24 bit is pointless if the entire piece has been skillfully sent through so many dynamics compressors that nothing meaningful ever happens below the ten most si

24 bit is pointless if the entire piece has been skillfully sent through so many dynamics compressors that nothing meaningful ever happens below the ten most significant bits. The key quality of vinyl is that peaks beyond the "good" range gently decay in quality instead of clipping hard, which allows a trade-off between peaks beyond the baseline level of the mix and distortion. A good vinyl mix will therefore allow subtly higher peaks than a digital mix aiming for the same baseline level. Sure, the digital version could be even better (peaks high above baseline, without even the tiniest distortion), by sticking to a lower baseline levels, but they universally don't. Digital can buy loudness by paying in flatness, whereas analog can pay for loudness in either flatness or (gentle) distortion, and any good vinyl mix will opt for a careful blend of both. Digital will always opt for flat, unless it's completely broken.