One more point that I didn't see made (apologies if it already has, this thread is very long and I didn't parse it all) is the cost of the digital gear vs analog gear being used in comparisons. In my experience I haven't heard vinyl beat digital $ for $. You could go so far as to apply this to the source material: e.g.: An AP SACD costs ~$30, the same 45RPM LP costs ~$50!
IME: In the lower end (and several year back) my Bel Canto DAC3/media PC (~$3K) was significantly better than my CA Concept TT, CA Maestro cart, Nova Phonomena phono pre + iso base/footers (~$4K). On the higher end, I've heard the TotalDAC full setup which sounds fantastic but was not quite as good as the owner's vinyl setup. In my estimate the vinyl setup was 150% more $. Had they been at price parity... Again, $ for $....
You have a point here. When I compare my own digital to the best analog that I have heard, I compare it with analog that costs around 10 times more or even significantly beyond that (phono stage included). In comparison with that analog, even a dCS Rossini appears cheap
And CDs are cheap, $ 17 at the max or mostly less, or even down to $ 1/pc in some large box sets...