I thought I had always been missing something with digital based on everything I read about vinyl. I finally purchased a very nice $6000 analog front end and had my eurika moment. This was about 8 years ago. I realized my digital front end was better and never had to wonder again. The clicks, pops, surface noise drove me crazy! Underneath those snap, crackle and pops the music sounded no better.
Your "eureka" digital moment
I got into digital in 86 or 87. Very conveniant but I never gave up on vinyl. Digital was ok but something did not "make sense" musically. Until 2001 when I bought a second hand meridian 508.24. Then digital made sense. No, not a perfect player (dynamics were polite) but oh what a listenable player. That was when I finally got digital.