Sputniks, You use the terms we and us. You really should only worry about yourself and how you feel about what you are doing and how it makes you feel. FWIW I agree with 4yanx's comments and Aceto's last sentence.
Your Opinion
I just wonder how much the perceivable quality of sound benefits from $1500 dollars cartridge or $3000 dollars tonearm...comparing to its chipper counterparts - 75 dollars cart and 200 dollars tonearm.
I have a feeling that if we would measure a "quality performance" hear able by human ear and measure it by 10 points (ten being the best) and giving those "tens points" to best of the best (and in most cases to the most expensive ones) cartridges, tonearms, turntables and etc...then those 75 dollars or 100 dollars cartridges and tonearms would easily get 8 or 9 points...
What I am trying to say ...is that it seems that we would have to pay 50 or 100 dollars to get 99% of sound quality (for cartridge, tonearm and etc). And in order to get that remaining 1% (and we all know we will never able to hear it anyway) we would have to pay 1500% more!
Just try to get regular 5 dollars interconnect and change it to 1000 dollars one. And don't fool yourself " Ohh... it sounds so much better!!!" Most of us would hear no difference in sound. I know I won't. My math is simple - there is no hearable improvement in sound behind 100 dollars cart, 200 dollars tonearm and 300/400 dollars turntable.
I have a feeling that if we would measure a "quality performance" hear able by human ear and measure it by 10 points (ten being the best) and giving those "tens points" to best of the best (and in most cases to the most expensive ones) cartridges, tonearms, turntables and etc...then those 75 dollars or 100 dollars cartridges and tonearms would easily get 8 or 9 points...
What I am trying to say ...is that it seems that we would have to pay 50 or 100 dollars to get 99% of sound quality (for cartridge, tonearm and etc). And in order to get that remaining 1% (and we all know we will never able to hear it anyway) we would have to pay 1500% more!
Just try to get regular 5 dollars interconnect and change it to 1000 dollars one. And don't fool yourself " Ohh... it sounds so much better!!!" Most of us would hear no difference in sound. I know I won't. My math is simple - there is no hearable improvement in sound behind 100 dollars cart, 200 dollars tonearm and 300/400 dollars turntable.