What Vinyl quality should I be using?

05-30-08: Nickclarson
I was going to add that if anything I could just get a nice headphone amp and a turntable. I already have some pretty good sounding headphones. Beyerdynamic dt770's

For convenience, reliability, good sound for the money, good ergonomics and great resale value, you could try a Technics SL1210 M5G and add the fluid damper from KAB Electronics. Pair it with a cartridge with higher output such as a Goldring 1012x or 1022x (KAB sells both at excellent prices) or Ortofon 2M Blue and plug it into a Bellari VP129 tube phono stage. The Bellari only has 30dB of gain, so the Goldring and Ortofon moving magnet carts would be a good match. The Bellari also has a headphone output.

If you're just getting back into vinyl, the ruggedness of the Technics plus its removable headshell makes things easier--less likely to break something and much easier to mount and align cartridges.

The Technics with fluid damper is great for playing used vinyl from "questionable" sources. My setup can track some pretty incredible warps and keeps them inaudible.