Records often do sound better. This is a case of garbage in garbage out though - records cannot handle some of the tricks done in mastering to make CDs/digital sound okay on a car radio (that is against road noise), from a phone (tiny speakers) and all the other awful listening environments most people listen to music (a cynic would call this background noise with lyrics not music). So if you want to make a record you have to master it without those tricks and this makes for better music. People who listen to records also generally are listening in a better listening environment. If you can get a CD mastered for a great listening environment and listen to in a great listening environment it would be better than a record could ever be - but you can’t get a CD mastered like that and even if you could most people are not listening in a great environment and so the CD will sound worse than one mastered as they are.
They have to master records differently as too much bass boost will cause the needle to bounce out of the groove and skip.