vinyl is a different format to the master tape and 8 track is the same plus vinyl has eq applied and 8 track does not so will 8 track have better tone and soundstage than vinyl? i'm using logic here friendsBoth formats have EQ applied. But 8 tracks were made from tape copies that were one generation removed from that of LPs. The reason for this is that 8 tracks were made using a high speed duplication technique that tended to wear out the source tape pretty quickly and so it had to be replaced often.
The LPs OTOH were often made from the master tape; if not that then a 1st generation copy, since once the LP was mastered, tens of thousands of LPs could be stamped without significant degradation if the 3-step stamping process were used. It should be noted that the LP has lower distortion, dramatically lower noise and dramatically wider bandwidth than any tape format and especially 8-track, even if you were using Dolby noise reduction. 3 3/4"/second simply isn't a good tape speed if you want to get those things right- as others have pointed out this medium was created as a convenience for Lear jet sound systems back in the 1960s.
I used to service 8-track players and recorders quite a bit when I worked at Allied Radio Shack back in the 1970s. Even then it was obvious that both reel to reel and cassettes had better performance. Another obvious thing is that no-one ever made a decent 8-track transport!