Turntable Vs CD player

[rajeshmehendiratta]

This is the time when there is shift of technology and we are going back to vinyl. The major challenge is to get good vinyl particularly of we look for Indian classical and other devotional stuff where availability is almost nil. We do not see any visibility in near future. So please suggest what will be best option today of we have to upgrade our source. different options are there like

CD player with inbuilt DAC
Turntable
Online streaming of music with services like Tidal etc.

It is very confusing with so fast upgrade of technology. In may last 25 years I have seen vinyl dying, cassette dying now CDs and rebirth of Vinyls.

Can forum suggest with their opinions of the same which can help me tacking decision.

One thing in mind will operating vinyl will be cost effective like cost of vinyl, cost of cartridge etc.

Please share experience.

Regards
Rajesh

 

[tuff]

Depends. If you have wide collection of Vinyl records, a turntable is a good thing. If you have wads of money to buy vinyl, a turntable is a good thing.
If you starting off with limited budget, stay away from both CD's and Turntable's.CD's are getting rare too as everything is moving to online streaming. Blow your money on better equipment, especially a DAC, or look at streamers.

 

[rajeshmehendiratta]

Thanks for your input. Can you suggest good quality DAC? There also we have quite a lot like oversampling and Non Oversampling DAC.

Any good DAC option?

Regards

 

[tuff]

What gear do you have currently. DAC's can be cheap or expensive. a target price bracket would help.

 

[rajeshmehendiratta]

I have tube amps Cayin MT35, Jolida 1701 and Lyrita 2a3 Marantz CD player Dali Ikon 6 Cadence Arita and Lyrita HArmony one
Basically 3setups Budget for DAC can be somewhere around 50K

 

[soundbuff]

IMHO, whichever is you best set up (i.e. amp and speaker), keep it, get rid of the rest, yes one has to choose. Buy the best digital source you can lay your hands on. A high quality CD player will also function as a DAC. Then forget about audio and listen to music.
After having messed around with vinyl for decades, and for that matter with tubes, I have settled down with a good digital set up feeding a powerful solid state amp driving a medium sensitivity two way floor-stander. Over the long term 'audio satisfaction' or contentment is a compromise between practicality and quality. Vinyl at its best is excellent indeed, but its a hassle and the time spent on 'getting it' right eats into your music listening.

 

[Gerry_the_Merry]

Digital is getting cheaper by the day. I would guess that at any serious price point a digital rig will win over analog. Would not have been true 3 years ago. But the quality of recent CD players is astounding.

 

[rajeshmehendiratta]

IMHO, whichever is you best set up (i.e. amp and speaker), keep it, get rid of the rest, yes one has to choose. Buy the best digital source you can lay your hands on. A high quality CD player will also function as a DAC. Then forget about audio and listen to music.
After having messed around with vinyl for decades, and for that matter with tubes, I have settled down with a good digital set up feeding a powerful solid state amp driving a medium sensitivity two way floor-stander. Over the long term 'audio satisfaction' or contentment is a compromise between practicality and quality. Vinyl at its best is excellent indeed, but its a hassle and the time spent on 'getting it' right eats into your music listening.

Can you suggest a good solid state amp and CD player? How do you rate Creek brand

 

[Sushant Sharma]

While I realise what your query here is but on a connected but maybe slightly off topic angle, I feel having a digital and a vinyl source could be a way too.
I do hear folks saying "do one thing and do it well" and I don't disagree with that train of thought. But if you aren't chasing the golden sound all of the time (and most of us are guilty of doing it at times or all of the times), I feel having a tangible medium (bla bla) does bring pleasure to the whole experience.
One thing to do could be to keep a limited collection of vinyl since it is a bit of investment and also finding records of your choice at a price thats not nuts is a task.
But it is nice to switch between different mediums depending on what you feel like listening to at a particular point in time.
And while I do know the tribulations having two sources that are mediocre vis a vis having one kick ass one brings but some days it feels nice.
Just felt like chiming in.

 

[newlash09]

In my humble opinion streaming is cheap. And is getting better by the minute. So that rules out a CD player.

But a turn table is a different kettle of fish and needs a lot of physical involvement. If you already have a suitable vinyl collection go this way.

Otherwise my idea would be neither CD nor Vinyl go streaming.

 

[raghupb]

Many folks have moved away from physical media (record, tapes, CD).
Digital and online music content is becoming ubiquitous.
Content availability and quality matters.
If you don't see yourself collecting titles in the future, settle for a good digital/streaming rig.

Choose your price point wisely and be done with it.
Chase content not equipment.

Cheers,
Raghu

 

[Deleted member 38504]

Streaming whether from your local NAS or the Internet, is today my main source of music. Very convenient. That said, I have close to a 1000 lps and about 3-400 cds. But ever since I got the NAS and streamer, I hardly use the TT or CD player.

 

[JayaRaa]

A lot depends on how involved you are with your music and what is the format of your music collection. If convenience is your priority then streaming is the way to go, but the trade off will be there. If you are willing to accept this fact then your search starts for a good streamer.

 

[soundbuff]

On your request for an amplifier suggestion: I have actually gone out on quite a limb on this and am running a high power Chinese amplifier (Xindak A600E) which is biased up to 60 watts in Class A. It is enormously heavy and gigantic, but it replaced a lovely little tube amp and so far with no regrets. On amplifiers in fact, my view after having lived over an extended period with low powered tubes ( (Leben, Lyrita) as well as SS amps (Cyrus One, original Audio Analogue Puccini , Marantz PM80) is that there is ultimately no substitute for power. I would probably never again buy anything less with than 100 watts on the tap. However, if 'Chinese' is not attractive, I would suggest the entry level Symphonic Line RG 14, which I have heard extensively. At a similar level of performance and price (but different taste) is the Line magnetic 100 watt PP amp. All these I have heard extensively and only then am I suggesting them.
On CD players however, I am woefully outdated, for my five year old tube output Ayon CD player is equalled if not bettered by DACs that cost 50K. In fact I would welcome suggestions for those who are more up to date. I too will eventually need to change my digital source, and am not too sure which way to go CD or digital streaming?
Thanks

 

[saketgyani]

I'm new to this community and don't really consider myself to be audiophile but here's my opinion nonetheless. By no means an answer to the question in this thread, just an opinion.

You have experienced music on records, cassetes, CDs, and on the cloud. This, I guess is the most number of sources to experience one art form.
I'm a 30 year old cinematographer and I think I was born a decade too late to miss out on shooting on motion picture film stock. So I try to get similar experience shooting stills on film.
Always listened to cassettes while growing up but still remember the sound of music from my rich neighbour's record player and will buy one soon.
I feel it is good that analogue is bouncing back in a way. Records and film (not motion picture film though) and we are extremely lucky to be able to choose our format.
In my opinion; if you can, get a turn table. Buy records of the artists you hold dear. Stream music when you want to discover new artists and show your love to the artists you like by listening to their records.
I think it is a glorious time to listen to music as there are so many options so it's best to have all sources of music if you can afford to.
Cheers!