Digital LP’s

Getting back to the OPs statement/question.

I recall when Abraxas was released by MoFi on a 'One-Step' pressing.  I believe the original cost was $100.  Shortly after it sold out, USED copies were selling for $350.  A friend was offered $600 for his copy.  By contrast, most LPs loose value after they are opened and played.

As we know, MoFi was later harshly criticized in the hi-fi community for using a D in the chain (there was even a lawsuit brought against MoFi ).  Up to that point, many analogue fans proclaimed it one of, if not THE, BEST LP that they have ever heard.

Funny how our biases can be so retrospective. 

I think that MoFi taught us all a hard lesson: When properly employed, a D step to reduce noise can actually enhance a recording.  

I enjoy my AAA LPs (thousands), but I am keeping an open D perspective.

I think syr1990 has it right.  It all depends on the mastering.

I think one of the main reasons that some audiophiles prefer a vinyl version of a digital recording is that their cartridge has a non-flat frequency response that they like the sound of. Phono cartridges have been used for decades to tune the sound of a system. Some are bumped up in the mid bass, others have a hot high end response. That was always part of the fun of vinyl. CD players on the other hand have ruler flat frequency responses.

My experience is different than @rvpiano . I have many titles on CD and vinyl and I don't find that the vinyl version sounds inherently worse. In fact they often sound remarkably similar. When I got a Hana SL cartridge my vinyl rig began sounding much like the CD. If a CD lacks spaciousness and detail compared too the vinyl version I would suggest that the reason is that the cartridge has a tilted up response in the high frequencies which is responsible for the difference in sound.

I am unaware of any examples of a digitally recorded album being less compressed for the vinyl version than the CD version. If anyone has examples of this I would be interested in knowing what they are. 

There's still loads to unpick in this interesting discussion.

The vinyl production process is different to that for CD because on top of the choices made by the mastering engineer, the cutting engineer has to make a set of additional choices over and above those made by the mastering engineer as and between bandwidth, dynamic range and running time. So most of the time, the sound of what goes on to the final analogue reproduction medium can never be the same as what goes onto the digital.

By the way, I have very high resolution CD/SACD, Vinyl and Streaming front ends and I'm not biased towards any one of those. However, if I am going to purchase a digital recording, I'll do so on a digital medium rather than having that recording put through an additional step in being transcribed to vinyl.

I have a BMG record club LP of Pat Metheny's Still Life (Talking) from 1987 and the CD version.  The digital record, mastered by the great Bob Ludwig, has sounded better in some respects when I've compared it to the CD.  It's been a while since I did the comparison, but IIRC the bass ostinato on "Last Train Home" was more articulate on the LP than the CD, which surprised me.  I'll be getting a new cartridge soon, and I'm using a different DAC now, so I may repeat the comparison.

With analog-recorded albums, I have some where the CD sounds better and some where the LP sounds better.  It probably does come down to the mastering of each, as others above had said. I think Todd Rundgren's A Wizard, A True Star was one which sounded a little better on CD, not surprising given how each LP side is about 30' long.  Granted, that is a rather poor-sounding recording to begin with, but I love the music anyway.