Does a turntable make a DRAMATIC difference?

I upgraded table and arm in a controlled circumstance-- same room, system and phono cartridge. The difference with the better table/arm set up-- fewer sonic artifacts from the better table/arm combo. 
Sometimes, it is hard to discern an artifact until it is gone. 

For example, the "halo" of sound that I often associated with record play is simply absent on the bigger, high mass table and linear arm--

The bass is better too, but to fully appreciate that,

I needed to augment the bass reproducing capabilities of my system-- 

Now in a bigger room, with additional subwoofers.

And the thing that really made a difference was a change of cartridge-- not so much fancier or more expensive, just different voicing. If I had made that cartridge change with a different table/arm and without the bigger room/augmented subwoofers, would it have been as dramatic? I doubt it--but it took more than just a change of cartridge or table to get to this point. The improvements were cumulative. Is that true in every system/circumstance?

I don't know. 

@OP. It depends on how good your digital is. Back in the 80s when CD appeared a Rega 3 would obliterate the players that are available.

That's not the case any longer. Small volume mechanical engineering costs lots of money so, arguably, its become more expensive to make system improvements in the analogue domain than in digital.

My reintroduction to vinyl was a rega p3 and dynavector 10x3 cartridge.  The synergy with the tonearm was the key.  Had the opportunity to buy a higher level dynavector cart that someone brought back a few months after purchase to upgrade.   Sounded awful and went back to 10x3. The rega tonearm was a great value in its price range but not up to demanding cartridges 

I have a completely restored Thorens TD-125 with a Saec WE-308L tonearm and Technics EPC-U205 mkIII cartridge w/a new Jico SAS boron Stylus.  A huge plus to the phono system is being able to adjust the VTA on the fly.  I purchased a Fonolab tonearm adjustment mechanism.  Very simple cool item that took the tonearm to a new level.  Records are so varied in thickness now.  From very thin to 200 gram vinyl and adjusting from the different thicknesses makes all the difference in the world.  A record can sound dull and with a simple adjustment on the fly it becomes detailed and dynamic.  Or it can sound too bright and harsh and adjusting the toney down a hint makes it sound full and smooth and brings the bass in.  

A good preamp is also soooo important!  I had a very modified Cary Audio AE-3 phono pre in a larger chassis with a separate PS. It had the best Mundorf caps and extremely modified.  It was really good but then I picked up an old Theta Tube Preamp that I’ve converted to just a phono preamp.  I completely updated and rebuilt the PS board in it and installed a few hundred microfarad’s of Polypropylene Solan caps and a separate PS with a new toroidal power transformer and choke input and large value electrolytic and propylene caps. It takes about 3 days to fully charge and sound its best so it’s on all the time.  The phono and gain section have V-Cap TFT (teflon) caps and StealthCap Caps.  It now sounds more detailed and smother with a wider sound stage then my digital system which is fairly elaborate setup also.  Both are enjoyable but I really love and prefer the analog system now. 
 

Big areas of importance (but not all of course) are the turntable, isolation, tonearm, VTA, cartridge and type of cantilever/stylus, phono preamp and of course an excellent line stage.  I have a custom built hand-wired balanced line stage based on the Cary Audio SLP-05 but with a huge separate PS and all Mundorf EVO silver/gold/oil caps in the signal path.  My balanced output DAC feeds into the line preamp and the Theta Tube Phono preamp feed into the line stage and is converted to a balanced signal to my amps. 

I must add, regarding yoyoyaya’s post, for many years it was no contest that my analog side outperformed my digital.  It wasn’t til quite recently that digital became so exceptional that it surpassed records. 
I guess I have a very high standard in the sound I want, and probably will have to pay for it.