Vinyl sounds better (shots fired)

I suspect that it is the differences in mastering that are the most significant factor.

@newton_john One difference is that many LPs have less compression than the digital release. This is because there’s no expectation of the LP being played in a car, whereas there is with the digital release. This isn’t universal, but many producers will send an uncompressed tape or source file to the LP mastering operation on this account if they are quality conscious. When I was running my LP mastering operation we always would ask the producer if such was available.

@atmasphere 

Thank you. It’s good to hear that confirmed by someone with personal experience. Your contributions here are highly valued. 

Listening to vinyl is 100x the cost, labor, space and inconvenience of digital. And the consensus among the intelligentsia of the audiophile community is that the "vinyl zealots" are delusional people with more money than brains, who believe the propaganda after drinking the analogue Kool Aid. Seems like a lot of heat generating from a "debate" that's more like a potluck supper with the Hatfields and the McCoys. If the Luddites (like me) enjoy the listening experience that analogue provides, what skin is it off your rather prominent proboscis? 

@mambacfa

Brilliant satire. I especially liked “the intelligentsia of the audiophile community” - a contradiction in terms if ever I heard one.

If the geniuses in the music industry could master CDs and digital files properly, Luddites like us wouldn’t need to take refuge in vinyl.

Incidentally, I just realised another major benefit of the sound of vinyl replay.

There are many artists and albums that I found to be impenetrable on the fully digital formats. Yet on vinyl, they are accessible.

For example, I attempted to get to grips with the discography of Yes beyond the handful of popular classic albums from the seventies on streaming. It wasn’t until I heard the unfashionable ends of their catalogue on vinyl without the harshness previously experienced, that I realised most of their albums are enjoyable listens. On vinyl their music just flows effortlessly.

It’s no coincidence that the few Yes albums I liked, were the ones I’d heard on vinyl long before CDs ever existed.

Of course streaming is the technically superior format. Unfortunately, we are not hearing its full potential because of the mastering of the albums that are available to us.