I would be Bawling 
without constraint if I was parting with $16K where the cost is just to replay a Vinyl LP.
Today in modern Vinyl Outlets the average Customer is in their Teens to Early 20's, after witnessing enthusiasms being expressed and inquiries occasionally heard being made to store staff, I will give them a Fledgling Audiophile Status for their interest shown in the Vinyl Medium. I see my starting place in life in these young individuals but at my time at this age, CD had made Vinyl LP Purchasing very very affordable.
Vinyl LP's on sale are typically between £15 - £35, so for a individual fighting their way with modern cost for living being so expensive, these are luxury purchases, Beans on Toast for the Week can easily be the compromise for the Spend.
TT > Tonearm > Cartridges offered by these same Vinyl LP Stores are typically costing between £300 - £1200. Using these prices as a guideline, I strongly suggest this is the price that a young individual with an interest in collecting Vinyl LP's, who are a Fledgling Audiophile Status, is of the opinion are the monies needed to be outlaid for them to have aspired to a High Quality Vinyl Replay.
My own first spins of replaying Vinyl were undertaken on a much lesser capable Turntable Set Up.
In current times and with what I have come to know and deliberately limit myself to as an intent to investigate.
I have discovered enough where I have not needed to part with $16K as a singular outlay to have a Vinyl Source that has been substantially good as a performer. My Vinyl Source has created a filled un-emptying room at venues where I have exhibited to the Public in attendance at the event.
Sticking solely to the Vinyl Source and Phonostage, an early guise of this set has been achieved at approx' 1/3rd of the $16K. This same guise of set up remains in use but has been built upon with additional options, obviously with added costs.
If I was approached under the notion I was needing to Spend $30K - $100K to surpass where I am now with my Vinyl Source, I would laugh
uncontrollably, and hopefully be able to finish with a politeness off saying "no thanks not today".
The idea of a Cartridge Purchase, with all the fragilities a Cartridge comes with, costing approx' $4 an hour if it lasts for the 1000 hours is a cause of disquiet for myself. I have been quite successful in having equivalent quality Cart's bespoke produced at a 1/4 of the cost of a New Branded Cart'.
Similar is adopted for the TT and TA which are currently in use and as designs have superseded the other configurations for a TT > Tonearm once used.
The changes occurred when I made discoveries that had a profound effect, the experiences that followed were very unusual and proved to be compelling to be maintained.
The experiences had resulted in my letting those that really know their way through what is required for the Electronics and Mechanical Engineering for the TT and TA being commissioned to produce their best practices for such devices. For myself I am a convert to the selected designs and have never looked back, I am fully arrived.
With all this occurring in not too long a time line, it was quite noticeable that the Digital Source was in need, the Vinyl Source was the barometer for where the Digital Sound can head towards.
After different Trials and eventually taking a Punt by adopting the use of a Bespoke Commission Built Valve DAC that needed to be imported. There is today a Digital Source / Analogue Source readily available, that shares a Parity in the good impression belonging to eithers End Sound being created.
