Vinyl vs. top-notch digital

Dan, that's very interesting. I started with the Dyna 20xH and within 30 seconds (of listening to the opening of Rodrigo's Concerto) I was hooked. I must say that upgrading to the XX2 cart better fleshed-out the sound at the end of records but obviously not enough. I bought the Mint Lp protractor as a last resort but never thought about the arm.

Just enjoying these astonishingly-mellow responses. All I'd add is that "the work," involved in vinyl playback seems just a touch overstated: cleaning the record, setting it on platter and dropping need takes literally a minute. With regard to the "interruptive" necessity of turning a record over, I can report symphony orchestras often re-tune between Symphonic mov'ts, so it's a "tie" there. : ). Tics and Pops? I listen to Classical and was able to put together a pretty large collection that was oh, 98% "digitally" silent. What I've not seen vinyl enthusiasts point out is that--however incredible vinyl's reproductive capacity--the last 1/3 of records are audibly compromised.

If you can find me a turntable/cart combo that makes "O Fortuna" (of Carmina Burana) sound that same both in the opening grooves and the last grooves (the piece opens and closes with the same material), please tell me about it. Maybe a linear tracker?

Or take the spectacular closing of Boito's Mephistopheles Prelude: huge orchestra, chorus, thunder machine, pipe organ, off-stage trumpets, floor-rattling percussion, (gives me goosebumps just thinking about it); it's all just too much for those last grooves.

Just a general response to your responses; I wasn't comparing Vinyl with Digital, (hi-rez or otherwise), just vinyl in the first 1/3 with vinyl in the last 1/3. FWIW my "best" set up was the Scoutmaster with 9" arm and Dyna XX2 cart.

Dan, your mention of cannons leads me to believe you possibly interpreted my post as a lament about mis-tracking? Needles jumping out of grooves? If so, that wasn't my point. I never had a problem with mis-tracking, it was just depressing to hear sound "thin" as the arm proceeded through the last 1/3 of record. I'm just not interested in spending beyond the Dyna. If your systems do better, fair enough, no argument or suspicion from me. If you've obviated the problem then I'm happy for you. Indeed, I've never heard digital come close to the immediacy of the best vinyl. At least in the best 1/3. : )