Turntable got absolutely crushed by CD


Long story short, i've just brought home a VPI classic 1 mounted with a Zu-Denon DL103 on JMW Memorial 10.5 with the appropriate heavier counterweight. Had everything dialed in..perfect azimuth, VTF, overhang, with only a slightly higher than perfect VTA. Levelling checked. All good. 

I did a comparison between the VPI and my Esoteric X03SE and it's not even close. The Esoteric completely crushes the VPI in all regards. The level of treble refinement, air, decay, soundstage depth and width, seperation, tonality, overall coherence is just a simply a league above from what I'm hearing from the VPI. The only area the VPI seems to be better at is bass weight, but not by much. 

I'm honestly quite dumbfounded here. I've always believed that analogue should be superior to digital. I know the Esoteric is a much pricier item but the VPI classic is supposed to be a very good turntable and shouldn't be a slouch either. At this point I feel like I should give up on analogue playback and invest further in digital. 

Has anyone had a similar experience comparing the best of digital to a very good analogue setup?

Equipment:
Esoteric X03SE 
VPI Classic, JMW Memorial 10.5, Zu-DL103
Accuphase C200L
Accuphase P600
AR 90 speakers

Test Record/CD:
Sarah McLachlan - Surfacing (Redbook vs MOV 180g reissue)



chadsort
Whatever. It’s still not bits. Sampling rate doesn’t translate to bits, even if you’re correct about sampling and tape, which I’m not so sure about.
glupson, I have the Pro-Ject RCM and the Vinyl Styl system.  I typically use them in series.  I plan to pickup an ultrasonic RCM after the holidays.  Still doing some research.
@maplegrovemusic 

My experience is with Adam Audio , f7 , A7x , A8x and Classic column , and ATC .
The first time I set up a pair of Adam a7x and shuffled through my library I was blown away by how every song that played was listenable . Gone was the desire to skip to tracks that sounded pleasing . Everything track was a new experience . Definitely do not agree about lack of bass but just the opposite experience . The lack of distortion is something to be said for , Turn up the volume to realistic sound levels and the sonic landscape does not change but only increase in volume . Holy grail stuff in my book

Bookshelf does not reproduce bass well, there is a bass of course, but when you will add an active sub you will realize what you're missing with bookshelf speakers of small monitors. I know that because i sold my Dynaudio SUB-300 to a friend who is a producer, in addition to his Dynaudio Active monitors and Genelec Active monitors the sub is a must have for music makers as a part of studio monitoring if a person is limited to nearfield monitors only.

Surely Rey Audio Kinoshita does not require subs, but they are bigger than most of the living rooms or studios of the music makers :)  

Personally i don't like speakers/monitors with crossover, i love extremely sensitive full range floorstanding speakers like Zu Audio Druid (101db efficiency). Zu does not have a crossover, only high-pass filter for super tweeter.  Even 2 watts amp is enough to drive 101db full range drivers.  Anyway, this is just my home stereo. 

When i think about monitors with full range drivers only Tannoy comes to my mind. 
moonglum, thanks for the link. I’ll pass. 😃 If memory serves bits is related to resolution, not SRN.