In 1978 I bought a pair of Boothroyd Stuart Meridian 105 monos and matching 101B preamp with an Oracle tt (the second ever produced, first after the prototype) with Dynavector Ruby cart driving a pair of KEF 105s. Cost at the time was $7000.00. That was sota at the time and I really don't think sq has come much further imo. What would 30 grand do now? Probably about the same. Could you hear the difference between a 10,000.00 dollar tt vs one ten times that cost in an ABX today? Maaaybe.
your first system-
I put together my first system in 1977- turntable, receiver, speakers and a cassette deck- $600. An on-line inflation calculator tells me that is $2760 in 2022 dollars. I am sure a current $1500 streaming based system can be assembled that would demolish my 1977 system. That's what I call real progress!