Does Anyone Think CD is Better Than Vinyl/Analog?

Consider this: I worked as a recording engineer for 45 years. In the last 20 years, I did many A vs D shootouts.  Here's what I found: younger people - despite their better hearing - came more and more to prefer the sound of digital.  Clearly, the gear has gotten significantly better, but that didn't seem to adequately explain the change I saw in how many votes digital got in comparison to analog.  Then it dawned on me, the younger engineers and musicians  had grown up on digital, and the music many of them listen to was created using the particularities of digital recording.  To them, that's how it's "supposed" to sound.  Older engineers and musicians would typically prefer analog, but they would be sitting in a group of younger engineers who heard the same playback (over excellent systems in actual recording studios) and the young guys clearly tended to vote for the digital versions. I also noticed that the percentage of older engineers who voted for the analog versions was slowly falling over the years.  Our tastes and expectations seem to be evolving.  I think that music consumers are now also "learning" the sound of digital and they love the snappy, crisp sound and the immensely greater convenience of digital.  As for me, I can hear and appreciate the qualities of good analog, but I HATE surface noise on records and I resent having to get out of my chair, lift the needle, and start "side B".  My digital setup sounds SO good, that I rarely bother with analog sources anymore (though I do use a tube amplifier to drive my speaker system from 80 HZ up). 

I have witnessed this debate before, but I will admit that I read all 4 pages of this one, as this debate here was distinctively: honest, generally more respectful of differences, and instructive, for many of us who do not have the acoustical training or experience. Learned a lot from you all, colleagues of the same tribe, whether we want to call ourselves audiophiles, or music lovers, absolute sound fans, etc. In my humble experience with music, started as a school band player, then afrocuban amateur percussionist, then decades of listening to world music from a consumer-level system to now a mid-level hifi (mostly second hand to be able to afford it), I am both amazed and privileged to enjoy so much listening to amazing musical works in CD and vynil formats. Under the pandemic's global enclosure, those of us who had music and sound systems to play it, have been therapeutically served by our musical culture. Our therapist or psychologist have been always there, our music, and under this survival crisis, came out to save us. Tribe members, keep enjoying this privileged musical culture that in my experience, brings out the best of humanity. As an educator, please, share this wealth we all enjoy recreating every minute we listen, with our younger generations! I noticed in the 1980's, with the wave moving towards the digital format, what I PERCEIVED as an "electric sound" in CDs, in comparison to my LPs. That memory stayed with me, but I kept my old CDs, and now with DACS and better CD player, I keep "re-discovering" them. In the meantime (35 years), I returned to LPs, was able to get good, affordable turntables, MM and MC cartridges, tube and SS phono stages, tube and SS preamps and amps. My experience is to improve my CD gear to better enjoy my CD collection, which I keep buying. But mostly, I buy mostly used LP records, some few new ones, clean them up, care for them, read their literature, enjoy them greatly. I enjoyed reading today about everyone's experiences in this hobby, in this musical culture, this passion of ours, please keep it on, no matter which medium we prefer, "think", or "like" the most. Happy listening musical tribe comrades!

In my personal opinion, a Blu-ray Disc is MUCH better. Specifically, because the Blu-ray Disc holds all the GREAT audio codecs, like DTS-HD Master Audio and or Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD, and so on.

If you all want to Experience a MARVELOUS sound, order the Blu-ray Album Eagles Farewell Tour 1.  This is a LIVE concert at the Rod Laver Stadium, in Melbourne, 2005. All I can tell you is WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Hotel California is a Complete experience!!!

@gone  Your response coincides with mine (except for 78s).  I listen to 3,000 ethnic music 78s and LPs, most never to be seen in any future format.  I have 25,000 LPs, 7,000 78s and 7,000 CDs, mostly CDs being accumulated in the past decade.  The reason is that there are bargains in well remastered classical and jazz that I did not appreciate until I purchased my EAR Acute and last year, the COS Engineering D2v DAC.  About 30% of my CD collection never was and probably never will be issued in any other format (Marston, Biddulph, Romophone) 78s of opera, vocal, violin and piano 78s expertly remastered from rare recordings.  I have a moderately high end analog rig for LPs (VPI TNT VI mod./SME IV mod./Benz Ruby3 and appropriate high end electronics).  

To all those who just state that CD is unlistenable and cannot hold their attention, it's probably your equipment or you just listen to post 1995, compressed and poorly mastered pop and rock.  There is some poorly remastered classical as well (RCA opera mono series from last decade had hyped up mids, shrill compressed dynamics, bass-less lows-totally inferior to the early CD remasterings which sounded like the original LPs, not quite as good but certainly clean).  I prefer rock LPs to CDs because the rock remasterings are generally inferior.   

As to listening to 78s on a victrola, nope.  I use a Grado elliptical cartridge on a Ultracraft 400 arm on a VPI 19-4 turntable feeding a Marantz 7 in 78 setting through my main system.  Especially post 1925 78s sound dynamic and tonally rich.  My system is very dynamic so I don't miss not having horns.  Pre-1925 78s require different stylus sizes and speeds (my VPI SDS adjusts for speeds).  So, I'm not wearing out the 78s or the stylii compared to a victrola and get very superior sound.

I will not give up any of these formats.  I only have about 100 R2R tapes with a Technics 1500 R2R.  It would be nice to have half track 15 ips tapes, but I don't.  I don't plan to stream.  Also, the booklets that accompany many of my historic 78s CDs are magnificent, better than the backsides of an LP.