Like Sean, if I understand him correctly, I have one foot in each camp and find either camp onesided and sadly incomplete. What I have always worked toward is common ground. At the moment I can tweak my system either way, depending on having the right software. With big orchestral classical music I find software suitable for this rather on vinyl, than on redbook CDs. But since I'm using an upsampler, things are looking up. I do see Will's point, but still contend, that with classical big orchestal music, an analog setup, say top of the line Spectral gear with the right wires and a first class vinyl front end meticulously set up, will put the best digital playback to shame as far as see through accuracy is concerned, because vinyl will bring out subtle details, which CDs simply do not grasp. But then I have not heard his system, nor does he have mine, so I fully share his point of view, that any argumentation along these lines is not only time and energy consuming, but also useless , because it proves nothing. Getting the fine balance within the best of both worlds is a very difficult undertaking. It takes time, an astute ear, a very (self)critical mind, quite a bit of dough and much experimenting. My "solution" for the moment is a mix of different amplification chains, pure SS and pure tube, together with a quite a complex array of speakers (mostly planars), which will be blended together according to the music at hand. It is a solution far from perfect of course,but nearer to anything else I have heard in blending both aspects together. This has evolved slowly through the years , this quest for the best of both worlds. I love it, and as Will rightly says, that's all what counts.
I'm still working to love digital, are you?
I'm wondering how many on this forum are still trying to love the "sound" of digital, as compared to analog. After my 15 long years of digital updates (9 cd players, 3 transports and 5 D/A converters), I still relish the midrange purity and harmonic structure involved with analog, that is not nearly as prevalent in digital. I know that digital gets better every year (I've spent well over $20k myself staying abreast with the latest in digital updates), but digital still doesn't grab my soul the same way that analog does. How many feel the same about analog as I do?