Parity

When digital came out in the 80s I was still on the side of analog. Simply sounder better than early digital. With so much good music not available on vinyl I finially purchased a CD player. Around 2010 when I decided to get back to audiophillia and develop a better system I transitioned towards digital only system. Primarily do to wanting to direct my expenses toward optomizing a single source. With digital I still spin CDs via transport and DAC. I do some streaming via Apple computer to find new music. I am exploring the purchase of a dedicated streamer however not in any hurry. The TT I purdchased for the system that carried me for 25 years remains on a shelf in the basement. I maybe have 125 albums stored there also. Been thinking I should break the TT out and play some of those I used to play for my 1st child way back when. I appreciate that there is fun in vinyl however I am happy with the way digital serves up the music in my system.

mijostyn

"The issue with LPs is that they are extremely variable, performance ranging from insanely good to awful. Digital sources are more consistent. Digital also costs much less. Analog is much more fun. "

This is precisely how I feel.  I bought an early pressing of a Billie Holiday album from the Blue Note label - the music and the recording quality are wonderful.  However the surface noise is awful and annoying.  If I see it again I'll buy it and hope for better luck.

For a younger person, choosing between starting an LP playing system & buying LP’s vs. going full digital is a reasonable proposition. For old guys, who already had a healthy LP library when the CD was introduced, and continued buying them for the next twenty years (used ones being dumped by people buying into the CD hustle, and the few new ones being manufactured), the situation is quite different. Who in hell would suddenly ignore his 5,000 (or whatever) LP’s and switch to digital?! That’s why many old guys have both analogue & digital players and music collections.

@bdp24 

+1

Exactly.

From my experience:

1. A properly set up streaming system is hard to beat

2. Most of the albums streamed are remastered especially the high-res ones. New well recorded redbook and high-res albums sound great

3. Original old vinyl is a hit or miss compared to some of the remastered counterparts on Qobuz or Tidal

4. New editions on vinyl done by MoFi (put the DSD controversy aside for the intents and purposes of this conversation) and Analog Productions sound amazing. However they sound different from digital on CD or streaming. Some sound better than digital. I own jazz and classical on MoFi, AP vinyl that I prefer over digital/streaming versions in some cases. 

Then there’s a convenience factor and new music discovery capabilities with streaming that you just don’t have if you’re limited to physical media.
There are pros and cons to each format  

All in all, I’ve come to appreciate the differences in sound between analog and streaming. If analog and digital sounded exactly the same there would be no point in owning the playback equipment for both formats. However, you may be neither here nor there. So…
If you want to focus on digital, selling the analog set up to use the funds to up the ante in the digital front end makes total sense to me. Kind of hard to give up the experience of physically handling records, tinkering around with the set up and finally enjoying the sonic difference between the formats. If that’s your cup of tea. 

Just my take on it.