Hi. In short the answer is yes, you will always get superior quality reproduction from dedicated Hi-Fi equipment. There has been and still is a raging debate between the exponents of Vinyl and CD. For the most part this debate is purely subjective since it really depends on your preferred listening experience. Some people like a very forward stereo image while others prefer the sound stage to be more set back behind the speakers. I have a friend who prefers his sound to be more recessed as I think it gives him a feeling of being in a concert hall, he is a great classical music fan and attends lots of concerts. Others enjoy a bright sound and yet others like firm and prominent bass. Promoters of the Vinyl will say that the sound is much warmer while the supporters of CD will say that CD is much more detailed all be it more clinical. The only way to compare what one prefers is to go to a specialist, and any good specialist will always recommend you listen to the product before purchasing and often have listening rooms in order to let you have a choice of different combination of equipment. In truth, you really do get what you pay for. I remember when I purchased a system some years ago; I was amazed just how by changing one amplifier for another, changed the sound quality. Even changing something as basic as the interconnects made a huge difference. Although you can audition the equipment, it isn't the same as having it in your own home and if you have a good relationship with any particular dealer they may allow you to take the equipment home and listen to it in situ. So vinyl versus CD is something each person must decide for himself or herself but bear in mind, Vinyl isn't as readily available as CD and it might take a bit of work tracking down the stuff your son is interested in. It is always wise to purchase audio separates as these components are designed with their purpose in mind where as combination systems always have some compromise whether it be the tuner, the CD player or the amplifier or speakers. As for the comparison between Hi-Fi components and PC or portable audio devices, in my opinion there is no competition. Basically a PC is a storage system and although it has the means of playing audio files, that isn't it's main purpose. You can get high quality sound cards but I fail to see how a?300 PC such as I am using now can compare with the ?1200 CD player on my Hi-Fi system. Another draw back is with file compression. MP3 files are the result of the original sound file being compressed to 10% of it's original size and hence has quality loss. These files are fine for their purpose but for serious listening, they lack quality. I listen to these files on my PC fed through a mid range HI-Fi system but for really serious listening I take the CD down to the big system and let it rip. I think it really depends on what your son wants to do and what he will be happy with a couple of years down the road. I think I will conclude with an illustration; Both a comfortable family car and a dump truck will get you from New York to California but I ask you, which would you prefer to travel in? On the other hand if you wanted to transport lots of garbage to the local dump, which vehicle would you rather use? If you want high quality sound reproduction then Hi-Fi separates is the route to take and the choice between CD and vinyl is a matter of personal choice after comparing the options. If you want a mass storage system for your audio files with a reasonably enjoyable listening experience then a good PC with a high quality sound card fed through a reasonable stereo system will do and you could enhance the sound quality by only listening to Wave files but that raises storage space questions. I'm sorry this has went on a bit but it isn't the sort of subject that merits a glib response. Walter.
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