Has anyone truly compared Vintage vs. Modern?

It's hard to imagine but a few vintage pre amps, ala APT Holman were cleverly designed and, in the right condition, still perform well against contemporary efforts.  Not sure about amplifiers.

Bryston, Superphon , Dynaco had impressive engineering that can still be impressive.

Yes, some of the older gear looks impressive but the electronics have seen a better day. I would not install any of them in a system where critical listening is paramount. The exception would be the Threshold products that were ahead of their time and built to last a lifetime.

I just viewed Jay Inagi “Is Vintage BETTER than Today’s HiFi in 2025?” on YouTube here

I agree that modern gear performs better as high-end audio continues to progress- applying better parts and engineering. But vintage gear should be looked as it own thing, like collectible cars, whose sonics, visual, and other factors that can still be enjoyed by enthusiasts today.

There seems to be a big difference in dabbling with vintage components vs having the entire audio chain as vintage.   For instance, I have Kenwood L-02T tuner and am debating purchasing Sansui 9090db receiver, but it won’t replace my modern high-end transparent audio chain.