Anybody added a full vinyl setup to system? And?

I have been back and forth. In my system, I cannot fault digital, as it sounds very nice, neat, impressive, organic, and seemingly close to perfect even? With my prior phono stages and turntables, I could like/dislike things about digital and vinyl playback both. Until I got into a new transimpedance phono stage and a very upgraded (by Boothroyd) Technics 1200MK5 that I had purchased new when they disappeared back in 2010.

I have experience with 2 of the transimpedance offerings. The Sutherland Engineering Little Loco, and the yet to be released Big Loco. The former requires a good linestage to really shine, where the Big Loco has linestage built in for an all in vinyl system solution directly to amps. This has been revolutionary for me, in that even poorly recorded albums seem to transcend and sound very good. Something I cannot say for my digital, being somewhat ruthless to poor recordings. I would encourage one to look into a good turntable, low impedance MC cartridge, and these transimpedance offerings for vinyl playback at a level that I did not realize was possible.

The biggest difference between the two for me and my system is emotion. The analog does this at a level the digital cannot seem to get to. The worst part of this is knowing if the vinyl is in good shape, and an original recording, it will sound at least good. Hard not to buy a ton of records now!! The only detriment I find to my analog rig is that it is unforgiving of a poor press, and an album’s previous life.

Summing up, the digital sounds like amazing HiFi, while trying not to sound HiFi. The analog is impossible to describe in the HiFi sense. It connects with me instantly, and I cannot use HiFi descriptors at all, as in it turns off my HiFi brain completely.

Paul79 said: “Summing up, the digital sounds like amazing HiFi, while trying not to sound HiFi. The analog is impossible to describe in the HiFi sense. It connects with me instantly, and I cannot use HiFi descriptors at all, as in it turns off my HiFi brain completely.”

Couldn’t agree with paul79 more. The way he has framed the difference encapsulates to perfection how I experience the two formats. I also concur that digital is ruthless when it comes to poor recordings - they are almost unlistenable. I’ve yet to hear any vinyl that is in good condition that is unlistenable.  (Newbie Disclaimer: I just returned to vinyl last month after a 30-year hiatus so haven’t heard that many records). Switching my HiFi brain back in, it’s obvious that vinyl records can’t all be perfect. So not sure if that gentleness on our ears is a big part of its appeal despite the fact it may be a form of colouration.

While I listened to a lot of music as a kid I didn’t start buying music till I started high school in the mid 80’s. Yes, as a tiny tot I listened and played records on my sisters’ record players (notice I didn’t say turntables) but the bulk of my musical experiences were tapes that I could play at home and in my diesel VW rabbit, then I switched to digital after buying my first CD player after graduating high school. Then it was digital all the way.

Around 2010 I got the itch to go vinyl, not sure if this is recent enough based on your question but this was my experience. It seemed like everyone was saying it was a better format despite the rapid advancements in digital technology, so I hopped in and gave it a shot. I had next to nothing in the way of source material and this alone was making for a very expensive introduction. After a couple of years it just boiled down to this for me: For the money ($3,000 to $4,000 or so for source equipment) I preferred the sound of digital in that price range over everything needed for analog. I also grew increasingly frustrated with the quality and price of vinyl pressings but maybe that’s changed.

I don’t know, maybe part of it for me was because I basically grew up with zero vinyl. Or maybe it’s because I listen to music made and recorded from the early 90’s to today. I don’t play much old stuff but occasionally do. Maybe I would have been enamored with a much more sophisticated and expensive table, arm, cartridge, phono preamp, cables, and let’s not forget about source material, but that list gets to my point. Vinyl can be so much more expensive than digital and it ultimately just wasn’t worth it to me in the price range I could afford. Dollar for dollar I got so much more out of digital for the sound I preferred.

Those that prefer vinyl, more power to you and I hope you enjoy every rotation! Some of us prefer digital for one reason or another. I’m in the digital camp.
Happy New Year!

If you have a well set up vinyl rig, there's just no comparison to digital.