Anal v digit?

Analogue v digital, vinyl v cd, valves transistors, what is best? Have been thinking about this all weekend as am not racing because I have far too much green stuff in my nose and lungs; I really hate viruses! And, due to the fact that I live at over 1,000 feet, the northern weather has been shite for riding. Here is a pic of the climb out the back of where I live.

Beautiful, barren and bloody cold in the wind! What really gets the pulse going are the 50mph+ downhills with surface run off from the fields, that whilst only a foot or two wide with the odd one frozen certainly focuses the mind. Not wise to do when not on top form.

Well, back to the question, what is the best? I have gradually being rediscovering the delights of vinyl as a format for storing and listening to music. My friend had really pestered me to by a budget
turntable because she said, "You'll really love it and you can start collecting something else other than bikes and guitars." Well, a year later and I did as she suggested and it was nothing short of an
epiphany.

To put it into context I clearly remember an event that happened over 30 years ago. After spending all of my student grant on the best hi fi system I could find I can still remember the first CD players hitting the shops. I left university and spent my first pay cheque on a technics CD player, basking in the clarity of the horns on Simple Red's Holding Back The Years. That was it, CDs were the way forward, cars, Walkmans, the future was here and it was perfect in all its digital glory.

Fast forward to now and why I know vinyl is really, really the best...............for me! The reason why I have come to this conclusion is quite simple - emotions! When I first stared to notice music it was in vinyl format and the period was my early to late teens, some of the most emotionally formative years, or so I've been told. When I first listened to vinyl, the second time round (Hemispheres and
Strangeways Here We Come), I had an unexpected emotional response, a bit like the response I probably had the first time I heard them. But, it was not just the music it was the way in which it was reproduced with the limits of vinyl etc. Possible nostalgia but I think more to do with the whole listening experience which was more 'comforting' or 'familiar' for want of better terms. Anyway, I prefer it and am enjoying listening to music more. What's really weird is that I was reading an article by Billy Bragg recently in which he claims music for him was about rebellion, expression, searching etc and he thinks that has now been replaced by social media for a generation who don't look to music to poke the system. Interesting idea, not sure I agree but may help explain why somethings are going the way they are.

Anyway, got me thinking about how we come to the conclusion that certain  things are better than others when there are so many factors involved - often at a basic level, when I stumbled across this picture. It's obvious to me which one is best!!

It's obvious, for simple reasons, which one is best!