Analog or Digital and why?

+1 @electroslacker

this is what shifts the balance massively towards digital

truly the world’s music collection at your fingertips, especially new music ... so even if digital reproduction sq is 1-2 percent less good sounding than analog (not debating this point here, it is such a pointless debate)... to hear, sample, experience any and all recommended and heretofore unknown music to me is such a huge upgrade in the whole enjoyment factor and happiness!

don’t get me wrong, i love my tt/cart/phono stage i have poured so much time and money into it to make it sound great... but digital streaming is just da bomb... sooo much fun  :)

What’s this either/or crapola?
Too much like religion or politics.
Bloody useless except for power mad sociopaths.

Besides it’s not the components as much as the recordings.
It's the sum total of program possible to acquire or have access to any time.
And the ease of playback.

If I SHOULD spend a proper ratio of $$ on analog vs digital, I've already spent too much for the volume of recordings available.
And that ratio is diminishing daily.

Okie dokie, this is only one comparison. DSOTM on SACD versus DSOTM on vinyl doesn't compare. Have a decent system to give each a fair shake. In non-technical lingo, analog just sounds more real.

I don't own a high end sound system. It's mostly restored vintage equipment that would probably be considered very good mid-fi. Nevertheless, the most natural, best sounding recordings I have are vinyl LP's from jazz recordings mastered in the 1950's and 1960's. 

That doesn't mean I do not listen to digital. I listen to more digital than analog and I appreciate many digital recordings, especially those either recorded in the last 15 years, or remastered in the last 15 years from analog tapes.

But I have to tell you that there are some digital recordings, especially ones from the 1980's and early 1990's, that sound so unmusical, so "grainy" and harsh, that I have to turn them off. They were probably made when digital technology was in its infancy or near infancy, and I prefer almost any modern analog recocording to them. I can hear their "graininess" most clearly in recorded string sections. At least that is where I hear sounds that I feel are not at all "musical".

No, I’m not offended that my nearly magical streamer/DAC was just compared to a frigging iPod. I find tremendous pleasure in both my digital and my analog rigs.  I just love listening to music - to me that’s what it’s all about. YMMV.