Digitally recorded vinyl vs streaming

@mojo771 

There is no fixed answer to this because it depends on the quality of the playback system but also where the material is sourced from and, critically, when it was mastered.

Just to give an example. I very recently did an a/b/c comparison of a very well recorded album, copies of which I have on vinyl, cd, and available on streaming.

The album in question was originally recorded on a Studer A800 2 inch analogue multitrack and mastered to DAT.

My copy of the album dates to the time of original release as is the CD.

All of the playback equipment is of a high standard - Esoteric CD and network DAC and Clearaudio/Passlabs vinyl playback.

In terms of sound quality, the vinyl sounds best, slightly better than the streamed file, but both are better than the CD by quite a margin.

But that's just one specific instance. Other instances could give a completely different result.

You mention 60s and 70s albums and say they were probably recorded digitally.

They won't have been because there was no digital recording then.

But many have since been re-mastered digitally.

If you want to be sure of pure analogue sound, buy records issued before the late 1970s.

Clearthinker, I actually meant, and thought I said, that the 80's and 90's were probably digital.  I know the 60's and 70's were not.

I see a couple of suggestions for DACs above, but I have not seen them at the places I shop - Audio Advice / Upscale Audio / Crutchfield so I am stuck at this point.  

Can I get more suggestions on a streamer? 

The only upgraded DAC / streamer I've listened to is the Rose rs150.  It says it has a better DAC but it also seems to really promote its large beautiful screen, which I don't really care about.  MAny other DACs I've reserched refer to them being a pre-amp, but I have a nice McIntosh integrated amp and don't want a new pre-amp, I just want to listen to a better streamer and see if its better.

I have upgraded cables/power supply/ethernet cables, so I feel like I'm ready to test drive a new streamer.  Thanks for all the suggestions.

On your original question...I have run this experiment many times.  I find that that if I can get my hands on an undamaged copy of the album on vinyl, it never sounds worse than the digital stream.  This is usually true even if the album was originally recorded digitally. 

That does not mean that the vinyl release sounds better 100% of the time, although it usually does.  Basically, the worst possible result with the vinyl edition is that it is of the same quality as digital.  If find this most frequently happens with recent releases, and usually when the digital release is of low enough quality that I was really hoping to get a big improvement with the record.  I know some artists are now releasing albums at a maximum quality of 320kbs mp3, because "you can't hear the difference" by which they mean THEY can't hear the difference when plugging a pair of Sony headphones into the USB-C jack of their Macbook Pro.

The main issue with the decades you mentioned is availability.  The 90s in particular seems to be an era when vinyl releases just weren't happening.  Luckily the digital streams are often of good quality.