Turntable got absolutely crushed by CD

RR is still around - https://referencerecordings.com/

 So, yes a cheap LP set up can conquer a cheap CD player with low end ancillary equipment.

lol! The CDP my Technics first trounced was a $1200 California Audio Labs that I had selected only after home auditioning a dozen contenders. I really liked it. Wife really liked it. Except compared to vinyl.

That first system was anything but low end. Nor was the next one it trounced. Budget, yes. Low end, no. This was a CDP based system I put together as a gift, that sounded so good I had friends over just to prove to them you do not have to spend a lot to have truly good sound. I'd say about a dozen people, none of them audiophiles, just normal people. Every single one was stunned- at first, how good a budget system can sound and second, that the records killed the CD. Not even close.

By the third time it became painfully unfair because the Kenwood was gone so I had to use the ARC PH-3 SE. Only did this once because of the hassle and the ARC being like using a microscope to look at a flower.

Later on it was a Basis 2001/Graham 2.0/Glider when a friend challenged me for playing records when he could be listening to "better sound" from CD. (I forget what CD it was, CDPs being eminently forgettable.)  Now its true, if you compare a crap recording on vinyl to a good recording on CD the good recording will, uh, may sound better. Duh. Which I told him. Which he asked well do you have the same thing in both formats? Yeah sure, MFSL Original Master Recording. Ten minutes later my friend is telling me, "I kept thinking you were playing one louder, or that you did something, but actually no everything was identical. The record just sounds better." And his wife, equally amazed, nods in agreement.

Main thing I always make a point of saying, these are all normal people. Normal people who just love music. Normal people, in my experience, always hear the better power cord, interconnect, Cone, whatever. Always. I've had parties, room full of people, swap a power cord, everyone hears it. I've had wives shout from the kitchen which one sounds better. Even one old guy who thought it would be a waste of time because he wore two hearing aids.

Ancillary equipment doesn't seem to matter. Cost doesn't seem to matter. Only one thing seems to matter: Is it a person? Or an audiophile?

We report.

You decide.

IMO never liked any entry level VPI deck. They appear to be made well but Rega tables always seem to be more musical despite the "sub par" build quality. No one can deny Rega has great value in tonearms. I own a Rega P9/RB 1000 with an AT-OC9 mk 2/Allnic 1200 and estimate i'm getting 75%? of it's potential. When compared to my North Star Sapphire CDP it's almost 50/50 despite the Rega/phono preamp/ cartridge being 3x the retail of the North Star Sappire. Both of us will be better off when we upgrade our phono cartridge. In summary an analogue set up needs to be at least 3X(IMO) to equal or better digital playback. The debate over analoge vs. digital is outdated both can reach reference levels but be prepared to spend a lot more to equal or better good/great digital playback.

@dayglow - that is a very interesting observation!   3x on analog to equal or better digital playback.   Yeah, now that I think about it, that makes a whole lot of sense!

As the father of two teenage daughters - they could care less about CD or vinyl. Streaming is where it is at - same with 99.99 people under the age of 21.
They still love music, but don’t really care about the absolute SQ. My Daughters know vinyl sounds better, but that does not inhibit them loving streaming - in fact they don’e even think about formats.

In 5 years CD will be dead. In 20 years, vinyl will be dead.

hopefully full bandwidth streaming will be the then defacto.

anyone thinking anything different is wrong.