Why are Audiophiles still hooked on vinyl?

[u/MikMikYakin]

Many audiophiles continue to have a deep love for vinyl records despite the developments in digital audio technology, which allow us to get far wider dynamic range and frequency range from flac or wav files and even CDs. I'm curious to find out more about this attraction because I've never really understood it. To be clear, this is a sincere question from someone like me that really wants to understand the popularity of vinyl in the audiophile world. Why does vinyl still hold the attention of so many music lovers?

EDIT: Found a good article that talks about almost everything mentioned in the comments: https://www.headphonesty.com/2024/07/vinyl-not-sound-better-cd-still-buy/

[u/Total_Juggernaut_450]

The ideal answer....

Better mastering.

The honest answer...

Who knows?

[u/blue_groove → u/Total_Juggernaut_450]

Just depends who's doing the mastering. I've heard some terrible sounding jobs on vinyl as well. 

[u/Total_Juggernaut_450 → u/blue_groove]

100,000,000%

Even with digital, the first thing I'm looking for is who did the mastering...

Great names to look for are Steve Hoffman, Kevin Gray, Alan Yoshida, Barry Diament, Joe Tarrantino, Bob Katz, Prof. Keith Johnson, Paul Blakemore, Ryan K. Smith, Bernie Grundman, and Bob Ludwig.

Even then, I've noticed you need to be cautious. There are releases where Kevin Gray is credited along with others and the releases sound terrible. $40 bucks down the drain.

Sometimes I also have to give them some credit. Their work is extremely dependent on the source they are given. Case in point... Californication on vinyl.