How much do I need to spend to make vinyl sound better than digital?

Phono stage should cost two or better three times more than the cartridge. This means $1500 phono stage for $500 cartridge, if my math is correct. And with tube phono stage tubes matter a lot as well, of course. It is hard to see a good analogue set up for less than, say, $5k new.

I have an EAT C Sharp, and Cadenza Blue --what maybe 5000.

and I use a Pass LabsXP17  I think 4500.

IF I upgrade probaly the Pure Fidelity HArmony MK II in Maple with a TRiPlanar U2 SE arm and a Hana Unami Blue---  keep the Pass Labs pre.

So probably I'd spend 22K or so to upgrade.

What my digital stack costs----hmmm--maybe 8,000
Venus 2-12th, SonoreUltra Rendu, and roon core is an Itransporter, the new Onix SACD transport I just got as well.

I enjoy both, vinyl and digital,  about equally.

45 rpm 12 inch vinyl records sound roughly equivalent to 24/192 streaming. It is all about the recording and mixing quality. Recording engineers are not given enough credit. 

@inna

Phono stage should cost two or better three times more than the cartridge

Oh snap!!! Now I need to buy a $45K phono stage, just after I bought a decent one for less...or is that a $90K phono-stage? I have two Lyra Atlas. I guess my analog front end must be crap now. Please advise. I guess my system all of a sudden sounds like I’m playing a Crosley reading this revelation, and I never realized it. 

Jeez. What is it with all these B.S. generalizations? Where do people get this stuff? What’s the evidence for it?

Getting analog [vinyl] right is about achieving good balance, but there is no cut and dry formula for everything, or anything really. It depends on many things, and varies so much as one traverses different ranges. There are so many different ways to build a balanced setup at different price points, and what works well for one point doesn’t necessarily apply to everything else. That’s why there is just as much art as science to it all.

It is hard to see a good analogue set up for less than, say, $5k new.

This is where we lose the forest for the trees. I’ve been guilty of this too, plenty of times. I played with a $500 Fluance RT-85 and $1K Hagerman Trumpet, and records were still enjoyable. Some vinyl albums simply sound better to me than their digital counterparts, and these still were more enjoyable to me, even on such a modest deck. Though, noise floor doesn’t bother me as much as it might for others. 

A good sounding LP is a good sounding LP. It’s not THAT hard to extract much of the beauty from it. But then, do I nonetheless seek better "quality" and spend money wantonly in its never-ending pursuit and re-definition? Hell yeah.