Would you still pay $10k or more for a turntable not full analog front end these days ?

"My point is simply that more expensive streamers can and do sound much better than a $2k streamer"
Th cost of an item does not mean it sounds better. However Aurender, Grimm, etc certainly sound far better than an el cheapo streamer. Just listen.

Would you still pay $10k or more for a turntable not full analog front end these days ?

Assuming the question was turntable only, yes. Probably the Technics  SL-1000RE-S. Plus a new cart and phono stage. A few things need to align to make that happen, but that's my goal.

Note that you can't in good conscience enjoy BOTH analog and digital. Nope...you gotta take a stand! I happen to very much enjoy my trusty old Linn/Akito/Ortofon MC analog, my new-ish Cd player, and streaming. Am I enjoying things too much? Am I ignoring the hallowed opinions of the golden eared "experts?" Yes, and yes.

@ghdprentice 

That air is rarefied so limited exposure for most.  For credibility speak about digital formats, vinyl pressings, genres and the differences, not the sameness.  If you don't hear a difference that means you don't hear a difference.  That sort of anti-qualifies you in my book.  But that's my opinion.  Which is worth the print on this page, nothing more.

@OP. This is basically a value proposition question as far as I'm concerned i.e. take the cost of the relevant software collection and divide it by the cost of the playback equipment. Or put more simply, a big record collection better justifies a big investment in the turntable/arm/cartridge. I know that calculation limps for streaming given that the size of the collection is exponentially larger than any physical collection. But then that depends on how valuable almost limitless choice is to you. I listen to my records and cd more than I listen to streamed music (and I have a reasonably large collection of both) so continued investment in playback systems for CD and vinyl is justified.