Is Vinyl Worth It

What I'm beginning to dislike is having to clean more vinyl since many come pressed on two discs versus just one, plus there is less music recorded on each side. Dislike or not, I'm still going to purchase and enjoy. Bought a couple more lp's just today while out and about.

I remember a demonstration that Andy Singer conducted at the NY Stereophile show about 5 years ago with an outstanding system flanked by a DCS stack and a Basis turntable playing the same classical music selections on vinyl and cd. I believe he was attempting to demonstrate the outstanding qualities of the DCS stack. Instead it only demonstrated to me how far digital had to go. The tonality, decay of notes, timbre, dimensionality were far superior on vinyl. I know that cd and hi-res has come a long way in the last 5 or so years, but I am still waiting for the day when any digital format matches or surpasses vinyl. Could MQA be that step? Will it be close enough? As good or better than vinyl? Or just another hdcd-type improvement of degrees.

The vinyl experience is nothing ... NOTHING ... compared to what we open reel tape fanciers go through, willingly (sort of).

Anyone who wants to know how good a recording can sound at home has to audition a high quality open reel tape source played on a SOTA home setup, like a good MBL installation and compare that to 331/3 vinyl and CD. It will be an eye opener. Then an eye closer when you realize how few recordings are available and what a PITA an open reel tape device is.

The good news is digital is starting to challenge that old but PITA reference standard and will continue to close teh gap as time goes on.

Records ain't going anywhere uniquely new or better. Most new ones these days come from digital masters anyway so no real benefit there.

I remember Harold Youngblood who had a shop in Oklahoma City selling a number of top brands including Audio Research, Oracle, PS Audio among others. He set up analog rigs for decades before finally stating that "digital is good enough" to end the hassles of trying to get everything right on the analog side. A man who had access to the best of analog went digital on a personal level because he was just plain tired of messing around with the residual pops, clicks, and noise that can never be completely removed.

I believe his story resonates with many audiophiles who want to focus more on the music and leave the 'fussiness' of analog behind.