I dusted off my 32 year old Sony PS-4750 w/Shure V15vMR to get some old Rolling Stones recordings into iTunes. It's been at least a decade since I've spun a record, and the new experience helped me remember why I boxed up my turntable a decade ago... snap, crackle, and pop. Nevertheless, forging ahead, to see what all the new interest in vinyl was all about, I bought some remastered and reissued records: The Rolling Stones, Between The Buttons, Get Yer Ya Ya's Out, and Let It Bleed. Except for a few pops here and there, I cannot distinguish between these recordings and the same material on SACD, or CD. I don't know what this means, however. It could mean that my turntable/cartridge is as good as it gets, or it could mean my turntable/cartridge is not as good as it gets. After all, it does not sound better than CD, which is, as it appears, the reason folks have an interest in vinyl today. Question is, therefore, will a new turntable/cartridge, that are on the market today, give me something I would perceive as being better than CD?
I've been looking; and, so far, I've had a fleeting interest in the New Rega P3-24, VPI Classic, and Clearaudio Concept, as well as the SME 309 tonearm and Ortofon 2M Black cartridge. Thing is, in my geographic area, I cannot audition any of this stuff to come to a real understanding of whether the expenditure on any of these concepts would actually yield at more satisfying listening experience. i'm skeptical.