CD Got Absolutely Crushed By Vinyl

My $1,200 turntable sounds better than my $1,400 CD player. The CD player has tubes in it but the turntable don't. I wonder what it all means. Fact: a vinyl record is a reproduction of a real time musical performance.
Fact: a compact disc is not a real time reproduction no matter how you slice it.

to each his own....  I grew up with vinyl, because that's all that was available and I was glad to see the development of compact disc.  The notion that CD is "cold and gritty" does have some merit because early CD's were poorly mastered in the rush by record companies to build out their CD catalogs.  However the recent re-mastered versions done in the last 25 years, mostly by careful re-equalization, has been most excellent.  I still listen to my vinyl collection from time-to-time but I don't enjoy all the distracting pops and clicks and constant incessant background rumble.  I do enjoy the smooth clean sound of the same music on my CD...and without having to get up and flip the record over half way through the audition.  Don't forget that many albums even from the early 80s were digitally recorded and mixed to begin with.  If you really gotta have your pops and clicks and extreme high frequency roll off there's software that can add the aforesaid noise and rumble to a CD rip....

Always? My David Manley VTL CD's sound very good to my ears. Very well recorded. No fatigue. Not one-dimensional. I use "Toolbox" as one of my reference music sources. 

Not true at all , if you have a good recording and a Good quality
digital playeror dac, with good cables , digital can better a record in several ways that are excellent. Vacuum tube dacs sound rich
and detailed ,as well as top solidstste units..
A record is only capable of12 bits,digital more then double that.  SN ratio not even close, dynamic range is at least 30 dB betterthen any record, as well
as well as low Bass response. Any record player that is decent will cost over $5k with cables, with  a good quality cartridge. Digital in a similarpriced comparison is every bit as good or better, please 
remember the new records are are well mastered.
buy a mobile fidelity digital master , or MQA master digital recordings  you have excellent quality music, and digital keeps getting better and better.

Sleepwalker 65 , you didnot mention what your digital setup was and cost ,and cables, as well as your record player setup.
we want to know what you are comparing to see how you came to that conclusion .i owned a Audiostore ,and they both can sound 
excellent ,the latest digital has several inherent advantages.
SN ratio, Dynamic range , 2x the musical information on the given
disc,or recording, as well as much lower Bass response.
that is the mechanical limitation of records, and every year digital
continues to keep getting better and I donot miss having to clean ,
de static, the pops  and clicks. Cartridge,needle upkeep. No I just 
pull out my tablet play a few CDs in any order I want and just enjoy 
them .