Ask an Audio geek

[Kosh]

    
I'll agree and also disagree here.  From a technical standpoint you are correct.  CD is superior in every way.  Facts are facts and you can't argue measurable values.  From an implementation perspective, the way modern music is mastered has made a lot of music unlistenable (to me).  It doesn't matter if the technology is superior if the recording engineers are going to piss away the advantages with their inferior recording techniques.

It's like watching 480P content on a 40" 4K TV from 10 feet away.  You've pretty much pissed away every technical advantage that the TV had by how its being used.  Now obviously all CD's aren't brickwalled compressed into oblivion, but a lot are.  You have to take them on a case by case basis.    
    
I got back into vinyl for a few reasons.    

First, I like the way my table sounds.  Turntables flavor/color music much like a tube amplifier might.

Indeed it does - which is undesirable for a recording/playback technology. That's not its role. It would be easy for manufacturers to create a a DSP device which could do the same thing - and give you some control of the coloring - without having to resort to such a delicate medium as vinyl records. I remember being taught that the pressure density of the diamond needle on the soft vinyl is several tons per square inch! So apart from all the limitations, the vinyl is being torn up on every play. I remember treating my records with a chemical add-on in the early 80s in the hope of preserving them. CDs came along soon after which made the issue moot but I always wondered if it worked.

The tracking force of most decent modern cartridges is feather light compared to the old days.  My cartridge tracks at 2.0g, and never skips.  I can still remember my mom taping pennies on the cartridge headshell in order to keep the "needle in the groove".    Even with heavy play, my records will last until I'm wormfood dead in the ground.   It's not for everyone, and I would only recommend vinyl to certain people.  You definitely don't get into it for the convenience.      
  
I think the playback system plays into it as well.  As I mentioned, I'm using a pair a Klipsch Chorus II's.  I've owned a lot of speakers in my day.  Magnepan IIIA, Vandersteen 3a Sigs, DCM Timewindows, Polk Audio SDA's, Ohm Walsh.  The horn tweeter and squaker on the Klipsch do very well with vinyl.  The combination has a nice synergy.   The other big factor with vinyl is where your records come from.  If I had to build a collection with buying new records at $35 each, I would definitely have walked away.  The bulk of my collection came with two craigslist purchases.  The first was a lot of 200 records for $100 that consisted of all late 60's to mid 70's classic rock.  The seller had only played then once to record to reel-to-reel, and never played them again.  This was the motherload, and I didn't even have a TT at the time.  I also have a local used record shop that I can get NM grade records for about $3 each. 

Unlike a lot of vinyl guys, I am not anti-digital.  I have 1000's of CD's.  I will never purchase an MP3 though.  I'd rather buy the CD and rip it to lossless FLAC.