Digital is far better than vinyl

@ghdprentice 

Typically one gets a pretty cheap Rega, a decent phono stage and it trounces one’s digital end.

Great point! I guess this knife cuts both ways. My original OP was highlighting the discrepancy between a well-sorted analog rig vs. a hastily put together digital setup. But you are absolutely correct in pointing out that the reverse is also true.

Let me ask you this then ... let's say if you were starting out with vinyl and didn't already own 2,000 albums, would you have spent the same amount of money on building a reference analog system? Or would you have focused on extracting the last bit of fidelity out of your digital?

If I did not have all my legacy analog stuff, I would not give it a second look. I would put every cent into digital… digital streaming.

I am currently listening to Count Basie album recorded in 1957 Chairman of the Board) on streaming. If I did not know better I would guess it was vinyl. If I had twice the budget in digital… it would be even better, no question that is where to put your money today.

@ghdprentice, when I was a kid my parents had Basie’s Chairman of The Board LP that we played on our RCA Victrola home stereo console that had pride of place in our living room. I guarantee that if they were still alive today, and could play The Count just by touching his picture on a smartphone instead of going through the hassle of finding the record, dusting it and the needle off, and looking past all of the pops, hisses, and unavoidable skips and rumbling at loud volumes, they definitely would prefer digital. 

I agree with @ghdprentice. Once you implement a digital streaming system with same level of dedication as your analog, you are in for a royal treat. And I cannot stress enough the importance of a good streamer (source) and DAC much like a TT and phonostage. Again, this is not to say digital is better than analog, they are fundamentally different in their presentation but nonetheless equally enjoyable. 

@ghdprentice and @lalitk -- thank you for sharing your opinions. This is indeed excellent advice for folks who might just be getting into vinyl. I think it's best to own both formats, but if one is just starting out and has limited funds, your advice to stay single-mindedly focused on digital is very prudent.