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
The only sound quality differences between DACs are ones that are designed to sound different but not better. In other words, they bake EQ into the circuit. DACs that eclipse the threshold of audibility exist in the $150 and under range. It’s a solved problem.