IMHO it really isn't the format that makes it good it's how well it is manufactured, mixed and performed.
Good point. In general early CDs weren't very well mastered. Ones from mid-90's on are on the whole much better sounding.

Also, for the digital formats, consider the original source. SACDs have the potential to sound great, but may inherit the characteristics (good and bad) of the original source. That is, some SACDs are re-masters of old analog tapes, some are based on PCM recordings like recent CDs (although at higher sampling rates, e.g. 50kHz), and it seems a rare few are pure DSD recordings.