Is it all worth it?

People here get too caught up in the hardware. I think a sizeable bunch want to be forum heroes with the equipment they have. Its always about the music though. Never forget.

I can tell you that in the last week I sold off my entire system (which was a patchwork of mid fi gear that sounded pretty good) and almost half my records. The other half I’ll box and store indefinitely. All that pays for the last 3 months of my daughter’s therapies and a loaner truck as we will now live on a friend’s couch for the foreseeable future. Three Part time and one full time job vanished in about 4 days.

Be happy you have a system to play on. Those of us not anointed will be nomads with only $14 earbuds to guide us. GCG signing out.

Church.
That is sad to hear but I know meaninglessness platitudes from this forum will not help you much right now.
But best wishes to you and your family.

To me, it's more than just sound quality. I started listening to records in the mid-60s, got my own first component stereo in 1970, and I couldn't tell you any of the brand names except for the Garrard record changer and a pair of Dave Clark headphones. Whole set-up was $100 used. A tiny (15 wpm?) integrated amp and some little bookshelf speakers. I was completely happy with this system for 5-6 years (through college), and paid little attention to high-end systems. It was all about the music itself. Carefully selecting an album for purchase. Reading all the liner notes. And listened to the whole album all the way through most times. The tunes and their sequence were part of the artists' intent. 
  My system now is far, far better, and most of my listening is either CDs or iTunes files burned from CDs. I love the convenience, but the record playing routine is in my blood, and I still relate it to the love of music I developed prior to the digital revolution. Yes, keeping records in good shape is a pain. Hauling the albums around and storing them is a pain. The tics and pops (or worse) used to cause me angst. But I still love the experience. Working now on setting up a basic, inexpensive 2nd system in my home with just phono and R2R, just because I can. Just for the experience.

Vinyl has always been my primary music source.  I still own and play the first album I purchased with my lawn cutting money in the early 70s.  My father loved his music and it was spinning most evenings.  The “ritual” was ingrained and practiced from an early age.  Today I still love to tweak my cartridges setup.  Newly acquired TT has two tonearms and I spent a good 2 hours today making minor SRA adjustments on one tonearm to optimize the Kiseki Pupleheart.  Down to 0.1mm changes until I found the spot it will stay at for the foreseeable future. I love this challenge and the rich reward I experience from the effort in listening to the music at its best.  My digital system is also very solid but to reach the level of my vinyl I would have to probably add another $10,000 investment.  Not happening and no fun to tweak.  It is a hobby...  

I’ve had over the years numerous different systems. What I really enjoy these days is simply listening to the Radio (on the internet) I’m surprised how good some stations sound but I like not listening to or for SQ as much as it forces me to just listen to music for musics sake. Not to say I don’t have a good system 😏