Why do records made from digital sources sound good?

The character (distortion, if you want to be technical) of the analogue chain (cartridge/arm/turntable/phono stage) is dominant... so I'm not surprised you like it more, if you like it. I personally don't.

So can someone explain this to me? 

@billstevenson Yes. FWIW, I ran an LP mastering operation for about 15 years.

When we got in a project that used a digital source file, we would talk to the producer to see if we could get a copy that didn't have all the DSP stuff that digital source files often have. In particular, most digital releases are compressed so they can be played on the radio, in a car or ear buds in a noisy environment.

LPs are likely not getting played in a car So they don't need the compression. So we would get a source file that didn't have it. LPs have a lot more dynamic range than most digifiles care to admit. It certainly makes the LP more interesting to listen to. We found that if we spent enough time with the project we could identify any problem areas (like out of phase bass, which can knock the stylus out of the groove) and see what we could do about them without resorting to extra processing (such as mono bass for out of phase bass). By doing this we never had to do any extra processing.

I know I'm not the only mastering engineer to figure this out. But usually the producer doesn't want to spend the cash for the engineering time, hence compression, limiting and mono bass processors. But an experienced mastering engineer usually can spot problem areas and deal with it in short order without using processing. In these days of most recordings being digital, I suspect getting a source file without DSP compression is a common practice.

On this account, LPs can often sound better than the digital releases, having nothing to do with LP or digital performance and everything to do with industry practice and the desire to make the digital release as accessible as possible.

Atmasphere,

Thank you.  That makes sense to me.  I always knew that mastering engineers are wizards!  Great insight and much appreciated.  I had given up hope.

Bill

I prefer digital sound.  The LPs that I buy are limited to ones that either were never issued digitally or were poorly remastered digitally.  Occasionally one of these LPs will eventually be digitized and I almost always prefer the digital.

  Having said this I recognize that it is possible to get excellent sound from analog.  I believe that many listeners prefer to hear the colorations from their analog set up (usually related to cartridge choice)and the sense of ambiance from LP playback, and I think the OP is probably not one of them.

  I might investigate the sugar cube.