There are so many factors that go into the chain that leads to your listening to music that it is quite possible CD will sound better than vinyl on your system in your room.

To me the main advantage of CD (and digital in general) is that it requires so little effort on your part to play the music at, say 90% of what it is capable of. this is not the case for vinyl. Setup is everything. Tracking weight, VTA, anti-skate, vinyl cleaning, speed checking, suitable phono stage adjusted properly, totally level surface the list goes on and on.

Of course if you are insane like me and you are amplifying all of that with tube amps there are another dozen factors to add in to that list.

Then there are envonmental issues. What are the sonic characteristics of your listening room. It is quiet possible, if your room is particularly adsorbant of high frequencies, that the added harshness (cant think of a better word - sorry) of CD works whilst vinyl will sound flat and lifeless - however good the setup!

Thereafter add in the supporting gear. What are the response characteristics of your speakers? Your amp, pre-amp etc?

To summarise all of the above into something more easily digestible one word - synergy. It is how all of your equipment, music preferences, listening room and most importantly your ears tie in together that will determine what sounds good to you and what doesnt. It might take a system that costs $100,000 and it might take a system that costs $1,000 or less. Neither is wrong.