There's no right or wrong, it all depends on what you want to do and when. You'll hear a lot more improvement from a good phono stage like Herron VTPH2A with your current table than you will ever get from a VPI or anything else with a budget stage.
But if you would be able to audition phono stages (unlikely) then it could still make sense to do the table first, because then you would have a much better idea what you're comparing. That is the order I did it in, great table/arm/cart then phono stage hunt. But that was back when thought home auditions were essential and was willing to do the work getting a dozen (seriously) different phono stages into my room.
Nowadays I would just say below $5k there's the Herron, and the Decware, pick one and never look back.
Either of those are good enough to be end game for a lot of guys.
Don't forget, whatever you get, the difference between whatever it is sitting on some rack vs properly optioned out on a massive shelf with Pods is the difference between a $5k front end that sounds like a $5k front end, and one that sounds like a $25k front end.
But if you would be able to audition phono stages (unlikely) then it could still make sense to do the table first, because then you would have a much better idea what you're comparing. That is the order I did it in, great table/arm/cart then phono stage hunt. But that was back when thought home auditions were essential and was willing to do the work getting a dozen (seriously) different phono stages into my room.
Nowadays I would just say below $5k there's the Herron, and the Decware, pick one and never look back.
Either of those are good enough to be end game for a lot of guys.
Don't forget, whatever you get, the difference between whatever it is sitting on some rack vs properly optioned out on a massive shelf with Pods is the difference between a $5k front end that sounds like a $5k front end, and one that sounds like a $25k front end.