Turntable or go into SACD, Simon Yorke vs EMM Lab

Dear Dgad, This is just my take on your question and maybe I am wrong but here goes; I would buy a great SACD player that can double as a top notch CD player. If the SACD format takes a dump AKA Sony Beta , you still have a great CD player that plays SACD. My guess is that your curiosity with SACD will not be satisfied until you do it. I know because I just went through the same thing and ended up buying a Marantz SA-1 here . I would love to give you my take on SACD but I have only been able to hear it with headphones and using my home theater speakers. It will be weeks before I can tell you how good it is in my reference setup. Do not sweat this decision too much. Your stuff is at the top of the heap and I see the analog upgrade as just a lateral move that will not answer the question you really have; Is SACD worth the cost of admission. So far in my setup the answer is ...... I hope this helped

Thanks to everyone for the input. I am still kind of lost. I heard the EMM Labs and was amazed at the sound. Tremendous detail & resolution. I also think the Simon Yorke can offer the same. I find a lot of records I am looking for & I find a lot of SACDs I am looking for. Personally, SACD is easier to find new, while records tend to be more difficult. There is something romantic to records. Just to give you all the remainder of my system. I am posting it shortly.

I truely find it interesting you have posted this thread in analog rather than digital. If I read between the lines on this one it will tell us which way you are leaning.You allready have a very nice analog system. I don`t think it`s our place to tell you which to purchase but I will offer my opinion which format is better that`s analog. It truely amazes me what can pull out of 100 year technology coupled with some of the new hardware that out you can`t go wrong.
You are very right digital is easy but is that what you are after? Or is it the best sound reproduction? I have alway`s lusted over the Simon Yorke so you know which way I would go.
In your last post you stated the EMM Labs could offer the detail and resolusion as the Simon Yorke. I feel the Simon Yorke would surpass that with your Urushi and the right phono stage. David

I have a friend who's heard both the EMM Labs and two TT's in another guy's system. The TT's were his fully modded LP12 and the system owner's Teres 265. To his ears they both beat the Meitner pretty easily. I suppose a SY table would do the same, and your Hyperspace too for that matter.

I have no idea what that's worth to you. I'm not even sure how we can help you make this decision. As Cylinderking 1 said, it really depends on:
- what you're after in music reproduction,
- how much time and effort you're willing or able to spend to get it and,
- which format has more music that you like.

World class analog still beats world class digital, but that doesn't necessarily make it right for you. It's right for me, but you knew that when you asked on this forum!

For now, if I were you I would stand pat -- just buy more records and CDs. I am one of those who went from an SACD player (Sony SCD-1) back to a good CD player (Naim CDS3). The top CD players sound quite good and I have not found an SACD player that did a really good job with CDs. I am also quite disappointed with the limited availability of music worth buying in SACD. On top of all of this, it is not at all clear which, if any of the two currently competing "high definition" formats will gain widespread acceptance.

I am not sure you would get a big boost from going from your current table to the Yorke. It will be a gamble since there is no practical way to audition tables fairly, short of taking the table home and mounting your arm on it.

What improvements are you looking for in your digital or analogue sources? I note that you consider CDs on the Audio Aero Capitole II merely OK. I like your CD player (great clarity and utterly free of grain), but I would expect it to sound quite different from your vinyl setup (not as rich and warm and less pronounced in midbass region). You could try cheap tweaking of the player. I know someone who bypassed the cone feet of the player to get more weight into the midbass.

Good luck, it sounds line you already have a very nice system.