There are discussions of "shoot-outs" in the archives on Audiogon, and on AA.
There aren't any "formal shoot-outs" in the magazines that I know about. It's kind of a thing that enthusiasts do to satisfy their curiosity about which sounds better to them.
The Aries is a solid performer and should give you fine sound. You can do better, but it depends on how much you want to spend, and what brand you might buy.
I personally own a Teres 245, and think it is a very good performer for the money.
You should know that you are already on the "diminishing returns" part of the curve, and you'll generally have to spend significantly more to get smaller incremental improvements as you go up the ladder. This can be mitigated somewhat by purchasing factory direct(such as Teres and Redpoint) which eliminate the dealer mark-ups. But they don't have any dealers where you can go listen to them. Or, you could buy a good used turntable, which can save you some money.
So yes, in a roundabout way, I'm saying you can get more performance out of your analog sound, but you will have to be careful to choose a table that actually will be a better performer, and will likely have to spend some additional money to get it.
There aren't any "formal shoot-outs" in the magazines that I know about. It's kind of a thing that enthusiasts do to satisfy their curiosity about which sounds better to them.
The Aries is a solid performer and should give you fine sound. You can do better, but it depends on how much you want to spend, and what brand you might buy.
I personally own a Teres 245, and think it is a very good performer for the money.
You should know that you are already on the "diminishing returns" part of the curve, and you'll generally have to spend significantly more to get smaller incremental improvements as you go up the ladder. This can be mitigated somewhat by purchasing factory direct(such as Teres and Redpoint) which eliminate the dealer mark-ups. But they don't have any dealers where you can go listen to them. Or, you could buy a good used turntable, which can save you some money.
So yes, in a roundabout way, I'm saying you can get more performance out of your analog sound, but you will have to be careful to choose a table that actually will be a better performer, and will likely have to spend some additional money to get it.