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
Records may be analog but they are also lossless.
Humans have been recording and reproducing sounds for a looooong time before digital media was a thing and we got pretty good at it.
The difference in sound equality between a well mastered record and a well mastered FLAC playing on quality gear is non existent.
Digital is still massively more convenient but don’t knock records because they are an older technology.