When and how did you, if at all, realize vinyl is better?

Well, Dan, it seems that our minds think along similar lines. I composed my post before seeing yours. The similarities are striking, even down to the Koetsu!

First realized the superiority of vinyl in the early days, when I bought a CD of a favourite recording (Joan Sutherland, Lakme). Then I asked for in-home demos of digital and analogue at the same (high) price point. It was no contest then, and it is no contest now, although the price points have risen by an order of magnitude.

My dealer, a trusted man of good taste, astonished me by preferring digital. He explained that while he could hear electronic distortion, he didn't really mind it, but couldn't abide any degree of speed variation. With me it's the other way, and I have never heard digital that I could listen to, even a six box cost-no-object DIY.

Sevs, Elmasonic record cleaner, 6 Quads, Koetsu, Linn for digital. Everything else DIY. Classical.

Correction: tonearm is not DIY, it is Trans-Fi air bearing. Also, I say analogue, no contest.