Analog or Digital and why?

I have a great deal of respect for Mike and he is a helping soul

Thanks for saying what i think also...

My best to you....

reading the recent posts reminds me of when i used to regularly attend various high end hifi shows at CES, Rocky Mountain fest, etc etc

it is a shame folks on this forum can’t hear others’ systems playing their chosen music ... doing so would likely have folks state their points of view with a more humble more enlightened more respectful tone and perspective

easy to hide behind an online identity and be strident and ugly and be so fast with the put downs of others' points of view, rather than be there in person, show your face and identity, say it to their face

those rooms at the shows also highlighted to me how broad and varying tastes there are in music and equipment and ’sounds’ of systems

obviously everyone at these shows are trying to show off and impress with their wares, paying handsomely for the opportunity to do so, but SOOOO many of the rooms sounded poor as could be agreed by many who visited those rooms, be they members of the press, folks in the business, folks just there for the hobby

yep, agree..even with COVID i will have heard four different systems this past month, not including my own ( one of 4 ).....

More if you count the dealerships I frequent...

I can tell you with great certainty the Aesthetix Mimas integrated with card based DAC is a hyper musical bit of gear :-)

Some of what follows I have stated on other threads, but there are also some expansions of my thinking. This post is most explicitly about media versus streaming, but still sheds light both on the op and also the thread that followed.
Let’s say that we accept the notion of a holistic system. Including the listening room.

The holistic approach can’t end with gear, room or even media used or what is recorded on different media (like 78’s versus contemporary digital). Each of us still needs to ask ourselves what is it we want to get out of listening to music?

If we want music to be ritualistic—and have the benefits which accrue from ritual, then yes, the extra labor of vinyl has more to offer it. If we have a prepper’s mindset, holding on to physical media assures one that when the web goes down and takes streaming with it, there will still be music. At least if one has access to clean power. 
If we want near-infinite choice and quick retrieval with little fuss or bother, digital offers that in spades. (Though I find digital has more fuss and bother connected to it than most digital-only mavens acknowledge. See some of my other handful of posts for that notion).
What is less often remarked upon, I think, is the relative value of a relationship versus one-night stands. Infinite music, with streaming, is a bit akin to endless dates. There is nothing wrong with that in my mind—if that is how one is constituted. 
One of the things I want from my listening time is the depth of knowledge that comes with the intimacy of repeated listening. Knowing myself, I listen to my records and gain that deeper appreciation. When I stream, however, I tend not to revisit music in the same way or the same frequency. So I know that music less well. Can one constrain one’s listening on digital to a smaller quanta of music? Of course—but it tends not to be how I operate. Moreover, such a limitation for streaming is a bit contrived, when infinite choice is one of the genuine benefits of Qobuz, Tidal or Roon. 
So the holism of a listening system would be well-served and best achieved when a given audiophile knows what sort of relationship they want to have with music. Then they would understand that the why of how they consume music is just as essential as the gear. 
People who seek the novelty of the new probably will do best investing most of their dollars in a digital streaming source. People who seek the surprising novelty of the familiar may find vinyl a better source. 
I listen 70% vinyl, 15% digital media formats and 15% streaming. 
I hope this different model or approach is helpful for someone.

Of course analog will be the baseline and reference, as it came before digital. Chronological priority does not, however, mean "better." Accidents of history don’t ever determine quality.

What sounds better, more "real," more natural, lifelike, whatever: an audiophile pressing of "A Whisper of Love" by Ayako Hosokawa on vinyl from Impex, or the 24k gold cd of the same? Three Blind Mice recordings are fabulous, and this is one which I own in both formats. A friend and I listened to both formats back to back one evening. Now, I’ve been digital since the late ’80’s, and have only recently come back to vinyl. Lots of nostalgia, and a great love of what someone here rightly called the liturgy of record-playing. I now romanticize vinyl and its rituals, and am willing to pay the absurd amounts that MoFi, Analogue Productions, etc. ask for their pressings. They sound great, of course, and it’s a special occasion to cue up these records.

My friend, he’s not so easily impressed. No romanticism with him, no vested interest in the vinyl revival or any debate on A-gon. While I heard the vinyl as "better," he heard the cd as such. My cd rig (transport and good DAC) is a little pricier than my TT and stage, but there was more going on than only sonics. He’s got a pretty good ear, and calls ’em like he hears ’em. I’ve only been listening through decent equipment for the last year or so, but know that I often hear exactly what I want to hear. In this case, I wanted the vinyl to sound better.

Who knows if it did? Some of the folks here might insist it must have, that, since vinyl has a magical quality that nothing else does, only an inferior TT prevented the record from shining in its greater glory. And they patronize those who like digital as if they’re children who just don’t know better, shuffling around the house listening to their lil’ iPods. Please.

I dig vinyl. I dig cd’s. I dig streaming, sometimes. Because I dig music. Not "audio," but music. What sounds better to anyone else’s ears seems irrelevant when enjoying what’s playing.