Turntables worth it?

[richteer]

Originally Posted by hanser

Yes, I know, on a good system vinyl can somtimes sound subjectively better than CD. I have listened to them. But it does not reproduces the original as accurate as a CD with a high quality DAC. With the latter you get according to Nyquist theorem a perfect, identical reproduction of the analogue sound curve up to 20 kHz. Anybody who says "sound is analogue, not digital" does not understand Nyquist. Any digital sound below the Nyquist frequency can be converted to analogue without any loss, if the DAC is up to the task and not introducing errors.

Higher Word sizes just lower the already low digital noise floor further, higher sampling frequencies extend the Frequency range, which can be accurately reproduced, up to more than 20 KhZ. If this has any influence on the audible sound, is debatable.

Nyquist's Theorem is fine for simple sine waves; unfortunately, music is not made up of simple sine waves! The need to accurately reproduce the complex harmonics that make up a music signal is where proponents of Nyquist fall down. Many years ago, I too drank the Nyquist cool aid, believing that CD must be superior to vinyl (despite how bright it sounded). It wasn't until I listened to a well set up turntable (not the cheap crap I had been used to up to that point in time) that I realised the error of my ways. Fortunately, I hadn't desposed of all my records...

I've heard several high end CD/DAC set ups, and have never found them as satisfying as analogue. Would a top of the line Esoteric transport/DAC/clock set up be satisying? I don't know (I haven't heard it); but for that kind of cash, I'd rather improve the rest of my system.