Vinyl vs Streaming

Need to start by saying I enjoy the older Conrad Johnson tube sound over modern tube or digital sound, and for me that includes the sound of quality vinyl (jazz, blues, and classic vocals), which in my experience has been original pressings in most cases.

My vinyl experience is less of a hassle than most because I have a rare Aiwa LP-3000 turntable, which was state of art in late 79.  Besides having superb sound quality it's fully automatic. I just drop vinyl, push button and the arm loads and when it's done I just flip album and push button.  If it's an album I am really in the mood for I hit repeat button initially and it will keep playing the album side until I hit the reject button or I can program how many times I want it to repeat.  Also, it has a review button if I want to repeat a certain track I just need to get up and hit button after track is finished.  The TT also can be programmed to play the tracks on a side in your preferred order or selected tracks.  It also came with an even rarer remote, but I have given up searching for that after 5 years.

Several things to take into account.  My most recent comparisons brought to light that, for me, a tube phonostage and an R2R DAC are quite comparable, but then it comes down to preference in taste.  The RIAA EQ sound from vinyl produces quite a different sound than digital, so again, it comes down to taste.

Solid state phonostages and Delta Sigma DACs are comparable, IMO, but it gets down to splitting hairs, and again, personal taste.

There is, however, NO comparison in convenience, and cost.  Streaming wins in that regard.  By the time you invest in a GOOD turntable, cartridge, and phonostage that can even challenge digital, you're knee deep, even before acquiring good, clean vinyl records.

So............if digital has surpassed analog, at what point did it occur? Is there a numerical value that can be put on the best analog recordings (like master tapes or D2D recordings) that would illustrate where it compares to digital like 24/96 or 32/192 or the many others that have ensued with considerably higher sample rates? Where does live music lie? If live music is the ultimate, what numerical value might it have? Is there a formula for this? 

Nope. I don't miss analog at all. The ability to stream new releases (and re-discover older music) is so easy. 

So............if digital has surpassed analog, at what point did it occur? 

It depends on the person. Lots of people love the way their digital sounds for most of their music, and that’s fine. Others (like me) still strongly prefer vinyl’s sound for most material. That’s unlikely to change anytime soon unless there’s a new magical tech that restores & remasters older recordings to sound great on modern formats. Also whatever distortions analog introduces at its various stages of "processing" - frankly I think I like them to some degree.

It’s been decades now I’ve been reading about digital "finally matching" or "finally beating" analog THIS YEAR. It’s tiring, and meaningless. They’re just different.

And let’s be real. This is a mostly aged (ahem) crowd whose hearing is changing, and the draw of convenience & downsizing looms large at a certain point.