Why vinyl

@stievus 

"But getting older, I tend to listen primarily to Qobuz, and only occasionally to LPs. For me, convenience has become more important than good, better, best. I assume that will the case for many of us at that age."

Not so.

I continue to enjoy my LPs and will do so until I can no longer rise. I also regularly repair, recondition, test and evaluate each and every component and every combination of components that I have. I go out of the way to make things inconvenient. I find it helps the learning process.

Never give up.

I gave up vinyl for CDs in 1984. in about 2019, I decided to try vinyl. Bought a used rega P3, and I noticed that acoustic instrument recordings (60s, early 70s) sound amazingly realistic. Fast forward, I upgraded to a clear audio performance dc turntable, tracer tonearm, hana ML MC cartridge. 

WOW! I'm all in now. I can also stream (using a benchmark dac 3b). In general I listed to mostly vinyl. I find I pay more attention to the music, than when streaming.
I would think digital at higher sampling rates, increased quantization would eliminate any difference, and it does sound good. However its not the same as vinyl for reasons I real can't explain

You're it's not the same.  I have a decent digital front end, Lab 12 DAC , Teac 701t , Aurender N200 and I often find myself listening to and enjoying LPs more.   

I couldn’t wait for digital to arrive.  I was so fed up with warped, skipping, popping records, and digital with its expanded dynamic range and absolute quiet background was like a gift from the Gods.  Yet when used LP stores popped up I did get a rush of nostalgia hanging out in them, reading the classical liner notes , and I didn’t own a turntable.

  Eventually I purchased one, got into the whole vinyl replay thing, and then after a couple of years remembered why I hated vinyl in the first place.

  I do miss the liner notes.  Extracting a CD booklet from the jewel case and using a magnifying glass, or doing a web search, isn’t as much fun

@mahler123 ​​​​​​Excellent post. I’m more of a rock man, but I can see that CDs were a absolute boon for classical music listeners.

As you say, the downside was the booklets. During the CD era, I just gave up reading liner notes altogether. I don’t even bother reading the LP sleeves now, as some them are challenging, too.

It’s an advantage of Roon that there are artist bios and reviews on the control point. That’s a big improvement on CD booklets, but no substitute for LP liner notes. 

Back in the old days, l read every single word on LP covers and inserts. It was an integral part of the listening experience along with the cover art.

And of course, as is often said LP sleeves were useful for rolling joints on. 😉