mahler123 hits the nail on the head. And when a rip is done right it will definitely sound better than playing the vinyl. I have about 400 rips and the sound quality is stunning, even in my car on the way to work or running at the gym. Each one took weeks of work. As jDougs says, it's just fun.
Of course the end game is that if your true destiny is the best sound quality possible, then this discussion is a waste of time. Today's HD releases (remasterrs, re-releases, new HD releases) are by far superior to anything you can ever reproduce from vinyl. Just from a frequency response standpoint, case and point: listen to Elton John's 1971 (November I think) Madman Across the Water analog masters straight to digital, in HD FLAC, don't even need the DSD format version for this....now listen to that and we're done here. The vinyl rip is great, but nowhere near as full and rich sounding as this exact copy of the analog masters.
I enjoy gear and its fun, but I'm audiophile to hear the music I enjoy hearing it in the best possible way, with no budget limitations (from a realistic standpoint). Not listen to music to hear my various gear and convince myself what is best. Great music lifts my day, my evenings, my mood. A little Grateful Dead / Jerry Garcia at "11" and my day is off to a great start.
Have fun!