Digitally recorded vinyl vs streaming

Clearthinker, I actually meant, and thought I said, that the 80's and 90's were probably digital.  I know the 60's and 70's were not.

I see a couple of suggestions for DACs above, but I have not seen them at the places I shop - Audio Advice / Upscale Audio / Crutchfield so I am stuck at this point.  

Can I get more suggestions on a streamer? 

The only upgraded DAC / streamer I've listened to is the Rose rs150.  It says it has a better DAC but it also seems to really promote its large beautiful screen, which I don't really care about.  MAny other DACs I've reserched refer to them being a pre-amp, but I have a nice McIntosh integrated amp and don't want a new pre-amp, I just want to listen to a better streamer and see if its better.

I have upgraded cables/power supply/ethernet cables, so I feel like I'm ready to test drive a new streamer.  Thanks for all the suggestions.

On your original question...I have run this experiment many times.  I find that that if I can get my hands on an undamaged copy of the album on vinyl, it never sounds worse than the digital stream.  This is usually true even if the album was originally recorded digitally. 

That does not mean that the vinyl release sounds better 100% of the time, although it usually does.  Basically, the worst possible result with the vinyl edition is that it is of the same quality as digital.  If find this most frequently happens with recent releases, and usually when the digital release is of low enough quality that I was really hoping to get a big improvement with the record.  I know some artists are now releasing albums at a maximum quality of 320kbs mp3, because "you can't hear the difference" by which they mean THEY can't hear the difference when plugging a pair of Sony headphones into the USB-C jack of their Macbook Pro.

The main issue with the decades you mentioned is availability.  The 90s in particular seems to be an era when vinyl releases just weren't happening.  Luckily the digital streams are often of good quality.

@mojo771 I will second the recommendation for an external DAC.

I too ordered a Border Patrol DAC online. To put it simply it gives me more: More details, depth, more soundstage. Please note that it is the power supply that is rectified by tube. The signal path is SS. Even so it was a nice improvement for a IMHO, reasonable amount of money. 

While I prefer vinyl, sometimes I just want to sit. 😉

Happy listening. 

I have a Brinkman tt, but my streaming setup comes close on a lot of records. Now... I think you go all in or not. I stream. From Qobuz via Innuos Zenith. In my setup, the audio switch, USB reclocker, msampler, quality BNC, USB and Ethernet cables, all brought it closer and closer to finally ask myself, was the fancy TT and expensive records worth it. The answer is still yes but  it is a close match.