The Audio Aero Capitole Mk II has been in my system for a few years now. It is a very fine CD player but it is not up to the task of equaling vinyl on a competent turntable/arm/cartridge properly set up. It wouldn't take the Well Tempered in my system, let alone the Versa. But all that said, there is an awful lot of good music that is sadly not availbe on vinyl. So I would say that a good CD player is a must. As is a good FM tuner for that matter - assuming you live near a station that actually puts some effort into broadcasting a good signal that isn't compressed all to hell. I'm lucky to have KPLU close by. And well, if you don't have a good turntable you won't know what your are missing. It's like everything else in this hobby. Until you hear something better than you've ever heard you can't really imagine how something could sound better. Well once you get to a certain level, of course.
That's enough rambling from me.
That's enough rambling from me.