Why do you listen to records?

FWIW, despite deep333’s (because of?) bashing of vinyl, I submit that I am usually quite pleased with the sound of my CDs. I recently upgraded my digital chain to the point where I am actually listening to more of my collection and even buying a few new CDs. Good stuff: fun, engaging, and the investment provides a definite improvement in SQ. That said, playing clean, well recorded records at times can actually shock me. They sound so real and so good I find it hard to believe. I’ve never been stunned by the sound of digital like I have been by vinyl.  I tried streaming for a while, in my experience it didn’t compare with either physical format.  That said, I did have to go through the usual cost, frustration, gear-swappping, and experimentation associated with assembling what, to me, is a better than average system.  Only took 54 years to get there, but I got ‘er dun! 

When that's where the  music  is,  that's what I listen to,

I like variety, so I have both analog and digital.

For analog, I have various cartridges on various tonearms: detailed (VDH,Lyra..), musical Koetsu, SPUs….  Deciding if will try DAVA field coil and/or DS Audio carts for different sonic presentations due to unique cartridge technology.

Because when put on a record I get to surrender to 20 minutes of mystery.  Sometimes it beats picking/curating each and every note.

I listen to records for the feeling it invokes when I get into a listening session. 

Occasionally, other formats achieve this too, but not as consistently as vinyl records.