Well, the cartridge change everything even if you’re using average headphones, this is the most important component in analog chain and the only one in contact with the record, if you don’t like the sound from the start you can not really change it that much by any other components. I don’t think you’re going to swap phono stages or speakers every month. The most economy way is to change cartridge and it does change the sound of everything. Some carts are just not involving at all, some are amazing and that’as the reason we are buying many of them. Having at leasts 3 different phono stages and various tonearms/turntables i’m pretty sure the cartridge is much more important when we’re looking for "our sound". This is where the magic begin.
With the tube phono stage you must be very careful with the tube itself, i do not use tupe phono, but i use tube amp and nothing can beat NOS military vintage tubes, for some reason they are just better than new. What you can change in addition is the tube! I'm a big fan of Sylvania and Telefunken from the 60s.
But anyway, the cartridge is the most important to start with.
With the tube phono stage you must be very careful with the tube itself, i do not use tupe phono, but i use tube amp and nothing can beat NOS military vintage tubes, for some reason they are just better than new. What you can change in addition is the tube! I'm a big fan of Sylvania and Telefunken from the 60s.
But anyway, the cartridge is the most important to start with.