Never leave it to me to give advice. Every time I do, I am sorry. Only you will know if it is right. Do you start off big and find out if it is right for you, or do you dip a toe in the water, never realizing the potential for vinyl? So here goes.....
Spend a $1000 on a turntable/cartridge, and at least $500-700 on a phono stage. I spent a $1000 on a TT, the MMF-7, and $900 on a phono stage, the Graham Slee Era Gold V. I enjoy finding pristine records at the store and bringing them home. I have better sound staging, more realistic voices and instruments, and feel like I am "there". On the downside, unless your records are new (expensive), there will be noise from the surface, including pops and static. CDs give you black backgrounds, great frequency range and zero noise, but they are more "clinical". For this to be successful, you will have to enjoy the discovery of records in stores, tolerate the surface noise, and go through the ritual of cleaning records, all to enjoy the sweetness and realism that digital hopes to achieve. In my limited experience, you have to spend $2000 on a record rig to better what you will get with digital. Once you pass that mark, you have to spend much more on digital to surpass that. My advice is worth what you paid for it. But, if the analog bug bites you, you will have moments of audio bliss. I guarantee it.
Spend a $1000 on a turntable/cartridge, and at least $500-700 on a phono stage. I spent a $1000 on a TT, the MMF-7, and $900 on a phono stage, the Graham Slee Era Gold V. I enjoy finding pristine records at the store and bringing them home. I have better sound staging, more realistic voices and instruments, and feel like I am "there". On the downside, unless your records are new (expensive), there will be noise from the surface, including pops and static. CDs give you black backgrounds, great frequency range and zero noise, but they are more "clinical". For this to be successful, you will have to enjoy the discovery of records in stores, tolerate the surface noise, and go through the ritual of cleaning records, all to enjoy the sweetness and realism that digital hopes to achieve. In my limited experience, you have to spend $2000 on a record rig to better what you will get with digital. Once you pass that mark, you have to spend much more on digital to surpass that. My advice is worth what you paid for it. But, if the analog bug bites you, you will have moments of audio bliss. I guarantee it.