When and how did you, if at all, realize vinyl is better?

Vinyl snobs should have a bit more sensitivity towards their compatriots who live in the digital world. My hat goes off to those who continue to improve their digital playback. I would do the same given the time and funds. I guess it comes down to what fork in the road you took at least for those who don't pursue both. 
The one person that I have come into contact with who now lives in the digital audio world and has experience that surpasses by many orders of magnitude my own, makes a pretty good case for the consistency of digital vs the setup problems inherent in vinyl, not to mention other problems inherent in getting that great vinyl experience. 
The somewhat predominant view that vinyl reaches higher skewed me towards this medium when it was time to put together a system. It would cost a pretty penny to mach my vinyl system, not to mention the time involved. To those who have gone in both directions simultaneously and found digital to suit your ears, have at it. My intuition tells me that at some time digital has to surpass vinyl. However, as long as my trip down my stairs leads me to the level of enjoyment I have now it's best for me to drop the needle.

So,
Two dinosaurs are talking over a leisurely meal. One dinosaur says to the other,,,
"So what have you been listening to lately?"
"I just got a Miles Davis Record, and I've been playing it nonstop."
"So, you're still playing those crummy, old records? When are you going get rid of all those clicks & pops and get yourself a nice CD player?"
"I'll get rid of my records when I want to abandon my 'live' sound for your sterile, antiseptic hogwash."
Meanwhile, as the conversation grew more & more heated, a pair of cave men were watching from a safe distance. After a few minutes one caveman spoke.
"Hey Harry."
"Yeah, what?"
"You"re one of those,,,,, ah,,, ah astrologers,,,, no, no, I think it's astronomers, right? A guy who watches all the stars & stuff up in the sky?"
"Yeah. Why do you ask?"
"Well, what do you call that gigantic flaming ball headed straight for us?"
" I don't know what others call it. I call Digital Streaming."

Here's to all of us dinosaurs out there.

If you want to keep your habit alive, you’d better keep on buying those CDs and records.



2016, the Worst Year for Album Sales Since the Last One
Streaming is eating other formats for lunch.
Anna Gaca // July 6, 2016

There’s been plenty of notable records released this year, but seemingly no amount of great music can fix the industry’s declining album sales. Billboard and Nielsen Music (formerly Nielsen SoundScan) released some midyear 2016 sales data today, and so far, 2016 is the worst year for overall album sales since Nielsen started keeping track in 1991. Consumers bought 100.3 million album units — a number that accounts for digital downloads, CDs, and vinyl — in the first half of 2016, down 13.6 percent compared to the same time period in 2015.

Over the same six months, listeners streamed 208.9 billion songs (or 139.2 million album units, according to RIAA and Billboard rules), a 58.7 percent increase. Hidden in that number is a boom in music-only streaming: 113.6 billion audio streams, compared to 58.6 billion in 2015. Video streaming like YouTube and Vevo saw more modest growth: 95.3 billion streams, compared to 2015’s 76.6 billion.


U.S. Record Industry Sees Album Sales Sink to Historic Lows (Again) -- But People Are Listening More Than Ever
7/6/2016 by Ed Christman

It's the worst year (so far) for music sales since the 1991 debut of SoundScan (now Nielsen Music). Album sales, including track-equivalent albums (TEA, whereby 10 track sales equal one album unit) are down 16.9 percent in the first half of this year. But sales figures no longer tell the whole story of the record business.
First, let's bottom-line those disappearing sales. Album units overall fell 13.6 percent, with 100.3 million total sales. The compact disc continued to crumble, losing 11.6 percent and moving 50 million. Digital album sales fell to 43.8 million, from 53.7 million in the first half of last year. Vinyl sales continued to move up and to the right, growing 11.4 percent, to 6.2 million. New album releases have been most affected by the continued contraction, falling 20.2 percent overall, to 44.1 million units. Catalog albums fell "just" 7.7 percent, to 56.2 million.
Track sales also dropped, to 404.3 million units from 531.6 million units. Current track sales are leading the descent; songs released in the last 18 months saw sales fall nearly 40 percent. Catalog, again, saw a much smaller dip, down 6.4 percent to 236.6 million units.
Listeners streamed 208.9 billion songs (which translates to 139.2 million album units) between January and now (July 6), an increase of 58.7 percent. Of that 208.9 billion, 113.6 billion were audio-only, versus 95.3 billion video streams (defined as a music video view on YouTube, Vevo, Tidal and Apple Music -- of which the latter two contribute a very small piece). It's the first time audio has surpassed lower-paying video streams.
What's that all mean?
The most common place for people to purchase albums and songs was, unsurprisingly, at digital retailers, which captured 43.7 percent of the album market (and which, obviously, saw overall sales decline by 18.4 percent, to 43.8 million album units). Surprisingly, "non-traditional" CD retailers, like Amazon and supermarkets, saw an 8.3 percent growth in sales.
Executives that Billboard spoke to at the end of 2015 pointed, in no shock, to streaming as the main culprit in the sales cull, particularly song sales ---and streaming is booming.

I realized vinyl was better for completely non sound quality issues: when I got into electronic music back in the late 90s, much of what I was into was only released on vinyl, usually 12" or 7" singles or a limited vinyl release on an obscure label. Vinyl was better for me back then because there was no alternative... After that, I think it has just been momentum.

It's CD that's dead. Vinyl sales are up each year for the last ten years mostly. True, that is from a tiny number, but numbers are good enough that entrants are making more and more tables. B&M retailers that never had vinyl are adding it, and installed base of those with tables is growing every year. Even if/when the fad with hipster posers who don't listen much dies, LPs will continue on for another generation. 
CDs on the other hand will be totally gone in 5 years. Streaming and digital downloads will just kill it. There will be nothing to miss. Cheers,
Spencer

I think you're missing my point.  Once CDs disappear there will be no new records either.   Marketing simply will cut them both off.  Not enough profit margin left in manufacturing physical product when most all of the world is digital.  Right now, physical albums (CDs & records) only amount to a combined total of a little over 25% of the total market.
So, my point is instead of trying to downgrade each other's mode of listening ("Your records suck."  "No, your CDs suck.") we dinosaurs ought to be somewhat encouraging of each other's preferences.
Unfortunately, My guess is in five to ten years both CDs and vinyl, along with albums in general, will have almost completely disappeared.