Where is the significant point of diminishing returns on hi-end turntable?

This would have been a good question 20 years ago, but with the state of the art with CD players and DACs today, I personally think getting into vinyl playback in a big way today, without an extensive collection of vinyl in your possession, is a fool's errand.  I have an updated SOTA Sapphire vacuum TT, acrylic platter, high end tone arm and a Dynavector 20X10 MC cartridge and honestly I can't be bothered to play it hardly ever.  My Oppo 103D sounds pretty much the same and is a whole lot less hassle.   I have done a fair bit of A/B testing on my system and that of my friend's  $50K system, and I find no significant improvement of analogue over digital, none at all.   

I understand guys upgrading their TT's when they have 1000's of LP's, but starting from the get-go, I think you will incur lots of expense that will not be commensurate with your listening experience.  I am an old fellow and loved analogue 30 years, but I have moved on as the digital technology at even a modest price point will be better than sound of a pricey TT.  Mike Fremer of course disagrees, but I urge you to demo a pricey TT rig compared to a decent CD player and let your ears be your guide as to how expansively you want to open your wallet to get into the realm of analogue playback.  Good luck.  

Goodness people, pay attention. The OP has 5,000 LPs available to him, he grew up in audio, he's lived with a very nice system including analog. He posed a simple philosophical question in his original post and the commentary that has ensued has ranged from constructive on-point discussion of his original musings to telling him how to build an audio system to calling him an idiot and a child. Please READ the OP's comments and do both him and the rest of us the courtesy of trying to stay on topic.

Sorry. Rant over.

Thumbs up rushton 

The question was "What's the point of diminishing returns"? And then he mentions 25K; well it's long before you get to 25K for people with the bucks, who can see down the road. If the question had been what's the ultimate rig, that would have been a horse of a different color.

I think there are a lot of good responses as far as a top flight simple rig is concerned; the SME-20 was a good example.

When the OP went from his original question to 25K, that changed everything, because that's way past "diminishing returns" and that is what everybody is telling him, but if he's got 25K to blow, let the good times roll.

Orpheus: When the OP went from his original question to 25K, that changed everything, because that’s way past "diminishing returns"

This is a fine point, orpheus. You presented your perspective on the question he raised. For you, $25k is already past the point of diminishing returns. Okay, that’s one experience and value proposition. It wouldn’t be mine; it’s clearly not the OP’s.

More importantly, though, is the BASIS on which we each evaluate and determine the point of diminishing return.

There clearly is no absolute monetary figure. As in so much of the investment we each make in our audio systems, we are dealing with: 1) what differences do we hear, 2) do we consider the differences material GIVEN OUR LISTENING PRIORITIES (which are different for each of us), 3) how much enjoyment do we anticipate from that difference we’ve identified, 4) what discretionary budget do we have available, and 5) to what alternate use would we put that discretionary budget and how do we value that alternate use?

To simply state a monetary figure just means that FOR US this is the figure at or beyond which we’ve answered items 1-5. In the OP’s situation, he answered these items with a pretty clear determination that he was okay with this discretionary budget figure at 25k - all 5 questions were answered to his satisfaction.

The implicit question was "Will I find a similar compelling rational to move to an even higher expenditure if I had the opportunity to hear something even better than I’ve heard thus far?" Seems to me that this answer is different for different people; there are only factors to be weighed not proscriptions.