Is vinyl still a "perfect" source?

Still "perfect"? I've got bad news for you, it never was, and probably never will be.

There is a good deal of excellent AAA vinyl being made today. But by far the joy of my analog rig is finding those 1$ garage sale specials which are wounderful and superior to garden variety redbook in my system. Of course if your taste runs exclusively to current day pop this might not apply.

If you are into audiophilia then source is everything - having analog and digital souces gives you more choice of excellent source material. If you don't have big $$$ an inexpensive vinyl rig plus budget vinyl source can give you a good deal of satisfaction. And chase those digital blues away!

I agree regarding the digitally recorded masters. There is no benefit to transferring them to vinyl versus CD (or SACD or DVD-A). My vinyl acquisitions are restricted to those made from analog masters...primarily those made pre-1982.

I've come upon an interesting finding of late... It seems that when I play my vinyl through my VMPS RM30 speakers using the digital NuForce Reference 9SE amps that I get noticeably tighter, faster, and more articulate bass than I do from my digital (or any other digital source I've heard, and I've heard quite a few good ones). And this quality has been noticed with two different turntables (a BIX and a Michell Tecnodec) with two different cartridges. Of course the midrange and highs are quite good too; it just strikes me that the bass is the "standout" band...

Seems like an issue with the playback component/preamplifier match, and not the format.