Worth pursuing analog sound from digital?

Can digital "be as good as analog?"

I think that's in the ears of the beholder. I love vinyl. I love digital. For me it's not an either or proposition. 

In many ways, my MHDT Labs r2r Orchid DAC streaming Qobuz sounds better than my turntable, a Clearaudio Emotion with a Hana SL and Parks Puffin phono stage. That's over $2K of analog gear vs $1200 of digital gear. I bought the Orchid used, so paid less.

No clicks, no pops, no background noise, no fatigue, no glare, more detail, greater ease of use, and an almost infinite selection of music. 

Does the Orchid sound as "analog" as analog? Uh, no. Better? Decidedly so. 

I still like spinning records and with a good pressing, those sound great also. 

I don't feel a need to choose one over the other. 

@big_greg,

Great post, the world needs open minded people like you. At the end of day, music matters the most not the source.

Thanks for replies. I wanted the perspective of an analog lover which is why I posted here. It sounds like I have plenty of room for improvements but maybe it's unrealistic to get digital to sound just like analog. Each has it's own merits and I will just have to accept it. Will try various tweaks and see what I can achieve without going overboard. Happy listening!

I’m a confirmed vinyl guy. Two turntables, three tonearms, more cartridges than I can remember. I’m also in my 60s and been collecting records since the early ’70s. But I’m here to tell you, vinyl takes a lot of commitment, with a pretty steep learning curve, before it sounds truly great. Don;t get me wrong: I love every aspect of spinning LPs. But still.

I also have two systems that are digital only, with one dedicated to streaming Tidal. If I were starting over today, I might just go with Tidal. Sounds pretty fantastic, and you can put together a dynamite system for very little outlay, relatively speaking. Neat, clean, small footprint with no media taking up space. Constant churn of new music to explore. It’s a game changer.

big_greg hit the nail on the head. 

I love both and listen to both. 

In the end when was the last time, in quantity, recordings were made all analogue? maybe 25 years ago? so when was the music you listen to made? 

I have a new production Mark Knopfler album (Tracker) on both Vinyl and streaming "master files" via Tidal and both sound excellent but to my ears and system the master files on Tidal take it for sound quality. Not by a huge amount but enough in detail and frequency extremes to be noticeable. (Schiit Grungnir Multi Bit DAC). oh fyi Joni Mitchel has some excellent Master files now on Tidal as well that are worth a listen, and better then the records IMO. 

Now streamed hifi quality on Tidal (CD quality stream) of let say Santana's Abraxas and its no contest the vinyl is much better, fuller more liquid sounding . 

So is it the Digital - analogue  or is it the recording era that's the make or break for Digital sounding as good or better then vinyl?  

I'm thinking modern digital recordings have it over older recordings either digital or analogue. 

I really think its about the quality of recording apposed to the format. Both can and do sound great and not so great.