$1,500 phono upgrade worth it?

You're new to this, unable to tell the difference between hiss and hum, and think records are supposed to sound like digital. Sorry. Whole point is they don't sound like digital.

Along with totally superior sound quality comes a pretty obvious tradeoff in terms of easy to hear noise. Yes if you are willing to move way up the line in performance and cost you can probably find a lot less noisy phono stage. This however is a lousy way to do it. Because you will never, ever get it dead silent like digital.

Even if somehow you do, groove noise. So what is the point?

Focus on the music. Upgrade to a better phono stage for the music. The rest will take care of itself. Or if you prefer, embrace the suck. Whatever. Just don't try and put legs on a snake.

@dill +1 

@ecrotty Unfortunately this situation isn't so straightforward, as it should be. RFI, including FM signals often find their way into low level analog signals in phono stages. Your hiss could be from unoptimized gain or load setting as Dill mentiioned. But it could also be from your analog system acting as a low level antenna and pulling in RFI or simiilar. Grounding can impact it too.

Then if those issues are eliminated as the cause, yeah, maybe the Rega is noisier than you'd like. Borrowing a better phono stage would go a long way to narrowing things down. OTOH, if you bought from a local dealer or have a friend with a turntable, you could try bringing the Rega to them and seeing if you still hear the same issue. 

I'd suggest those other potential causes first, and consider the upgrade after. Cheers,

Spencer

I see no reference to digital except in your twisted brain.

A tape deck is dead silent when it’s not running.

OP Try a couple of phono stages on approval before you decide on anything. I would try a Parks Puffin, free returns with Prime.

@dill , I have played with the input and gain on the stage. I have it to where I get the least amount of noise, but it's still very noticeable.

@millercarbon You are correct, I am fairly new to this. I understand that there is going to be some noise associated with vinyl, and I'm totally fine with it. My main source of listening is vinyl, with streaming on a rare occasion. What I can't figure out is the noticeable hum when I turn on the stage with nothing playing. I've heard systems with very little hum, albeit much more expensive than mine, and that's what I'm trying to figure out. Is it worth upgrading the stage, at the price point I can afford, to get closer to what I've heard?