Upgrading from a VPI Aries 1- is it worth it?

That ls one of the best cart, there is 2 option, get fatboy arm and upgrade phono stage. Me personally like tube in phono section. Either one will improve the sound .

So we did discuss potentially upgrading the tonearm but I was caught a little off guard by the cost of the upgrade- a new 3D is $2k and the tower is another $1.5k- and then there’s labor. So call it a $4k+ proposition; and the Fabboy alone is $4.5k. So that is when I started wondering if newer table (used) att some point down the line would make more sense.

Yeah that’s sort of the "problem" - endless upgrade options for VPI tables, and they’re good tables, but the retail cost of most upgrades is not conducive to good overall ROI. You can either wait (potentially a long time) for the specific upgrade you want to show up on used markets, OR (more likely) just buy a used table that already has the upgrades you want, at significant discount. Maybe even buy another table and rearrange between the 2, selling whichever you want less. Also, the dual-pivot is an inexpensive little bit that has good ROI even at retail.

I bought my Avenger from a guy who got it before any of the "Reference" upgrades were out, and upgraded as they were released. He complained about the cost of this route "they really get you on the upgrades" - yeah, it’s true lol. Let someone else pay for that stuff. I was used to Clearaudio charging a mint for every little thing you want to add on, and it's not much easier with VPI. 

Getting another brand arm (e.g. SME) plus new VPI arm board seems like a reasonable route too. The Aries is a good base.

Thanks for the suggestions- Unfortunately I cant brace the rack to the wall because of some artwork that extends right behind it - but I will look into upgrading the feet.

That’s too bad. It was the single biggest difference maker in my smaller setup, given the bouncy floor. Isolation feet can’t touch its impact. Even a Townshend Seismic platform had good effect, but not as much as the wall bracing. I bought 5m XLR cables so I could re-locate my rack against a good part of the wall, and it was well worth it.

If you decide on a new arm, may as well get speed control taken care of also.

Sota Total Eclipse

more accurate than VPI ADS-if you don't already have it.

I support the following recommendations from other members as follows:   
1:  Stick with the Aries.  It is a wonderful sounding product. 
2:  Go with a gimbal rather than knife edge bearing tone arm. 
3:  If wall bracing is not possible, try Symposium or Townshend platforms.  
My set-up and suspended floors are my systems weakest link.  Root cause of set-up issues is the WAF and small home.  Judicious attention to vibration isolation of all equipment including my TT and location of cabinet on main beam weight bearing wall has helped.  Note I have not followed my own recommendations on the tone arm and deal with the JM knife edge bearing.  I know a gimbal bearing tone arm will be better but on fixed income and focus on digital streaming it’s not a priority for me.  

I have an original Aries Extended which uses the 12" arm vs. the 10" arm of the standard Aries, which I assume is what you have.  I've changed a lot on it; aluminum platter (used) and periphery ring (came with table along with frosted acrylic platter), Unipivot Needle Assembly (new), an early 12.7 tonearm base assembly (demo from VPI), and IsoAcoustics Gaia II feet (new).  I still have the original JMW-12.5 arm and motor assembly.  I also have the single motor flywheel (used) but not using presently, mainly because I don't have (or really want) a 30" wide platform on top of my rack (I can't use a low table, I have cats ...).

I agree with most of what the others have said, you have a very nice table and it can be a very expensive journey, but from a cost standpoint there are a few things you can do relatively "cheap".  First, if you haven't already, replace the Unipivot Needle Assembly ($115 from VPI; note: it's not really a knife edge, it's a very sharp very pointy and very hard needle).  The needle point is likely dull if it is the original.  A new one will have less resistance to movement and resultant better detail to the music. 

A second, more costly upgrade, would be a used replacement arm, either a stainless steel version (pretty rare) or a 3-D printed version (more common, but stay away from the early ones with the finger lift built in, the finger lift breaks).  My only hesitation on the arm is VPI moved from a 10" to a 10.5" arm along the way and getting the 10.5" to work on a standard Aries may require moving the arm base.  Slight aside, the VPI forum used to have a LOT of information on this (and a lot more) but a lot of that data was lost a few years back.  Matt is trying to recover as much as he can but it's not going well.

A third improvement, as mentioned by others are the feet.  As I mentioned I use the Gaia II; for a standard Aries, which is lighter than my Extended, the Gaia III ($200, work with up to 70 lb. total for the four feet) would likely be a better, and cheaper fit.  There are a couple of offerings from VPI, but they are pricey.  I think the HW-40 feet are the best and most likely to provide a noticeable improvement, but they're $475.  I tried the mini-TNT feet and they were ok, but they're in storage now ...

One last thing, if you have the original platter, i.e., the composite one made of aluminum and black composite (can't think of the actual material) stick with it, that's a very good platter.  The only downside is it can't accommodate the peripheral ring, which I really like, but others not so much.

You can be very happy with what you have, the cartridge is very important and you have that part of the battle covered. Piecemeal upgrades can help but they can be a rabbit hole (I know from experience). Good luck with your (continuing) journey!