This endless Digital vs. Analog is non stop. Having owned both I can say both can be excellent and bad. Much is in the mastering and recording quality to begin with. early digital was new so like early analog it had issues but those days are many years gone. You have digital with its power supply and output and DAC that gives you the final sound and they will give a signature like all electronics. Then analog has platter, arm, cartridge, and setup quality and each produce their own significant signature. The LP pressings sound different base on mother pressing used or backups, then who cuts the disc. Digital mastering used, tape quality and generation, care taken and who did the mastering. Both care must be taken and system matching and your room that impacts sound more that your gear. I keep reading the BS always pushed forth by phile and TAS where digital version sounded unlistenable while playing that CD I don't hear it. So it must be their system, or room. Can CD sound bad, yep, can a LP sound bad yep. The nice thing about vinyl is you can get the older pressing used and to me that was the intended sound that they worked on, with now the reissue of some they have messed with it, trying to make it better like they do in digital at times. I like neither. There was a golden age of recorded music mid 50's through mid 60's. Those recording sound real, great tone, color and body and guess what they sound as good on well mastered CD. Most rock acts 60's sounded bad on vinyl due to compression used and mixed for radio and not high end systems. So these same records will sound bad no matter the format. The great thing about digital and still today is the amount of recording available that you never find on LP's unless you for lucky at a garage sale and then if it was playable. I never purchased used LP' unless they looked mint as new and even then you find needle grove damage and noise. I enjoy them both and years of experience I know what to look for a both to give me a good idea to buy or not. My digital of choice as been Japanese because it is their design they invented and understand. My current and one I enjoy daily is the Esoteric K-01. This player gives it like the recording played. It can be tube warm or forward aggressive or dry based on the recordings. So that is a good thing. My vinyl can sound the same based on recording, VTA and phono preamp used and its settings. So care must be taken in all areas. I like the large LP covers, I like the feel of involvement, even the clicks and pops make vinyl what vinyl is. What I like about digital is that it is flat as in natural to the mastering, I would say more honest and if done with outstanding realism. But to get this you better clean your CD's take with set up and make sure your room is cared for and made for listening to a highend system. Most of all what I like is collecting physical music and streaming will never be some I would want to do. Though streaming of songs out sell by far LP and CD which still out sells LP's. What LP sales were in their prime out sold in a monthly what LP' today sell in a year. I am glad to see people playing their records again, but I also would say there is a lot of great music to be had on CD. So if you like to collect, enjoy listen to a whole recording and just you favorite tracks from streaming then keep supporting both formats. As boomers die sales will decline and even many like myself that own so much it getting harder and harder to find something I need or want to buy. I am not buying just to buy any longer, something as to be good and interesting to buy. The new Beatles 50th anniversary release coming and remixed will be worth it. Having heard cuts on other Beatles CD's these will tronce either the LP's and CD Sonic's. Its about time they started on this project, imaging and placement is superb and the brightness of many Beatle recordings will be helped. Now these LP' and CD's will be worth the cost. The Beatles recordings were not that well done, White Album was about the best if sonics are your priority, the mono's come no where near what America was doing sonically. Compare any 50's Mono's and late 50's stereo to any later rock recordings, they for the most part cannot touch the experts in recording that we had. So technology gives us the tools to improve and hopefully better mastering and remastering will continue to gives us better enjoyment of loved music and the upcoming Sgt. Pepper will be something to behold.
