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
“if the goal of an audiophile is to get the highest quality reproduction”
IF by “highest quality” you mean most accurate reproduction then yes you are quite correct, vinyl will not match lossless digital of 16/44.1 or greater.
I’m not sure that is the goal for everyone here though, and that is where the answer lies.