VINYL SUCKS!

Digital has improved a lot over the years. Early CD releases were usually pure awful, but that is not the case today. And Hi-Rez takes it up another notch. I have a high resolution digital and analog system, around 5000 CD's and maybe 3000 vinyl records. If given a choice, I still prefer vinyl-- despite its imperfections. I also enjoy the covers and other art often included with vinyl releases. These days I no longer buy many CD's, vinyl records are just way more fun IMO.

I knew someone who owned a wooden powerboat i.e. >
https://www.classicwoodenboatplans.com/shop/barrelback-custom-19
He said either you get it or you don’t. Of course, fiberglass boats are infinitely more practical & convenient. All it takes is desensitizing yourself to the depth of beauty represented by the living thing, wood is when raised to such an art form. All the sheer, enveloping, penetrating complexities & nuance - once you begin to surrender to seeing it, you’ve opened up entirely new vistas in yourself.
Yes, I’m leading up to saying it’s the same with vinyl vs digital (in a well-sorted system much more so of course) but the mechanics of it are never that simple to those, intent on being in denial. It works like this: If you try & listen to the differences you’ll definitely hear them - the tricky part to digital lovers/apologists whatever, is connecting that to their emotions. The human imagination is so amazing/powerful etc. that it allows us to override that connection. G-d bless you if you’ve convinced yourself that makes you happy. It’s an accommodation that is as convenient as the guy who persuades himself the surplus beauty of wooden boats is irrelevant. I have a Meridian 808 cd player AND a record player. I’m not a chronic liar who forgets what the truth actually is. I still enjoy my digital but it’s missing stuff vinyl has, no question. If you tell yourself you don’t need it/can’t hear it, that becomes your reality soon enough. Whatever floats your proverbial boat, regardless of what it’s made of. I’ll defend anyone’s right to look at Da Vincis with dark sunglasses on. Calling it the same as w/o, not so much though.

John1 nails it.

I've been buying music and building out my stereo system since I could ride a bike in the '70s. I migrated seamlessly from vinyl to CD's by the '90s and though I had a great turntable rig, I spent more and more money upgrading to higher and higher quality CD players (my speakers were Infinity RS1b's and later Genesis III's w/subs. By the '2000s I had put my turntable into storage and had not heard a record in at least a decade. I was definitely aware that digital sound was improving and that SACD's and hi-rez had really made huge strides in quality. Generally speaking I was happy with my by now all digital setup.

By around 2012 I began to notice vinyl records showing up in my local music stores and, probably for nostalgia's sake, I bought a few releases here and there-- and I set them aside to just enjoy the covers. 

By 2013 I was still buying CD's but had 5 or 10 new vinyl records I'd collected along the way. My own original collection of vinyl (nearly 1000 titles) had been long ago put into (proper) storage.

So later in that year my wife asked me if I ever planned on playing any of my new vinyl records. I decided I should at least setup my turntable (SOTA Star Sapphire, Souther Triquartz arm, Clearaudio Veritas MC cart) and maybe do an A-B comparison on a couple of titles I had on both CD and vinyl. Daft Punk's Random Access Memories was one of them. I picked up an inexpensive (Musical Fidelity V-LPS) Phono Stage- my McCormack preamp had no phono input-- and set everything up, got my levels matched, sat my wife down beside me and asked for brutal honestly. First, we played a CD track off the album-- it sounded fantastic. Then I switched to the same track on vinyl. Our immediate, as in it only took 5 or 10 seconds, response was jaw-dropping. All of this musical information that we had apparently been missing just came flooding in. Soundstage became bigger, more focused. Bass gained an organic kind of musical authority-- it just sounded more real, more "there". And it was not a subtle thing. It was shocking. I was back on vinyl from that minute forward. 

It is hard to put into words just how profoundly this experience effected me. It was like rediscovering how much better a real meal tastes compared to a fast food version of the same-- it was that obvious. 

So yes, I do appreciate the beauty of wooden boats. Fiberglass just won't cut it for me anymore.

Vinyl is the second least worst music format. The very least worst, most expensive and least convenient is reel to reel. 
I enjoy process. The ritual of getting set up. Feels like something important is about to happen. The physicality of it all. The ontological relationship with the medium. 
Somethings can either be microwaved or they can be cooked in a cast iron pan. One is quite devoid of process. The other not so much. 
I like feeling connected to the physical world. 

perkri273--  I agree completely. Having spent a LOT of time with LP's, then CD's, and then digital streaming/downloads there is something about "process" that just feels right to me. I can tell that it is better for me. The sound is better for me as well. No one is more surprised than myself that I am back spinning vinyl well into the 21st century. I was figuring crystal music spheres by now...