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Prices of CD vs. record players

People seem to agree that the quality of the music obtained from vinyls is far superior to the level that is reached with (red-book) CDs. Of course this depends also on the player, and for instance a very expensive CD player will give better results than a very cheap turntable. I wanted to know at which budget level record players are better sources than cd players.

I have a CD player NAD C541i (its value is about 350 USD), that I plan to upgrade with an external DAC that costs about 1000 USD (e.g., Benchmark DAC1 - I have not decided yet). How much should I invest in turntable + tonearm + cartridge + phone stage to have a sound that definitely overcomes the quality of what I could obtain from my NAD CD player + external DAC?
sbabu

Showing 1 response by slate1

slate1
82 posts
 
I also have to throw into the mix the Michell TecnoDec ($1,695 new - around $900 used). I recently set one up and am astounded at how good it sounds. It blows away the prior Rega (P25 & P5) tables I've run.

I've got it paired up with a Dynavector 20xL running through a Dynavector P-75 phono stage. All the PRAT of the Rega with better speed stability, quieter background, more detail - it's great.

The stock TecnoDec comes with a Michell mod'd RB-250 and is fantastic right out of the box. I happened to luck into a TecnoArm (a more fully mod'd RB-250) and it's now as good a deck as I'll ever want at this point given my other gear.
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