Upgrade path question. Upgrade analog or turn to digital?

I am an all digital audiophile for the following reasons:

- As a general rule I don't appreciate a lot of the classic "audiophile" music, so other than classical there isn't a lot of vinyl that is compelling to me.

- I never had a vinyl setup, so don't have any emotional attachments to them.

- I don't have sufficient space (or budget) for the components or the media.

- I rarely have opportunity to sit down and listen with two kids and a small house, so    I benefit from the easy interface of digital.  I do only listen to ripped CDs.

It's hard for me to give advice to you since don't know what sentimental attachment you have to your vinyl and associated equipment, but do appreciate the desire to making listening to music easier.

I do, however, think that it's not a great idea to get rid of your vinyl rig until you know that you're satisfied with the switch.  I think you can probably add digital as a source with some reasonably sized components.

I'd suggest that you maintain your current vinyl setup with the minimal investment and then add a digital source and see where it takes you.  You might find that it works for 95% of your listening desires and then you can be more confident in moving way from analog and chasing the digital rainbow

I have the new DS Audio optical cartridge and its the biggest analog upgrade I’ve done. Highly recommended.

"tempting to have the same quality, just a button away"

Not goon happen without major investment in cables. power supplies and components.

If you spend enough you can get a well built streaming DAC that will get you there without taking up much room. Keep your current setup. Both serve different purposes.

@OP

Tough question since you are already heavily invested in vinyl. Either way you go, I believe there will come a time where you wish you had gone the other way. Meaning, even so you don't have room for both setups, you may want to spend your time and money trying to find the space that will allow it. Best long term advice I can give you.

Tough call. To get streaming properly where the quality won't frustrate you. is fairly pricey, (At least that was my experience) Each format transition was for convenience, 8-tracks played endlessly. Auto-reverse cassettes kept dance going. LP in car? The stacking 45's in pile dropping and grinding into each other to keep the music running. PRO: Digital feed means I never have to leave my chair! That's why we made our own cassettes with "our" music recorded in sequence on continuous play, I even bought an early cassette player that manually flipped the cassette over with robot hand!  But in the process I lost the sound of music. Now I'm back. The music is what I'm here for. My budget wouldn't get me to the quality I want in digital. For me its CD's and vinyl. I own my music. And yes, space is an issue with real things but as our internet is unreliable its nice to be able to just drop the needle and groove.