That's the thing. The mastering (and this can definitely affect more recent vinyl releases too) and the compression and loudness wars really ruined a lot of CDs.
I for one, wish SACD had taken off. I never really got that into it (too young to afford stuff but old enough to lust after it at Tower Records and the Virgin Megastore), but the few SACD discs I have are just awesome. The competitor, DVD-A was supposed to be good too, but it didn't really take (I have a few DVD-A discs and I think one way to play them at this point).
That said, while I have bee predicting a CD comeback for several years (b/c nostalgia), I think that CDs lack the thing that makes vinyl (and to a much lesser degree, the cassette resurgence (which is often a pure retro/nostalgia play, which as an aging hipster I respect, but as a wannabe-audiophile, I cringe at)) and vinyl collecting special.
A record takes work to get to play right. You need to care for the vinyl. You need to store it correctly. Configuring and setting up your turntable is a process -- especially if you want to do it well. And then there is the rarity factor. Because only so many plants exist, there are are both artificial and genuine limits on how many copies of an album exist. And then you get the custom colorways (the number of albums I've purchased multiple times on vinyl for the various colorways is too long to mention), the fact that liner notes and album colors are huge. It's just special.
Obviously, they could do this with CDs -- and in the late 90s, we did see some record labels/bands play around with different colors and designs for CD labels, but it still isn't quite the same.
There's also something to be said about the statement piece you have by having a really beautiful record player in your house, that you don't get with a CD player.
I was a really big MiniDisc person (mostly used it as a pre-iPod MP3 player) and I wish that would have a comeback. That format was so dope and so underrated. And the collectibility factor there would be off the charts, similar to cassette tapes, but with good sound quality and a durable product.
Having said all this, I fully expect to see Gen Z carrying around DiscMan players within 18 months.