What are we really trying to replicate?

strange point of view, would he feel greater justification if the record cost $500 to produce. Is my $70,000 auto only be justified when the price of gas is $50 a gallon???

I've come to a very simplistic conclusion on this and it's that somehow the ear and brain knows when the music being played through a system sounds musically right and engaging. If your system does this, what else is there to strive for? There will always be recordings, as well as live concerts that just suck! I think in a good system, a studio recording should sound like you are listening to the music the way it was recorded in the studio and not how it sounded in an arena or stadium. Let's not forget that we don't close our eyes at live concerts, so the brain is also impacted visually. With all of the possible variables, it's up to you to either simplify or complicate
the matter. Watching a baseball game on TV can never be the same as being at the game, same thing for this striving for an Absolute Sound!

CD's are mass produced as well and not sure what you mean by CD's provide whatever is recorded on them. Many CD's will make your ears bleed and I don't think that is what was intended in the studio. I haven't been into vinyl for over 15 years although I still have many LPs. In the past, when one of my favorite mass produced albums was scratched or skipped or was just worn out, I would just purchase another one, which in some cases was 2 years later. The new replacement always sounded exactly the same as the old one, as it should, minus the scratches and skips and pops. I never experienced any variations in pressings from the same plant location. Some Japanese pressings may sound a little different than an American pressing of the same album, but I think if you were to replace a favorite Japanese pressed album with a new Japanese replacement, they would also sound similar.