But in my lifetime the ritual involved with everything to do with vinyl/LPs is without a doubt more involved and that meaning I actually have to be more involved to get the best sonic results compared to the digital disks. Does any of this make sense to you?
Absolutely. And well stated. This is why I often recommend buying the table and arm you like based on looks and feel as much as sound. Record playing is inherently hands-on in a way digital will never be able to match.
This is true even though a lot of the same things apply to both. CD has cleaners and buffers and trimmers and paint pens, anti-static and resonance and dark matter stickers. CDs sound better when demagnetized even though there is nothing to be demagnetized. The CD laser needs to be cleaned, the CDP responds to Cones and vibration control and on and on and on.
Yet still for all that it comes down to you push a button, plop it down, and away it goes. You could be brain dead for all the involvement CD provides. Or heck with streaming you can be a total zombie, not only brain dead but literally no brain, the stream just goes and goes and goes. Which is fitting, seeing as the way it sounds nobody ever really gonna listen anyway.
The closest records ever got to that is the juke box. But even that is more involving than the digital version, which is basically streaming. Zzzzzz. Pretty much all of us though, when we talk about records we mean turntables. Manual turntable. Not even semi-auto, usually. Which means you have to actually think about what you want, go and get it, pull it out, figure out which side you want, see if it looks okay or needs cleaning, and if so then how much, carefully place it on the platter, (hopefully) clamp it down in place, and with the right amount of tension on the clamp, start the thing running, cue the arm, lower the lift, un-mute the phono stage, and only then finally sit down to enjoy 15 or 20 minutes of wonderful music. Music no CD has or ever will approach in its majesty.
Then all the while its playing you have the satisfaction of knowing it was you, little old you, who brought this unlikely magic to life. Because unlike CD where nobody has the foggiest what is going on, playing a record involves easily understandable mechanical concepts like being level, angles, levers, magnets, grooves and needles. Things that are really hardly any different than a gramophone, only when done with careful precision are somehow able to transform your room to a whole other realm.
You do this. Every tiny little tweak and adjustment you make can be heard. You plop a CD down and yeah, it is nice if instead of a cheezy flimsy plastic tray it lands with a thunk on a nice solid surface. Mark Levinson overcharges people astronomical sums for just such an experience. Nice solid buttons, too. So its not like people totally lose their desire for the full tactile experience just because they prioritize convenience over quality. But in those terms its no contest. Only records give you the Full Monty.
Good catch.