Well, the convenience "penalties" aren't that significant, but if getting up to turn the record over is too much, then I suppose that's a score for CD.

As to the sound quality issue, you still haven't said what you think is "better" about better digital. In what ways is your new DAC better than your old CD setup, for example? Not "more analogue sounding", we've agreed, but how is it better than lesser CD gear? (Just trying to tease out a way of talking about improvements in digital without referring to analogue as a reference.)

-- Ian