I'm no vinyl apologist (though I do prefer the format for its tactile qualities) but CDs have lots and lots of problems too. The great sounding and mastered CDs pretty much all happened well out of the 80's because it took the engineers that long to figure out how to properly master out the exhausting amounts of hi-end. And then IMO many of the best sounding recordings on CDs that exist today were ones originally recorded in a pure analog manner. Fast forward to 2010 and you've got most CDs being compressed so much (because the CD can handle it) that you've lost all of that dynamic range it has the capability of reproducing. And don't get me started on how the computer has ruined the art of the recording process. Imagine what The Who would sound like if some dooshbag producer had them clipping apart Moon's drum tracks and Townshend's windmills or pitch correcting Daltrey's vocals.
With a good set of headphones it should be a bit tricky but not impossible to tell the difference between a 320kbs MP3 and a pure CD Audio track. Typically the MP3 will have a bit less bottom end and the highs will garble. Make that a 192kbs or less and to me the differences are astounding in any reasonably controlled environment.