@douglas_schroeder
It's funny that I never had a problem with my analog rig. Whether I changed a cartridge, phono stage or turntable. Yes, I have used a cartridge that wasn't a very good match with my tonearm or phono stage but it was still engaging. I wonder if I should maybe try an r2r dac. A friend of mine has a PBN dac. The power supply is massive, rack sized. It was over $5000 and that was used from Audio Station in Bartlesville, OK. They deal in a lot PBN equipment mostly used. I think he sent it in to get a usb input installed. It didn't originally have one. And I think it's 24/96 max. He bought it only about 4 months ago.
It's funny that I never had a problem with my analog rig. Whether I changed a cartridge, phono stage or turntable. Yes, I have used a cartridge that wasn't a very good match with my tonearm or phono stage but it was still engaging. I wonder if I should maybe try an r2r dac. A friend of mine has a PBN dac. The power supply is massive, rack sized. It was over $5000 and that was used from Audio Station in Bartlesville, OK. They deal in a lot PBN equipment mostly used. I think he sent it in to get a usb input installed. It didn't originally have one. And I think it's 24/96 max. He bought it only about 4 months ago.