Best investment; cartridge or line stage?

Bear in mind that cartridges wear out. Everything else, not so much. Ralph is of course, correct: no cartridge will sound its best unless it is held at exactly the right angles. Only a very good tonearm can do this. And only a very good TT is quiet enough. And only a good phono stage is clean enough.

Cartridge last, IMO. YMMV

Phono stage  just go with a Denon DH-103 cartridge and get the wood body for it and you are all set.

knock1

I am supposing OP has Rega Ania which has an Elliptical Stylus on aluminum

The reason is simple: the tonearm's ability to properly track the cartridge far outweighs what cartridge you have. The better the arm is at this, the less differences you'll hear between cartridges assuming they are set up properly.

So absolutely true! Not only does a great tonearm allow for proper tracking, but a great tonearm has a sound of its own due to how it handles vibrations from the cartridge. There is not a tonearm on Earth that neutralizes all stylus induced vibration. Perhaps only 5-10% of the overall sound quality comes from the material and design choices but they still count. When I switched to Reed 3P tonearms the SQ change was revelatory. 

After the choice of tonearm, invest in the phono stage before cartridge. There are so many great sounding sub-$1500 cartridges. And as noted above, cartridges are subject to wear and to accidental damage. 

@elliottbnewcombjr you are correct the cartridge is an Rega Ania.

So another really great point a couple of you brought up. Cartridges do wear out, other investments not so much. I knew I would get some great input from this crew. Thanks so much!! Time to go dive deep on tone arms.