My taste in sound is crystal clear, detailed and lean. I hate bass bloat and fullness, which are usually associated with impaired clarity in the entire freq spectrum. My Linn Valhalla with Alphason HR100S titanium tonearm, Denon 305 cartridge gave me what I wanted, years ago. The SOTA Sapphire TT with my same arm and cartridge was leaden and dead sounding. The Linn replaced my 1st TT/arm, a top of the line direct drive Denon with the Denon 307 arm, which sounded leaden by comparison to the Linn. That's when I became convinced of the whole Linn story. Then I moved to the Goldmund Studio TT, but my Alphason arm was better than the Goldmund T3B straight line tracker arm. The Goldmund TT was a little better than my Linn. Overall, the Linn gets a very high rating from me.
Today, I would consider one of the top Rega table and arm combinations. For $6K or so with the Rega Apheta 2 or 3 cartridge, reviews suggest the type of sound I like. But the most important move would be a change of cartridge. That gives the biggest bang for the buck. Not necessarily the most expensive cartridge. I wouldn't get the top Aphelion cartridge for $5K, but would get the Apheta 2 or 3. But I am very happy with my 35 year old Denon 305 cartridge which still has the sound I like.
Today, I would consider one of the top Rega table and arm combinations. For $6K or so with the Rega Apheta 2 or 3 cartridge, reviews suggest the type of sound I like. But the most important move would be a change of cartridge. That gives the biggest bang for the buck. Not necessarily the most expensive cartridge. I wouldn't get the top Aphelion cartridge for $5K, but would get the Apheta 2 or 3. But I am very happy with my 35 year old Denon 305 cartridge which still has the sound I like.