought about getting one, as it was certainly better than my Meridian 507, but I'd rather spend the 5 grand on a new phono stage! In the end, I would have better sound, even though all the music I have on CD only would suffer. So what. Being an audiophile is never having to say I made a compromise.

So I am getting an Art Audio Vinyl Reference instead of the Lector, and I will bite the bullet on the CD issue, but in the end what I will get will blow away any CDP, IMO. (of course I want both, but I do not have 10 grand to spend)

QUESTION FOR AUDIOFEIL: which new EMM or Esoteric model do you like for 6 grand or under? Despite our differences, you really do come out on the right side of most debates (even though you are a dealer) :)