Would you still pay $10k or more for a turntable not full analog front end these days ?

@testpilot Great point. Vinyl was affordable and economically accessible up until about 2010 or so, and since then things have gotten way out of hand. If I were new and getting into vinyl, especially as a young generation well aware of finances, college debt, and the cost of living, I couldn't see myself dropping $30 on new vinyl. And even used vinyl is now creeping up to unreasonable prices.  

There again, in the late 1980's when I was buying CDs they were $25CDN, which an inflation calculator tells me would be $56CDN today, so used vinyl seems a but more of a bargain!

It depends on how many records you really need. $30 on average is very reasonable for excellent pressings if you are selective enough. I need hundreds not thousands and I can tolerate not being able to get them all at once. I have 99 cents records and $50-$100 records, the average is in fact about $25-$30. Best NOS power output tubes are expensive, that’s the problem for me. Great $300 NOS small signal tubes are not inexpensive but considering how long they last, that’s not much really.

There again, in the late 1980’s when I was buying CDs they were $25CDN, which an inflation calculator tells me would be $56CDN today, so used vinyl seems a but more of a bargain!

@dogberry CD sales have fallen off a cliff — down 96% from the peak in 2000 — and are down to where they were in the late 80s. Most new CDs still seem to be in the $13-$17 USD range so pretty inflation resistant, and I can easily find used CDs in good condition on Amazon for well under $10 including delivery (not that I even buy CDs much anymore), and they’ll only become more available as more people switch to streaming. So it’s actually a pretty good time if you still buy CDs.

My streaming rig (streamer and DAC and interconnect) is modest (by this channel's standards) at ~$6k. My analog (tt/pre/arms/cartridges) is slight higher. 

On my system, analog sounds significantly better for most recordings (old jazz and R&B). Fwiw, my cd player is also $6k and doesn't sound as good either.

That said, as several others have noted streaming kills analog it in convenience.

So for practical reasons I would turn the question on its head. Assuming, I am still talking about music created wit analog mastering, how much will I need to spend upgrading the digital side to not be able to tell the difference.