Does a record player make that much of a difference??

You have to ask?! He** yeah, the biggest difference!

Someday, maybe, a VPI or a Dr Feickert... But I recently added an Orbit Theory to my third system to upgrade from a Pro-Ject Debut Carbon DC, and have fallen in love. At the price I paid, open box discount, it was a true steal...for a USA product. Quiet, tracks very well, cast magnesium arm, a clever anti-skate, solid wood plinth, 3 great adjustable feet, built in phono stage (which is conveniently by-passed) and an upgrade to Ortofon 2m Bronze (keeping the Blue for need). You can buy direct from Orbit. My only quibbles; the supplied phono leads and the plastic dust cover hinges which are obvious cost saving moves, very minor complaints.

Consider the base of the turntable and its ability to isolate the table from footfalls, vibrations from the speakers and form earthquakes (measurable in very minor increments which affect the sound that you would never know about)_ disctintly from the ability to spin the record precisely and generate no noise from it's motor.

The most expensive TTs do both in an excellent fashion, but if you are trying to optimize the investment, go with a light table like a Rega and spend a few bucks on a base (and wall shelf if needed like when you have a suspended floor). In my experience, I agree with @mijostyn that the turntable should sound like nothing so sound improvements in that would be less discernible than the arm/cartridge phono stage one you have a very good TT. Arm and cartridge need to be well matched as do the cartridge and phono stage which can make the choices complicated.

Features can play a big role in the decision. The way the power supply is plugged into Rega's P8 was the opposite versus the P5 I replaced, and the wiring directly from the arm to the end of the interconnect wiring that plugs into the phono stage was much improved. However, I upgraded the arm first from the P5 arm (RB700) to the RB880 that comes with the P8 first, and found the tonearm upgrade dramatically improved the sound. The table, not so much. Still, since I liked the new features of the P8, I don't regret getting it. 

Dear @noromance  : " the turntable and its supporting structure has the most significant contribution to retrieval of the maximum amount of data from the grooves.  "

Key in your statement: " retrieval of the maximum amount of data from the grooves.  " "

look and think for a moment: even if the TT is not exactly precise on spining at 33.33 rpm or any other " condition " the RETRIAVAL amount information fromthe LP grooves ( rigth or wrong ) is the main target/responsability of the cartridge it's why cartridges exist along two other " items " tonearm and our care of that cartridge/tonearm set up.

Yes, with out the spining on TT nothing can happens but that's not the issue in your statement words. After the LP the " source " is the cartridge/transducer.

@terry9  posted that phono stage is first in importance order and makes sense in several ways because it's this electronics unit who has to proccess the cartrisge information but even that the SOURCE still is the cartridge and what surrounded LP/cartridge couple are its slaves, yes important " slaves " as a whole.

R.

The Styli in the Groove passing modulations solely generates the the energy to be transferred via the armature to induce a current.

The current produced being a result of the link between Styli and Coils (MC) is ideally a result of the impact of the modulation on the Styli only. Ambient energies withing the listening environment being able to transfer and influence the Styli to generate alien energy through the armature will be producing a current and sent on signal that is not pure modulation retrieval.

Additionally, the mechanics of the Turntable and Tonearm are both able to influence the Styli, and produce energies that will be transferred through the armature to produce a current. Such a current will be very different than that produced by the Groove Modulation only.

The learning and methods used to control mechanical produced energies comes with a need to have a skill set that is usually way beyond the typical user of a Vinyl LP as a Source. Usually such control measures are found through making substantial investments in equipment, in the hope these mechanical interfaces are much improved by the quality of the engineering adopted as a design and application.

Hence, it is much easier for the typical user of the Vinyl LP as a Source, to create a structure to support the Trilogy of ancillaries to enable a Vinyl LP to be replayed, which will be as a whole, aiding in creating a reduction of ambient energies within the room being transferred to the Styli, where ultimately the most detrimental of the energy that can be encountered is dissipated by the structure. 

With either of the above addressed, but preferably both, will be the condition that allows for the Phonostage to receive Electrical Signal that is mostly created through the Vinyl LP's Modulation/Styli interface only.