I had always heard great things about the Rega RP6 with the Exact2 cartridge, so I bought one. I also purchased a Pass labs Xp15 phono stage to go with the rest of my system; CJ ET5 preamp and CJ tube amps. My CD player is a Modwright Oppo 105D.
Every time I played an album on the RP6, I got ticked off. So ticked off that I wanted to throw a sneaker at it. It sounded awful, terrible, lousy.
I went to my stereo store (Goodwin's High End in Mass.) The rep basically told me that if I wanted to get better analog sound, I was going to have to spend a lot more money, and if I didn't do that, he suggested selling the analog stuff and getting out of it entirely and upgrading my CD playback/DAC.
I went from a Rega Rp6 with a MM cartridge to the RP10 with the Apheta 2 MC cartridge. I could tell in the first 30 seconds of the first song that I made the right decision. The music sounded great, the soundstage was there, and the dynamics were incredible. I am very happy with the sound of my analog playback, and when I want to listen, really listen, to music, I always fire up the turntable-- it's that much better.
The overall cost of the RP10 with the Apheta 2 and the Pass Xp15 was about $7,500. That was a lot of money for me, and it was worth every cent.
So, I went the "great value" route with my TT and cartridge and wanted to throw a sneaker. When I listen to my upgraded TT and cartridge, I want to throw a party.
Whatever work for you, your ears and your budget. My only advice is to avoid incremental changes; it's more expensive in the long run. Make bigger jumps on individual pieces of gear. You have to guess right, but it worked for me.