How many of you are digital only systems?

with caveat that my system is "mid fi" by many audiophile standards, you can put together a very nice sounding analog rig for a couple thousand, and far far less if you buy pre-owned. whether it meets your sound quality standards is something only you can answer, but in terms of "getting your feet wet" with something decent, imho the gear investment is not as crazy as many make it out to be. buying records to play will be the bigger expense. i know people who primarily stream day to day, but still buy their favorites on vinyl - to me this seems like the wise way to do it

digital can sound superb. depending on your music tastes, it may be your only option for some things! and despite what the self appointed vinyl police might say, imho there are also tons of vinyl reissues sourced from digital that sound great. it isn't always such a cut-and-dry thing. i personally would not hang my hat on one type of source being inherently superior to another - just too many exceptions, too many variables. 

that said i do love vinyl for a whole bunch of reasons and one is that for me it often sounds more "alive" when compared to a digital file of the exact same material. that is my experience. and if the OP wants to try it out for themselves, it's not as cost-prohibitive to get up and running as some would have you believe - so why not give it a shot? just my .02c. happy listening 

i remember i listened to a podcast recently where the guys (professional gear reviewers) were talking about how entry level turntables used to be better quality sound than entry level dacs and how that's no longer the case. their view was that in order to get top performance, clearly better than digital out of a turntable setup you need to spend $5k or something. perfectly valid opinion - these guys have probably forgotten about more equipment than i'll ever see - but i personally don't think that's true. there are a lot of younger people who've invested in a turntable setup to complement their spotify etc and clearly enjoy it - that's why there's so many new records now! whether it sounds "better" or "worse" is the listener's business, but i am personally an advocate for trying it out for oneself and then deciding. 

and a lot of people on this thread have already done exactly this, and decided to go digital. does a vinyl lover know more than them? are they more "connected" to the music? i doubt it. in my opinion the delivery system will never be more important than the music itself. people figure out what works best for them. it's all good. all i'm saying is it's not a big deal to give records a shot - you may love it. and if you don't, you'll know for sure.