Yes, they do,
although they are more commonly called turntables these days.
We still consider
sound from records through well-matched good turntable systems and phono stages
at the top of the sonic chain (in addition to the archaic tape reel), after
listening to some of the best CD players around, from $200 to $90k++. And
our reference were merely $3000 to $5000 turntables. This is not on the technical merit,
but on the overall musicality and soul, and the realism of the timbre and
tonality.
It used to be that a
system was incomplete without a CD player. But time is fickle, and the
best systems in the world now have a turntable as their primary source ...
Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, France, etc. This time, a system without a
turntable seems incomplete ...
And if we listen to a
system without a turntable, we know that the sound quality is hugely compromised
and surely can even be much better, if not for the sake of convenience. Of
course, this convenience is also a huge plus for CD players, and may be a bigger
factor than ultimate sonic quality to many.
Then again, having a
turntable setup does not guarantee high quality. Proper matching and setup
are paramount to get the best out of them, these are not plug and play music
tools. We can help customers through this, it's not rocket science like many
will have you think so. In fact, many of our customers have managed to
adjust their systems effectively after some time.