Does Anyone Think CD is Better Than Vinyl/Analog?

        Good points mijostyn. There's also the facts that a very high quality high-resolution digital playback system can be near sota sound quality wise and also convenient to the extreme.  I've discovered that the key for extremely high sq performance on my digital system is to use high resolution digital file recordings, usually downloads of at least 24 bit/96 KHz, that were recorded direct to digital. All 3 components are connected to my LAN wi-fi and communicate with each other instantaneously.
     My system was not nearly as expensive as a high quality vinyl setup would be.  I spent less than $5K for a Lumin D2 dac/streamer, a Synology hard drive component with 2 TB worth of Western Electric hard drives as a storage device and an Apple iPad as the GUI and remote.
     How convenient?  The iPad remote rests on its recharging station on the table next to my listening chair along with my preamp's remote. If I want to listen to music, I just use the preamp remote to change the input and set the volume, then use the iPad remote to select what music to listen to and press play.  It's literally a hi-res audio jukebox with over 20,000 hrs of musical content consisting of all musical genres from classical to The Clash and everything in between.
     Sorry vinyl lovers, no moving, cleaning, adjusting or fiddling involved.  The Lumin D2 turns itself on with the first detection of a signal and the music emerges from a dead-silent background in a very dramatic and impressive fashion. 
     The sound quality of the music is full range, full bodied, powerful, dynamic, highly detailed, with very accurate and natural tones, textures and timbre.  This is all within a wide, deep and very realistic stereo sound stage illusion with solid, stable and palpable images, including the spaces between them.  Overall, a very satisfying and enjoyable musical experience.
     I understand, however, that I tailored my system to my personal preferences and that it's only my version of an ideal home audio music system.  I also have no illusions that my system is the best and I certainly have no intentions of convincing anyone that they should do anything other than follow their own preferences when building their own ideal systems, whatever playback method or methods they may include. 

Tim

Better is relative.

If you have a pretty decent digital source with a pretty good DAC, then it could be a matter of Convenience.  having to get up to turn the record over, clean the album, needle, make sure the turn table speed is correct, etc.  With CDs and especially streaming (high quality streaming), you have many more choices than what you currently have in your album inventory.

And, for a pretty decent digital system, it can and does sound wonderful.  Especially for better recorded digital music.  With older CDs, the music is wonderful, however, you often have to get past the really bad recording quality.  Some makes me want to run screaming out of the room.

However, when I really want to sit and listen, I will put on an album and every time (not some times) it is smoother, more open and better.

Don't get me wrong, if the music was originally digitally recorded and then placed on a album, when I listen to the same music on the digital system, it sound pretty darn close.  Each and every piece that I have listened  to that was originally recorded analog and converted to digital, when I listen to the album and then the CD, the album wins each and every time. So, to me, it depends on how it was initially recorded.

Forget about the pops and clicks for a moment and talk about albums (and cartridges) that don't have pops and clicks.  Then, listen to an analog recording vs the digital remaster of the same analog recording.  Then, come back and tell me honestly what you really hear.

In any case, I am enjoying both the digital and analog system in my home.  

enjoy

The last time I spun an Analogue disc was in the eighties and I couldn't get rid of it quick enough and it wasn't as if I didn't have a good system.
Ariston RD11S Turntable
Syrinx PU2 arm
Dynavector Ruby Cartridge

This was good gear in that era when Ariston was just as good as Linn.

I went into digital because I was fed up with snap, crackle and pop and tracking distortion and that damned hiss from the analogue recorders that taped the master. I won't say that going digital in the early eighties was great but with my Quad 44 pre amp I could filter away some of that treble glare. It was when Meridian came in with their early CD Players that the CD started to sound good and without the obvious traits that came with vinyl. Now I am a happy camper as I now have a computer I built for streaming and playing CD rips. I now am a headphone addict and the streaming and high rez files that I buy sound as good as and most probably better than some with their high end rigs because I am hearing much more detail than people who listen to speakers as I get much more detail from phones than most speaker system.

jjss49 >>>> 

• "This is the first and last word on the topic as far as I am concerned
• 
  
• if we know what we are doing with analog or digital... we get what we came here for... "

Exactly. With certain tweaks, concentrating on lowering the noise floor, there's a lot more "there, there." Once that type of resolution is attained, the margin between digital and analog is narrowed dramatically. Personally, I'm astounded at how good red book CDs can sound ... and this is coming from an old guy who has been collecting vinyl records since high school. I love my records, but oh you kid. :-)

Frank

jim204. In agreement. Good digital is very satisfying to me.