To venture back into vinyl or not,...that is the question.

this $250. direct drive is a darn good start in your budget, I used mine for many years

https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-AT-LP120XUSB-Direct-Drive-Hi-Fidelity-Anti-Skate/dp/B07N3S4X3P...=

the provided cartridge is nothing special, I would change it, use it for spare and it's eliptical stylus is better than microline for mono lp's groove size (get a true mono cartridge eventually if into mono lps).

provided

https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/at-vm95e

I suggest, to stay in your budget, their lowest cost microline stylus. advanced stylus shapes get further down in the grooves, much more contact surface to the groove sides, and make less wear to the grooves, and less wear to themselves, thus the last a lot longer

https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/cartridges/type/moving-magnet/at-vm95ml

body threads makes it's install much easier

I'd rather see you buy this one, primarily because it has better channel separation, 28db (less costly 95ml is 23db). 

https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/cartridges/type/moving-magnet/vm540ml 

wide channel separation gives better imaging, iindividual instrument isolation and placement. tight channel balance helps produce a tight center image, as center is a phantom created by equal left and right.

................................

How are your cartridge alignment skills? Or, do you have someone near with those skills? Proper alignment of any cartridge affects the sound, done right lp's beat cds, important for elliptical, and even more important for advanced stylus shapes, to get their advantages and to prevent problems if they are misaligned. 

A great TT that fly's under the radar is the JVC QL-7 or QL-A7. Dead nuts speed stable and has a slightly lesser version of the very good UA-7045 tonearm. I was blown away the first time I heard mine. AT makes a very good cart with a microline stylus for a really great price. It's a way better TT than the Technics SL-1200 MKII.
BillWojo

So just to enlighten you, and bore some to tears most likely.

When I first decided to " get back into vinyl" I did exactly the same, budget of $500 for table, cart and Phonostage.
Cheapest Project table and a Bellari Phonostage.
So what did it sound like?
Garbage.....
To be fair looking back it had to compete with a 3k Esoteric cd player so I shouldn’t have been surprised.
Sold the lot and said fugg it... For a while.
Joined this site 2012 or do, read a LOT.
Revised the budget to $1500 and better but still no " magic".
To cut the story to the chase.
9 years later I have a magical system through constant upgrades and research.
Cost...... North of 10k on vinyl, well North....lol.

Sure a cheap rig will play and do so at varying levels of acceptable.
But be warned, it’s a deep, dark rabbit hole once you start from which even Alice could not escape!

Peter asks nobody at the gate for the last $500.....

have fun, enjoy the music

But what about Lucifer?