Should I buy a VPI SCOUTMASTER. I OWN 25 RECORDS.

I recently got back into vinyl a couple years ago by purchasing a Scoutmaster with the jmw arm and a ortofon 2m blue mm cartridge. It sounded good to me and I was enjoying it more than cds on my PS audio direct stream dac/memory player(transport). Soon after I picked up another VPI arm wand with nordost wiring and a Hana SH cartridge. I was using a cheap Vincent phono preamp for a little while to get started and it sounded okay for 250 on sale. Things really improved when I picked up an Alnic H 1201 tubed phono preamp and Kiseki Purple Heart cartridge that I found here for a decent price. I also found a Fosgate signature Signature Phono preamp on usaudio that I couldn’t resist after getting a taste of tubes. I prefer the Fosgate over the Alnic even though it’s quite a bit noisier. I picked up a 6 month old VPI Prime a few months ago on Usaudio and love the sound of the sound of the 3D arm even though the Scoutmaster seemed to go a little deeper in the o
low end. So to sum it all up I really fell hard back into vinyl which to me is just more musically involving and makes it hard to sit down and really enjoy digital anymore. I don’t have a lot of experience with other tables but VPI seem to hold there value pretty well and have an extensive upgrade path. If you can go listen to a decent table and and really good digital front end and see which one you want to invest more? This is kinda what got me back into vinyl and made me keep buying new and used records frequently. 

I love my Scoutmaster and Prime even with there unipivot arms. They can be a little difficult to set up at first but get a lot easier after a couple cartridge changes. I haven’t had any problems so far, knock on wood, and the bearings show no sign of wear on either table. You do have to be careful with the male pivot because it is very sharp and could be bent if you dropped the arm wand down on it with to much force. I only have experience with the VPI since the last turntable I had was around 25yrs ago, a Mitsubishi Lt22 or something with a Stanton 681eee I think? There’s a lot of choices out there and I think going used is going to get you the most bang for your buck. I wouldn’t rule out VPI completely because I think there’s a lot of customers out there that have had a positive experience with them. In any case I definitely recommend investing more in the table than the dac which is just my opinion from doing it backwards and starting with the digital front end first.