If I want caffeinated vinyl I just go to starbux...
But seriously, I've been building a system for the past few years, piece by piece, trying to understand what "good sound" is, and how the different parts of a system effect the outcome. I've tried to be neutral about tubes vs solid state and analog vs digital. In the end i'm a tinkerer, not an ideologue, so it doesn't really matter to me which side wins out. Or so I like to believe :)
Anyway 4 years later I have a system built around an SET amp (Art Audio Jota) with an analog front end (modded VPI Aries 1) that has just come into its own with the addition of a Doshi Alaap phono stage. On the digital side I have a Baetis server running into a Chord Hugo DAC fed by a fancy Revelation Audio S/PDIF cable. I'd say they're roughly comparable on the audio hierarchy (?), though I've put way more time (and enjoyment) into the analog side (and money!). But the digital side sits largely dormant. The spouse recently looked at it and said "that shelf is for the defunct stuff."
So why does it end up that way? I like the digital well enough, but there's just something very different about it. Like @effischer I don't know how to define it, and like @dentdog it just happens naturally as I'm listening. I gravitate to the vinyl and focus in; I 'enjoy' the digital while i'm doing other stuff, but it doesn't grab me. High res files help, but only so much. The best I can say is that it's like the difference between the reproduction of a famous painting and the experience of seeing the real thing. They ain't the same.
I think @gregkohanmim may have a point - the analogy in the method of production of the sound (physical object creating vibrations, rather than a software algorithm) may be the key. Yes we humans are very smart, but sometimes we claim victory before we've really got it right. I'm sure digital will some day (maybe soon) eclipse the sound potential of analog playback. But it'll be a good while before a $4 sound file sounds anything like a good $4 used LP! and for me that ends up making a huge difference.
