@missioncoonery I’m paraphrasing but when you claimed that vinyl didn’t live up to your expectations, then I’m wondering just how or why you weren’t happy with the sound of your vinyl rig? Did it sound muted, was it noisy, etc… As far as the Linn or the VPI, those are very fine tables with respectable tonearms. So I’m thinking the phono amp and/or the cartridge and if I were in need of buying a phono amp, I’d look for a used one. However more than anything, playing records should be fun and enjoyable, well at least for me.
What I did was buy a used ASR Mini Basis MK II phono amp when I bought my ASR Emitter II Exclusive amplifier. The Mini Basis is their entry level phono amp however it is a very good amplifier for the money. After that, I found a Thorens TD 160 MK 1 turntable in excellent working condition and began modifying it. I decided to make it into a designated mono table so I installed an Audio Technica 33 Mono MC cartridge. I was listening to mono remastered Jazz records last night and it sounds like I would expect it to. Given that, I listen to my digital front end about 85% of the time and vinyl the other 15%. Maybe when I’m finished with my upgrades and modifications, then I’ll listen to vinyl more often but for me, digital offers better fidelity and there are about zero new classical recordings being offered in any other format than from compact discs or digital downloads. But vinyl can be fun at times so that is solely why I keep my records, turntable and phono amp.