Turntable Sounds Almost Too Good?

[Nico69]

I was just cleaning some records today with my trusty Knosti and homebrew fluids so I thought I'd give the cleaned records a good bast once dried. I was gobsmacked!
As per my profile I have a Linn Axis with a RigB AT95 Paratrace (also the standard E stylus) going into a Marantz PM7000n and the Marantz CD6007 player with Dali Oberon 5's.
The first LP I played was some indy wall of sound guitar band called Band of Susans. I've not played it in 20 years I guess. It was what it was but sounded as expected. I then put on The Primatives 'Lovely' and it was amazing! It was absolutely spot on. The stereo imaging was amazing, the vocals right in the room with me, the bass tight, the presence all I could wish for. I then went for Sade 'Diamond Life' - it's a sublime album with such great production it never fails to please but this was the first time I played it on my new set-up (Had the Axis for years but never with the Paratrace). I almost had to scrape my jaw from the floor. It had no right to sounds as good as it did. The detail was exquisite and all of the above but just more! I just couldn't believe how good it was. It gave me goosebumps.
As I have the CD of this and Amazon streaming I played around comparing the sources. All sounded very good but the old vinyl on the old deck just wiped the floor with the other two. Yeah, I know it's not a true double blind test yada yada yada but I was just intrigued that it sounded so very good.

I just wish the streaming and CD player sounded as good as the turntable. Why don't they? I thought they might have the edge as everything is amplified through the same circuits etc.

I'm very happy but it just might mean I have to buy more stuff on vinyl now if I really like it. Damn!

 

[Al ears]

I think there may be a bit of perceptual recognition here.
You know it's an LP being played.
Whilst its good to know that you consider vinyl reproduction as excellent in theory it shouldn't be.
CD should sound as good, no idea why it doesn't unless its a poor recording.
Pretty much comes down to mastering band recording quality.

 

[Nico69]

I think there may be a bit of perceptual recognition here.
You know it's an LP being played.
Whilst its good to know that you consider vinyl reproduction as excellent in theory it shouldn't be.
CD should sound as good, no idea why it doesn't unless its a poor recording.
Pretty much comes down to mastering band recording quality.

It wasn't just the quality but the whole presentation of the music that sounded better. It was just more 'there'. I replied to another thread in the "What Next" thread in HiFi about my thoughts on the Marantz sound maybe being a bit soft with certain music. Maybe it just shows how damned good the built in Phono stage is on the PM7000n?

 

[Al ears]

It wasn't just the quality but the whole presentation of the music that sounded better. It was just more 'there'. I replied to another thread in the "What Next" thread in HiFi about my thoughts on the Marantz sound maybe being a bit soft with certain music. Maybe it just shows how damned good the built in Phono stage is on the PM7000n?

Possibly so, I have not heard one.

 

[WayneKerr]

It wasn't just the quality but the whole presentation of the music that sounded better. It was just more 'there'. I replied to another thread in the "What Next" thread in HiFi about my thoughts on the Marantz sound maybe being a bit soft with certain music. Maybe it just shows how damned good the built in Phono stage is on the PM7000n?

Never known Marantz to skimp on their phono-stages, they are generally very good indeed

 

[nopiano]

Great to read that you’ve got everything singing sweetly.

Some days I think Hifi just sounds especially great, for no obvious reason. Mine was like that on Sunday, and I deliberately missed a couple of TV programmes so as to continue listening. Make the most of it!

 

[matthewpianist]

Your turntable, CD player and streamer/amp are all very good, and you may well find that which one sounds best varies from one album/recording to another, and perhaps even between different remastering of the same music. You've got all 3 sources, so just enjoy what sounds best at the time.

 

[Rui]

Don´t want to repeat any coment but having several amplifiers ,speakers ,turntables and Cd players from diferent decades being the last bought in 2021(this refering to amplifiers only) ,a hybrid one and the first a valve amp from 58.

Having a lot of diferent turntables i can say that if the turntable is working properly , it will sound always better than the cd, new material can be released having not superior sound to the cd ,this talking about new wave turntables which in my opinion are very bad.
The Fluance that i choose being the best brand of most known turntables, only after i discovered it was the cheapest from the 3 brands i compared ,the Rega, the Pro-Ject and the incredible Fluance.

For it´s price and sound quality, maybe because some years ago they still used a good cartridge from AT that were used in pioneer turntables in late 70´s and early 80´s,that i had in a PL-200 and a PL-430 a DD with pitch control, the last model i refered, the previous was belt-drive also with pitch control ,being the two turntables developed by CEC except the last having a tonearm exclusive to Pioneer, being superior in my opinion to the carbon fiber arms.
Also in the early 90´s cd players from Pioneer had their drawer made of this polymere because of it´s quality

 

[good_enough]

I had exactly this experience when I re-powered my Linn Axis with a Hercules II - forced through caps degeneration - put on a new belt and a Denon DL110 (later a Hana SH) and fed it into the excellent K2 phono stage. Now the turntable completely outshone the CD player (Marantz CD6000 OSE). To the extent that I could see myself never playing a CD again - compared to the turntable it was just 'meh'. As you say the turntable was showing more 'life' and 'presence' altogether.

My solution was to upgrade the CD player, as related elsewhere, to a Roksan K3. Order restored - I can now listen to either medium without feeling I've been short-changed. The old one went on Freecycle and AFAIK the new owner was happy with it. Meanwhile back at my place, Diana Krall on the CD of Turn Up The Quiet is every bit as much 'in the room' as Stevie Winwood on my early pressing of Every Little Bit Hurts. Happy Days!

I see this thread has seen some infection from the 'all CD players are the same it's digital innit?' crowd. Nope, there's a bag of bits in a CD player aside from the DAC chip and transport, and they've been chosen to meet a price point. FWIW I believe that the saving that sucks the life out of CDs is the clock.

Couple of things:

1) This CD player appears to have "filter settings" that can either favour "deep stereo imaging" or "more precise imaging reproduction". Personally my preference is not to have to choose, and I'm happy to report the K3 indulges my peculiar bent of just enjoying great reproduction without faffing about choosing which element to sacrifice, but have you played with this?
2) I acknowledge the point strenuously made on this forum that the majority of claims about cables are in the 'fairies and unicorns' category, but there is a basic level to be attained before diminishing returns set in. Are you happy with the RCA leads? FWIW (again) I'm more than happy with my Chord Clearways. When I moved recently I lost some cables and the old 'pair of bootlaces' I unearthed as a stand-in definitely killed that all-important 'presence', to the extent that I wondered whether something had got broken in transit, until I realised what was going on.

 

[Moon757]

The poster shared how their Linn Axis turntable, when paired with quality components, outperformed their CD player, offering a richer, more present sound. Upgrading the CD player restored balance.