Will a $700 turntable outperform a CD player?

It won’t if the other guy knows what he’s doing. If both systems are Untweaked, straight outta the box in an untreated room, who cares? They are both going to suck, relatively speaking of course. Everything is relative to something else. There is also the sticky question of what your preferences are regarding sound quality.

The first question I would ask is how many record albums vs CD's do you have? Used CD's are a lot easier to come by right now, but personally, I prefer the ritual AND the sound of playing a CD. If you are looking for a brand new, easy to set up turntable under $700, I would recommend the Rega Planar 2 ($675 everywhere - comes with a really basic cartridge) or the Pro-Ject 1Xpression Carbon Classic ($689 at The Music Room (tmraudio.com) - comes with an Ortofon 2M Silver cartridge). Good luck! 

I've been back into vinyl for a few years. While I do stream, I prefer the physical medium. That's just personal preference. , and that preference differs from day to day, and what kind of listening in doing. The more fixed I am on the music, the more I lean towards vinyl. 
     I still buy CDs both online and in person. But I prefer to buy vinyl in person for inspection , as my online experience has been more inconsistent than with CD. Also, if something originally came out in analog,  I tend to prefer it on that format. Jazz I prefer on vinyl, but classical on CD because of the noise floor. But I will buy jazz on CD still, as there is some superbly remastered stuff out there for much less cash than the vinyl counterpart. For me it's not either/ or, but having the ability to take advantage of the best option at the time. 
    Cheap digital, say at the 300 dollar mark, will almost always outperform a cheap vinyl rig. But overall, my best sound on my system is on my best vinyl, but that rig is 5x more expensive,plus the cost of cleaning machines and various accessories.  So good sounding vinyl is an investment and a labor of love. To me it's worth it. I'd do some things different, but I'd do it again. 
    Lots of good advice from previous posters btw. 
      
     

Vinyl is only as good as the software.I have a Audio Technica at 120 DD
with the Audio Technica AT-95 for which I added a upgrade stylus for 39.00.I also have a Grado F3E and a Grado Blue which I will fit into some new head shells.I say SACD beats both of those.I am still amazed at DSOM 5.1 on Sony SCD-CE-595 changer.No conversion done by my Marantz receiver being fed by 5.1 analog outputs into its analog inputs.

Hello,
I agree with Ardsley on the first part. The gun is not the expensive part it’s the bullets or cartridge. MC is right. Vynal  has a personality that is unbeatable as long as you have the right pressing. Which can be very expensive and Sometimes hard to find. Man I would love to have many of these peoples record collections. I have a new Pink Floyd Dark side of the moon and the original Mofi pressing in mint condition. The Mofi will smoke any digital recordings. The new one gets beat by CD everyday. I also have the Mofi CD and the UCD and still the older Mofi record smokes them even if I play the CDs on my Oppo 205 with balanced interconnects. One good pressing can cost $20 minimum. I paid $100 for that Pink Floyd album. You can get CDs really cheep right now and sound really good. If you upgrade your DAC which will help your streaming too then you can get just a transport like the Cambridge.  This will save you a lot of money in analog cables too.I have seen and heard too many people buying a lower end Rega or Project only to spend a lot of money to turn them into the higher end versions. Way more than just buying a good used Rega P6 or P8/10. Save up for the Rega P6 or even better the VPI scout so you can put the money into the recordings rather than the player. Records are the best listening experience as long as you have the right pressing. Who wants to drive a Porsche with a Yugo engine? No one! Am I right MC? Regardless of what you do keep an eye out and try to find some good pressings that are at a good price for the future. Same for the record player and preamp. Good luck! I hope you get where you want to be.