I wanted to put forth some observations after having a basic turntable in operation for about a week. For the past week I have used vinyl almost exclusively to give it a good run in.
These are my observations; your millage can and probably will be vary:
Convenience to play: Vinyl you have to “unpack” the record from the cover, jacket, inner sleeve, being very careful on handling and then clean both the stylus and record. Digital you pick the album you want from Roon and click play – advantage Digital
Convenience to store: Vinyl you have to careful re-pack in the inner sleeve, jacket, outer sleeve and store the albums upright. Digital you simply keep the files on your server, and presumably organized in some type of file management scheme – advantage Digital
Fun factor: Vinyl you have the artwork, footnotes, photos, etc., that came with the jacket. Physically holding the jacket, etc., is very nice. Digital you can have a ton of meta data, reviews, upcoming concert listings, etc., in Roon. Having the original jacket is very fun and gives me the retro feeling from back in the day – advantage Vinyl
Durability: Vinyl you have to care for and store the records properly. With proper care, and being rather picky such as I am, vinyl should last a very very long time. For digital, computers and hard drives can and do fail. Backups and storage are an absolute must. I retain multiple backups for everything. Therefore, protecting the digital music for the long haul is involved and requires a good sense of organization. This is a tough call, but – advantage Vinyl
Cost of entry: This I would say is a surprise, with vinyl a good very solid entry turntable (such as several mentioned in recent discussions) is much lower than similar digital. Tables such as the U-Turn Orbit Special with phono stage built in are just over $500. From the dozen or more DACs that I have had in my re-entry into this crazy hobby, I can say in my view the cost of worthy entry, DAC, server, etc., is much much higher with digital. The software alone that I use costs more than the turntable. Discussions of moving to high end systems, I assume is about the same, both are F@#$ nuts – advantage Vinyl
Playing various songs/playlists: Vinyl picking out specific songs to play is not an easy feat. Creating a playlist is next to impossible. With digital this is a piece of cake – advantage Digital
Sound: An unfair category because I have an entry level table with quite a bit higher digital setup (our club considers my digital one of the best in our club). However, comparing both using my setup I would say the digital has much more dynamics, clarity, and accuracy, especially in the vocal range. It is not all bad news for vinyl though. Two areas that seem to really shine, acoustic music seems to be very inviting on the vinyl, just a richness in the instrument’s musicality, for me mainly noticeable on acoustic guitar. Also, a big surprise for me in the separation and sound stage. Subtleties, very low-level background are very easy to pick out. A couple of Pink Floyd albums made this something I really appreciated. A wider and deeper sound stage can be heard on my vinyl, but the over all clarity and dynamics I have to say – advantage Digital
Background quietness: With digital the background is completely black; I have zero noise. The pops and clicks, even on very good and even on brand new albums still bother me. My vinylphile friends claim that you get to a point where you do not even notice it. So far, I am nowhere near that point – advantage Digital
Sound stage: I have to re-visit this one because it has surprised me. Vinyl has great separation, subtleties, and depth of field that was not expected. I needed to give recognition to this because it is rather important to me, and to be fair to pick out what I have seen as a great strength- advantage Vinyl
So, there you have it, my initial impressions. It is enjoyable to play around with something new, or old, having fun with vinyl again. A few more step ups on the vinyl are coming. First, I have a Clearaudio record clamp coming early next week. This was highly recommended by a club member. I will also probably purchase a Blue stylus fairly soon. This appears to be a nice improvement over the Red. I may also play around with an external phono stage. A buddy has offered to loan me one of his. We will see. I have been impressed with the U-Turn's pre that came with the table so far. One of the great strengths of the U-Turn in the entry level is that up grading is something that can be done versus several other similarly prices tables.
... I already had them so why would I not use them 
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