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

@ghdprentice 

That air is rarefied so limited exposure for most.  For credibility speak about digital formats, vinyl pressings, genres and the differences, not the sameness.  If you don't hear a difference that means you don't hear a difference.  That sort of anti-qualifies you in my book.  But that's my opinion.  Which is worth the print on this page, nothing more.

@OP. This is basically a value proposition question as far as I'm concerned i.e. take the cost of the relevant software collection and divide it by the cost of the playback equipment. Or put more simply, a big record collection better justifies a big investment in the turntable/arm/cartridge. I know that calculation limps for streaming given that the size of the collection is exponentially larger than any physical collection. But then that depends on how valuable almost limitless choice is to you. I listen to my records and cd more than I listen to streamed music (and I have a reasonably large collection of both) so continued investment in playback systems for CD and vinyl is justified.

@gdnrbob - 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.

From an investment standpoint, you are better off getting a turntable over a streamer. Streamers are not like computers, every 18 months a better one comes out. Not so much with turntables. Once you own a streamer, you just plug in and go, there really isn't much involvement.  With a TT, you can spend unlimited time and money tinkering with it. Needles, cartridges, pre-amps, tone arms, etc...

Yes, records are stupid expensive, 2x the cost of CD's. Most records are at least $30 a piece, usually I feel lucky to find one at $25. 

My streamer and TT get almost equal use. It's hard to play a record and cook dinner. Dirty hands have no place near a TT. My TT aways sounds better over my steamer. The TT is only as good as a source, some records are crap, and a good TT will let you know that. Over the streamer that most stuff sounds the same. 

Once you own a streamer, you just plug in and go, there really isn't much involvement.  With a TT, you can spend unlimited time and money tinkering with it. Needles, cartridges, pre-amps, tone arms, etc...

@mswale You just reminded me why my TT remains in storage. 😉

My TT aways sounds better over my steamer. The TT is only as good as a source, some records are crap, and a good TT will let you know that. Over the streamer that most stuff sounds the same. 

Out of curiosity, how much $$$ do you have invested each in your analog and streaming setups, and what are you using as a streaming service?  BTW, I can very easily tell the differences between various recordings of the same material in Qobuz, and I’m only using a $400 iFi Zen Stream (with their iPowerX power supply).