My Analog Journey - Opinions Sought

FYI. I have an outstanding vinyl rig... top contemporary Linn LP12, Koetus Rosewood Signature cartridge, Audio Research Reference 3SE Phonostage. You can see my system under my UserID. Absolutely top rate and fabulous sounding, I’ll play a great audiophile recording... and think, wow... no way my streamer can compete with that. So I’ll find the same recording on Qobuz and low and behold... it sounds just as great... sometimes better if it was far down the list of pressings. I’ve stopped the comparisons and just listen to streaming as my great collection of albums and turntable collect dust.

Since I have a 2,000 album vinyl collection, containing many audiophile recordings and mostly pristine and great albums. I may go ahead and invest another $12K on a cartridge, which will allow my analog leg to pull ahead again... it will add additional detail, not really change the tonal balance. Without my album collection I wouldn't consider putting any more money in my analog section. I'd put it in the rest of my system. 

I have an excellent digital front end (Naim NDX2/XPSDR) for streaming Qobuz over Roon (running on an Intel NUC with ROCK). I just never play it. I play records, old and new. They're awesome. They make me tap my toes. 

+3 for Hana ML.

Congratulations on keeping the Herron Phono, I've always been on the lookout for a used one since it's no longer in production. Never had the luck. Also if you decide to go the route of LOMC, using a SUT into the MM stage of your Herron should be the bees knees.

Demo a Lumin X1. I’ve got all my vinyl in a Qobuz Favorites list now and the very nice vinyl rig (Well Tempered Verselex, Shelter 501mk3 cart, Line Magnetic tube phono stage... etc. a pretty quiet setup) sits there looking pretty. The X1 is simply a better "analog" source...

As someone, like many here, who have gone through the various ways of listening to music from my first Sears 3-in-1 stereo system I got from Santa at age 8 to a rack system in college to a striped back system of a receiver and CD player to purely streaming for years (starting with low-quality MP3s ripped and traded with friends) while DJing in grad school, until now. As a middle-aged gGen Xer, I never really got rid of my vinyl and CDs through all my listening stages of life,

I would recommend not going with the either/or approach. Keep the vinyl rig and the streaming rig. I still buy music in digital, CD and vinyl format. And enjoy listening to all 3 formats all the time. Sometimes to compare sources, sometimes for critical/purposeful listening and as wallpaper for around-the-house activities.

Enjoy both for what they offer. I've made the decision that for some artists I want to collect, I choose a format. For example, I'm a big New Pornographers fan and have albums in all 3 formats but the digital copies were never great. So I choose to reinvest in getting their catalog all in vinyl. Every album came w/ a digital download so I have copies for streaming convenience. For other artists, they may only be in the digital or CD format domain so I go that route. 

I won't make recommendations on gear because my price range and needs are very different from yours and others on here. Some with deeper knowledge and experience in niche/boutique brands I'm only now hearing about. But I will say, don't paint yourself into one corner or the other. Be a music-first audiophile! And enjoy your collection on the vinyl and streaming set up you have. Don't limit your experiences. Variety is the spice of life!