This is an interesting analogy because different copiers (at least old ones) can impart a bit of grit to the result much like how different samplers with their bit rates and DACs can add character to the sound.
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Ha, yeah old samplers like old photocopiers, new samplers like modern photocopiers!
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All sounds are turned into analog once they hit the speakers. 
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Analog is like painting with oil while sampling is like making a collage with magazine images.
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And once played by speakers or headphones, it’s analog again 
I have seen Rrose playing with the speakers of the room before some technician asked them to stop that. Whatever triggered the speakers so violently, digital or analog, the result was analog enough 
Anyway, to come back to OP’s question, today samplers are advanced enough to bring life to samples. Especially when they offer analog synthesis and/or filters, like the AR.
Very nicely underlined.
Analog vs. digital is a matter of flavor. There is no “best”, and cost certainly has an impact as well.
Synthesis vs sample is dynamic vs static, although today some samplers treat samples as a matter (thinking of you, OT).
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While it is true that analog circuits and especially oscillators tend to have a more organic feel and drift to them there are many analog synths that sound dead and almost as stable as digital synths.
When designing sounds it’s more about the architecture of the instrument and modulation than the analog/digital-ness IMO.
I love digital synths just as much as analog gear.
You can always warm up the sounds of a digital synth with an analog device like the Heat or Boum.
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And sometimes it is also a matter of prestigious analog brag.
How many times I got asked which synth I used because it sounded so “warm” and “full” and “present”, it must have been an analog poly recorded with an expensive preamp right?
Then I answer I directly recorded it via the USB output of my Digitone, without any DA/AD conversion, preamps, mixers, interfaces, heaters, pedals or other analog magic. Digital 24bit/48khz domain FTW.
(PS, shouldn’t we write “analogue”, as we also use British EQ to make our music sound better)
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These dudes don’t care either way as long as it’s bumpin’
Analog is like a potato. Digital is like a digital potato.
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Chips.
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If you are an etymologist, all guitars are digital guitars.
Pianos, too.
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Zeros and ones vs electron flow and heat distribution. It’s science and shit.
Edit: The drawing vs photo copy example is great visualization. Potato vs digital potato also good visuals.
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The digital potato, from Monsanto. 
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Look at it like this, a sample is a captured part of sound that you can manipulate to a certain degree depending on your setup. But the analog synthesis would be the source of that sound that you could manipulate if you had the source to begin with.
I like these threads, it’s like 1999 again.
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If the analogue sound plays teeny bit slightly different each time, even the highest resolution of recording cannot capture that. A close proxy would be the unison amd detune, drift, ageing on temp, use round robin group of samples and other simulation/methods to achieve something really close. Personally, i think analogue is special and real but at some pt in time there would be A to D to A a few times in the listening process.
Analogue is like playing a tambourine surrounded by cacti, samples are like watching a video of yourself playing a tambourine surrounded by cacti.
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Listen.
I’m not a nerd, so I don’t care if I’m working with samples, digital or analog as long as the sounds are cool(and the samples are multi-Samples) and the vibe feels magic.
Arturia V Collection is my go to for classic analog sounds.
And if you’re working with a sampler, it personally feels like a waste to manipulate synth sounds when manipulating real world sounds is more magical and trippy. Manupulating synth samples is just synthesis, which you can just do with a synthesizer…
Manipulating synth sounds in a sampler diminishes the sampler, but not the synthesis in my opinion
This is completely the wrong thinking. Playing back a static sound and comparing the fidelity is unimportant. The right thinking is noting the difference in texture, via manipulating sounds in a live set or sequence. Both sample tweaks and analog tweaks sound good, and both options provide a different soundscape.
For example, Octatrack Glitching or the ladder filter on a Moog. If you get into modulation extremes, like audio range lfo modulations, the difference is also relevant. Neither is better but you’ll get totally different crazy tones.
It’s like having markers vs having pastel paints. Both can do green but it’s going to look different on a canvas.
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