Would you still pay $10k or more for a turntable not full analog front end these days ?

@total111 But what happens when we print a doc, then scan, then print again? Are the two prints same?

This sounds like a zen koan, but thinking of a printer as a digital to analog converter is an interesting thought!

Yes and no, respectively. I measure the value (to me) of my turntables, cartridges and phono stages in terms of pleasure, not just sound quality. There are recordings that I have on vinyl, CD, and SACD, and it's nearly always the vinyl I choose. But that's just me, and I don't suggest that it should be true for others. Your job is to do what gives you the most pleasure.

@tubes4good A lot more if I had an unlimited supply of FIM purchased in the last century. The cost of film has risen many times the cost of LP's.

My film freezer:

A day without exposing and developing a film is a day wasted.

There again, in the late 1980's when I was buying CDs they were $25CDN, which an inflation calculator tells me would be $56CDN today, so used vinyl seems a but more of a bargain!