Vinyl - One Word - WOW!!

Vinyl is VERY expensive, a TON of work and it takes up WAY too much room. It really IS a colossal PITA, as noted. BUT... it's totally worth it. Music is by nature an analogue and when you digitize it, you lose the realism that it captures and conveys. I have never had anyone listen on my system to a piece on vinyl, followed by digital (and I had a better and more expensive digital setup than the vinyl) and in EVERY instance the vinyl was the clear winner in terms of naturalness, openness and realism. Digital was always described as being "in a box" as compared with its vinyl counterpart.

I'm not such an absolutist, I love both formats.  I have some titles where the CD sounds better, and some where the LP sounds better.  Even multiple versions of CDs will sound different, and of course various pressing of LPs will sound different.  I have 5 versions of Supertramp's Crime of the Century, and they're all different!!  My favorite version is an early Mobile Fidelity pressing. (1978 I think)  My newest version is a HiRes version on BluRay, and it's boring.  The transients are much better on the OLD MoFi pressing because the master tape was 40 years newer!  

@mambacfa , I can record records in 24/192 and snap back and forth between the actual vinyl and the digital copy. Nobody can hear a difference. If there is a difference in mastering between the digital and analog copies that will make a difference and it can go either way. Gains have to matched carefully or the louder version will sound better. If your digital performance is always behind the vinyl then you have work to do on your digital side. It should not be!

I spent a few hours today comparing streaming with vinyl.

Vinyl wins easy. The sense of space, air, and speakers disappearing was much better with vinyl.  One record of electronic music by Klaus Schulze sound as good steaming it. But comparing things like Blue Notes records it’s not even close. The sound stage is much more open and reaches out into the room with vinyl. In comparison streaming sounds dry, dead, with all the instruments smaller and stuck way behind the speakers 

Dive in man. The water is fine yet quite deep…..