One of the great things about Vinyl

I'm open to upgrading the receiver/amp.

Budget would be $2500 Max

Hey @hifiguy42 it's gonna be your ears tricking you, not vice versa.

And @henry53 are you eating dinner off your LPs??  No problem, but you've got to give them a couple of runs in the ultrasound after.

Same here. I just can't sink into digital listening easily - and some days, not at all. I don't agree with assertions that X amount is required to get satisfaction with vinyl, either. I've used a cheap $500 Fluance for a bit, and still preferred it to digital. Also got an old Pioneer R2R with some 30 year old needle drop tapes - still a more engaging listen to me than digital lol.

I like how it promotes active listening. Like, I have to be aware that the side is going to end and then move to lift the arm and change the side/record. With streaming I find myself reverting more to music as background (sometimes - however, in an earlier thread of mine I lamented how my digital rig now eclipses my analog rig in sound presence and quality).

This is one of the most useful posts I've ever seen. With all the gear-head stuff you read on these forums, it's easy to forget that the goal is really listening to music. And may I conjecture that the background listening or multi-tasking listening is not really listening.