MY god Nick! They are not even remotely close.
I've heard too many comparisons on too many pieces of hardware to agree with you. I've heard tracks played on hundred thousand dollar pro audio systems as well as cheapo Sears brand all in ones and the difference between even a 320kbps MP3 and vinyl jumps out of the speakers at me in a split second with no hint of similarity.
Seriously, MP3's are so intensely compressed it's laughable. A GOOD recording from a good vinyl pressing (yes vinyl quality makes a huge difference, just as it does with CD's) will run up in the 4000kbps bitrates. A high quality MP3 is 320kbps. A WAV or FLAC from a CD averages 1400kbps, which is close but the sound staging is entirely different, the sibilance of a CD is annoying as hell to me.
When I was younger I sold very high end tube amps and loudspeakers, the day CD's came out I couldn't even listen to them above a normal talking volume due to the sibilance that people seem to accept now.
I find that today's youth are so dumbed down with low end MP3's that even the production quality from studios has dropped immensely because they know nobody appreciates or can even HEAR decent audio anymore so they don't bother engineering it at the desk.
There are VERY few exceptions of course, Telark producese excellent quality disks (the physical disks themselves are better engineered as is the recording), Chesky, who is long famed for his vinyl recordings, also makes CD's now that are also very high end. but they STILL lack the true depth, clarity and accurate sound stage of a good LP.
Not even comparable.
