i completely get preferring analog media, so if it’s about the sound characteristics (that ‘warmth’), having physical media, etc fair enough. but if the goal of an audiophile is to get the highest quality reproduction of a recording wouldn’t CDs or FLACs be your best bet?
maybe this only really applies for newer music, perhaps digital releases for music recorded analogue are just digitized vinyl or reel to reel recordings but for music produced in DAWs the highest quality version available for that release would surely be either a CD or a digital FLAC release
… i dont prefer vinyl i guess im no longer an audiophile :(. In all seriousness my favourite format is CD, but i think certain albums sound “right” on certain formats. Some albums to me sound correct on casette, some vinyl etc etc. In all fairness i dont hear the “warmth” of vinyl so theres that too