In terms OF bad equipment you're right. however, good audio equipment is expensive and the Vast majority of people don't want to spend that much just on some headphones to hear something they aren't really paying attention to.

There's also funfactor in having physical media and limited choice. A phone with an entire collection on it is just. . plain. standard. even boring. And the handicapped phone UI ruins the rest of the smartphone experience if you wanna do other things with the phone other than listen to music.

Modern CD players also read newer formats, unlike the old-stock CD players off of ebay from 30+ years ago that only read raw CDA tracks

I dont think most people like vinyl today because of sound quality. They just like the ritual of playing it and things like big cover art. If you want convenience then just listen to flac files.

MP3 is lossy, WAV is not. And that "warmth" you get with vinyl is just because analog sounds fuzzy.

Add to that:

Solid State Class AB and modern Class D amplifiers are far superior to any Tube amplifier. At this point, I would go as far that higher end Class D amplifiers are better than most Class AB at this point. Hypex and IcePower have made great strides in the sound quality of their amps, which are extremely efficient as well.

You want a lot of 2nd order harmonics in your sound! Great, get it through a DSP that will duplicate it through a modern amplifier and stop heating your room up using tubes.

The Library of Congress prefers vinyl because CD’s don’t last as long (with proper care).

At best a CD will remain uncorrupted for 20-30 years. In a climate controlled space-station like environment, maybe 100 years, but unlikely. Then it’s gone.