Am I assuming too Much?

All digital recordings deal only with finite numbers such as number of samples, start finish... i.e. all digital recordings have a "Floor" and a "Ceiling" meaning that nothing goes either bellow or above audiable freequencies in digital recording/reproduction. In analogue reproduction nothing is finite. Analogue record can contain even 5Hz or upto 42Khz of unaudiable information that will basically signify the image of original sound source and define the original tembre or "colour" of the sound.

If I'm speaking in front of you, you can clearly hear where the sound is comming from and you can literally difine the tembre of my voice because not only audiable freequencies are presend in audio signals. The same way it could be heard from the analogue record. There are even sounds that still nearly impossible to record with digital recorder such as bird songs in the forest.

To say for the conlcusion you can upgrade your digital setup untill you hit the "Floor" and/or the "Ceiling", but you can infinitely upgrade your analogue and maybe(certainly with proper speakers and room) you'll rich whatever record can deliver.

Marakanetz, please offer some clarification. Your point is clear regarding the fact that LP can contain higher frequency info than Red Book CD. However, what do you mean by "In analogue reproduction nothing is finite."?

From what I understand, at some point digital can store more information than actual physics will allow to be stored on an LP. The materials involved in the manufacture of an LP will dictate that there is always a finite limit to how much information can be stored.

...it can certainly store subharmonic freequencies that you will transfer from other digital devices but is it live recording?

Craig above mentions the objectionable surface noises of LP's; certainly a valid concern. I shared this view for decades, until recently setting up my first high quality turntable. I went straight from mid-fi analog to digital years ago, & then only rarely played my old records.
The first time that I dropped a needle into the groove on this VPI TT, initially I thought that I had forgotten to plug in the interconnects because even with volume control turned up it was very very quiet, until the music began playing. And does it PLAY! I was, & I am still amazed at how good quality analog actually sounds. A couple of minor surface-dust pops were my only "analog complaint" but I'm told that if I only washed my records then even those will go away. I'm now buying records again; something that I haven't done in nearly 20 years!

In response to the "noise" aspect of vinyl, I have found that "clicks and pops" are reduced when you have a properly designed phono stage input section that does not overload on the wideband splash that the "pop" creates. This is a major step in vinyl noise reduction. You then hear only a minor "tick" on light scratches and the like. An excellent player/arm/cartridge combination also helps by remaining in control when it hits a "pop" and not careening out of control and sending all manner of oscillations into the phono stage. The best players and phono stages make vinyl listening a pleasure with minimal noise, but they can't compensate for the wear of used records that were played on some "vinyl lathe" that carved the high freq's off. Unfortuately, this is all too common on used records today.