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

I go for direct drive, quartz lock. turn it on, instant accurate speed, stays there warm or cold.

If not quartz lock, you typically need to wait for it to warm up, then refine speed, then check it again later, as I needed to do with my Thorens TD124, currently do with my Mitsubishi LT5V. My JVC quartz TT81, on, play, off.

here's hifishark.com, used quartz direct drive sorted high to low

https://www.hifishark.com/search?q=direct+drive+quartz+turntable

Good questions and thoughts.  My reason for considering a turntable is a decent collection of records.  MoFi, DG. and "special" pressings from other companies.  Even though I handled and keep my records very well, I cannot say I miss the surface noise or clicks and pops that existed with even new records. 

Perhaps I am just getting more senile.  Would love the have the Turbo Esprit, 944S2, .....hell, even the mint P-1800 back,  and perhaps some companions I shared those with?  Odd, cars did not do much for mates I had,...the only one that seemed to have a + response was an early Lexus SC-400.

I also get a few new LP’s, even 180gm ’special’ that have some noise.

Like my old ones with baby food, cat hair, smoke residue, I clean them, batches of 10, bingo, dead quiet

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GSSQ1MN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I scrub em aggressively with these

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005EJ7YH4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I make a more aggressive mix, some provided cleaner, a few drops of dishwasher rinsing agent, mostly alcohol, protect the paper label with plastic lid, scrub, rinse in distilled water.

A used Axis is now pretty cheap because most people don't know what an Axis can do. But I probably wouldn't get one because of known issues with the Axis having a fragile power supply.  Maybe a used Rega Planar 3?

I think a reason to get a turntable might be to get a different type of sound than you're getting from digital.

I have not read every post (sorry), so apology if this has been mentioned.

First thought that came to mind in response to your question was “Ok, presumably, you went to CD playback when you abandoned vinyl? So, what was your reaction to the switch? Did you feel or sense that you were missing something when listening to music after the switch? If not, then as has been pointed out, $500 probably isn’t enough to trump CD playback’s good qualities. As I’m sure has been pointed out, CD playback has gotten much better over the las few years. Still, in my experience, there is a fundament difference between CD playback (digital) and vinyl at any price level. Not because of the art work, larger package, etc. etc.; a fundamental difference in the sound and listener involvement. Not necessarily a bad thing, and not necessarily making one “better” than the other; but some listeners seem more sensitive to this difference than others, and that difference may tip the scale to one or the other. Everything that I’m sure has been pointed out about vinyl’s noise, tweakiness/inconvenience is true, but that fundamental difference can be heard with a well planned $500 expenditure. Whether that difference, at that price/performance level, constitutes “the magic” for you, only you can declde. Good luck.