Is It Time To Sell My Vinyl Rig?

@goofyfoot I can only speak for myself, started this last year to purchase vinyl as I only had about 30 to 40 total in 2019, I think I’m at 400 give or take now, they are not hammering you it is just that apparently when we value vinyl and we get obsessed with it we developed some FOMO and we get in a quest to get as much as we can, but for this you need to appreciate it and respect the setup and things you do to implement it, it is a lot of work to get it right

I come from a very good digital rig (which I still use) and the convenience and the quality is there so I know exactly how you feel but vinyl could sound (and this is the problem I have describing these things) could sound so simple, relaxed but natural at the same time, it is different that digital and hard to explain.

My first 40 vinyl were new pressings (all or most from digital masters) my 41st vinyl in 2016 or so was a Wish you Were Here UK pressing from 70s I think, there I realized not all vinyl was created equal.

Last night I listened for the 1st time to a recently purchased Shades of Deep Purple 1st pressing (Japan) near mint, no noise, very very dissapointing sound in detail or dynamics, not your typical expected result. Then I played a recently purchased 1st pressing of Houses of the Holy, when The Rain Song started I got a tear falling down my cheek, not even when I was 12 listening to that specific record I had heard or experienced what I heard last night, to me that record (of my favorite band) is priceless because the emotion it conveyed.

I’m not saying do this or the other, just relating my experience, if you have a good digital then you need an equal quality vinyl rig and actual good vinyl pressings (not from the loudness wars) to compare, if you don’t have the commitment it is absolutely fine, I don’t criticize but I think it is what others are trying to say above.

Good luck man on whatever you do.

Oh one more thing and this is an exception I think to the rule.
If you listen to music from 90’s, 2000’s and modern pop and such then I tend to agree (since this was recorded digitally) that digital most likely could provide better results than vinyl. Digital is science and with a good system with good reconstruction filters, dithering, modulators and such you will achieve outstanding results.
If OTOH you listen to rock, swing, blues and such from the 80’s back then with vinyl you could experience more natural sound than digital, notice I say natural, digital pragmatism states there are no distortions if well implemented on good digital and there will be some distortion on vinyl due to not exact setup, equipment, phono stage and such.
Separate topic with digital sources, I use Tidal and Qobuz, I resample to 1411 PCM and / or 256DSD sometimes, audio from the 70’s Led Zep for example, I don’t like the new released remasters, don’t know why I just don’t like what I hear, I prefer the Redbook from older digital editions, when resampled (or upsampled like others say) to me it sounds better. Is it colored? I don’t know, maybe, but it sounds right.

Most of what I listen to are recent classical recordings or remastered classical recordings. I would say that 95 percent of classical releases today are in digital format. I doubt that vinyl will gain traction in that genre. If I do listen to popular remastered reissues like MOFI, then I still prefer the digital release over the vinyl. But I doubt there are many art/classical music fans who purchase more vinyl than cd’s unless they are nostalgic for recordings from the 1980’s or earlier. Plus, the quality of most classical recordings from today are phenomenal. If I were to choose popular music and jazz as my primary focus, then vinyl would be more prioritized but it doesn’t make sense to focus on vinyl if nothing ever gets released that way.