I tried a very interesting experiment and the results puzzled me. I was listening to a yes album on my turntable and decided to compare the sound quality with that of spotify. My setup is the following:
-Marantz 4400(recapped)
-Pro-ject essential II(only upgrade is the cork mat).
-Cambridge Audio 551P phono
-Acoustic Energy 301 speakers(standing on some old sony floorstanders!)
On the other hand was my cellphone with spotify premium(if it makes any difference) and a really long and cheap rca to jack cable.
So I pull out my brand new "Yes-Fragile" 180gr remastered record, and started playing "Roundabout" .i synced the phone and started going back and forth between the 2 sources. I must admit that the difference was so small that if I couldnt compare so fast, I wouldnt notice any. So I got my wife in the room,sat her down on the sweet spot, and started swapping between vinyl and spotify. She couldnt even understand when I was changing!
So we decided to proceed with Edith Piaf's "Exodus". To my ears,the highs from spotify were a little high but again, not something I would notice if there wasnt the side by side test .of course I was not telling my wife from which source she was listening at the time, and she chose spotify! At tbe previous song she didnt even bother to tell me which one she preferred since "they both sound exactly the same".
The turntable is totally level, calibrated(alignment,tracking force etc), and the stock stylus seems to be fine.
Sooo whats the point? Do I have to climb to car high price tags to get really better sound from a turntable?
Have you ran a similar test? What did you make out of it?
-Marantz 4400(recapped)
-Pro-ject essential II(only upgrade is the cork mat).
-Cambridge Audio 551P phono
-Acoustic Energy 301 speakers(standing on some old sony floorstanders!)
On the other hand was my cellphone with spotify premium(if it makes any difference) and a really long and cheap rca to jack cable.
So I pull out my brand new "Yes-Fragile" 180gr remastered record, and started playing "Roundabout" .i synced the phone and started going back and forth between the 2 sources. I must admit that the difference was so small that if I couldnt compare so fast, I wouldnt notice any. So I got my wife in the room,sat her down on the sweet spot, and started swapping between vinyl and spotify. She couldnt even understand when I was changing!
So we decided to proceed with Edith Piaf's "Exodus". To my ears,the highs from spotify were a little high but again, not something I would notice if there wasnt the side by side test .of course I was not telling my wife from which source she was listening at the time, and she chose spotify! At tbe previous song she didnt even bother to tell me which one she preferred since "they both sound exactly the same".
The turntable is totally level, calibrated(alignment,tracking force etc), and the stock stylus seems to be fine.
Sooo whats the point? Do I have to climb to car high price tags to get really better sound from a turntable?
Have you ran a similar test? What did you make out of it?