is the sound of vinyl due to the physical process of the turntable?

uber, some people will buy things you don't even have a Name for....;)

Analog vs. digital....we're approaching a point where the difference will only be noticed if you're standing and Watching the process....and, even then, you'd best verify what cables are going where....

'Ell, even my phone has a setting in the Sound file where it claims to duplicate 'tube sound reproduction'....and gets close.

(Yes, I know the difference....born pre-digital, pre-SS...I can only wish I was 'born yesterday'....and you'd be in trouble anyway....*L*)

"Silly audiophiles.....Tricks are for kicks!" 

"Right 'bout now....the funk's so rubber...." (FBS)

Another important point is that if I make a digital file of the playback of a vinyl album I get an exact copy of the ethereal sound. The digital now sounds like vinyl. In 192/24 you can not tell the difference between the actual vinyl and the digital file of the vinyl whereas it is easy to tell the difference between actual vinyl playback and fully digital playback.

absolutely disagree. the high rez digital rip of the vinyl cannot match the actual vinyl. it is easy to hear the difference.

i have 1000 high rez needle drops of my vinyl. these are 2xdsd. 100% of them it’s trivial to hear the difference. i have plenty of high rez PCM rips too of my vinyl, but not as many as the 2xdsd rips.

i listen daily to these files and the vinyl, for the last 10 years.

my digital playback is top level and i love it. mostly listen to it.

but it’s not and never will be vinyl. period.

A turntable introduces rumble and wow.  Rumble is the noise from the turntable and wow is the change in speed from the needle being dragged through the record groove.

Whereas digital is digital, not much too talk about. 

You're wrong there.  There are many flavors of digital to enjoy and digital sound quality is progressing steadily.  All vinyl does not sound better than all digital, either.  Good digital can sound as good as good vinyl.  If anyone prefers the sound of vinyl, though, that's fine with me.  We all like what we like (see Geoff).

I find the area where the greatest improvement can be made is in recording quality.  So many albums are just not recorded very well. 

@theo @mrubey  It all starts with recording the actual instruments in studio.  Everything is recorded digitally theses days.
Technically, the best medium is digital and by far: Much Higher Dynanics, much better separation, much lower noise, no wear out, no angle error, no medium saturation, no compression, etc etc etc.  The Vinyl is highly processed to fit in the physical medium.  There is the RIAA EQ Curve applied so it can sound decent on this very poor medium.
And contrary to what you said, there is no "lost information" with digital, it's simple math theory at work.
All that being said, you are perfectly right to prefer the sound of one or another, digital or analog.  Each component has its transfer function, at the end, whatever it is, you are the one who listen and choose.

Personally, i have a decent DAC with a matching intergrated amp and speaker, i love the sound.  I'm really not looking back to vinyl, that's for sure!  But that's just me.  I listened to many HiFi soundsystems for the last 40 years: Linn Sondek, JA Mitchell, Classé, Mark Levinson, Naim, Snell, Magneplanar, KEF, Wadia, etc etc etc.  While they sounded very good, for me nothing beats a high quality digital playback with a good DAC and matched component.  Happy listening!