Originally Posted by
halfspeed
I still have hundreds of vinyl records. Even some MFSL stuff. So yes. I've heard "good" vinyl.
If "better" means "more accurate representation of the recorded performance", then a properly mastered CD is objectively better than any vinyl copy.
I'm a CD devotee but I still think that vinyl has something in instrument tonality that CD can't touch. More organic.
Digital just needs more than 16 bits to get there. You can hear the difference if you listen to the new Beatles remasters on CD then listen to the 24-bit flac files on the usb Apple. It's a slight difference, which would be more obvious without the noise reduction, but it's there. The tonality is improved. It's not like Sgt. Pepper's is a super-duper-high-resolution-audiophile recording either.
As far as I'm concerned, an audiophile is someone who wants to hear ALL of the music instead of just some of it.