Surprised at how turntable sounds

Hi Martin. I’d say ditch the cartridge for sure but the Denon whilst not by most standards the last word in vinyl playback, is nevertheless capable of giving you the flavour of decent vinyl playback with the MP-150 properly fitted to a the arm. Unfortunately, unless you can find a switch which bypasses the line level out, you cannot use an off board Phono preamp. So I would pay a bit more for a Nagoaka MP150 cartridge which should give you a flavour of what vinyl can sound like. You may then want to move up a little. If you then decide you want to try a better turntable,the Nagaoka MP150 will scale with it. There are plenty of choices  Technics SL-100C; Rega Planar 3; Pro-Ject X1;  Thorens TD-160 to name a few, or why not look for a decent used used Technics SL-1200 Mk2 bullet proof and great sounding. Of course with these TT’s, you will need to factor a Phono pre Look for something like Graham Slee Gram Amp 2 SE, which I have personally heard work so well with a Nagaoka MP150 and Rega Planar 3 but Schiit Mani 2 is good value too, as is Project Phono-box S2. Even the Rega Fono Mini will work well. A little perseverance will be yield a great deal of pleasure. If not too presumptuous please consider a preamp/control for your system It will be a huge upgrade or even a streamer with a preamp built in with some line level inputs. I am unsure of how the Sonos other than multi-room functionality and NAS connectivity fits into what is a capable system. Which ever way you go I wish you a good outcome.

@martinlb ,

Good choice. Get the Audio-Technica cartridge over the Ortofon.

Now you need a decent record cleaning machine!

For now, there are lots of great suggestions here in this thread, like those above.  For example, I can vouch for the Schiit Mani 2, which is how I started out.  It has some loading flexibility for a wide variety of cartridges.  Great way to start, and not very expensive.

One interesting aspect of this hobby that I have seen in no other:  The higher up you move in the analog food chain the fewer features you will see.  A cheap AT TT will have auto arm capabilities (start / return).  You rarely see these on higher-end tables.    You will rarely, if ever, see BlueTooth or built-in pre-amp on a more precisely engineered TT.  Think about why that is.

Eventually, consider reaching out to some of the boutique TT manufacturers, as well.  Maybe not just yet, but in the future. Yes, these are more expensive, but you are buying not just the table and gear, but the engineering philosophy and an ongoing relationship -- someone who can mentor you, and occasionally hook you up with secondhand equipment that far exceeds what you can find online.

Cut your losses and run away from this turntable abyss, while you still can.

All studio masters for many decades now are digital. A better salvaged digital version exists even for old vintage albums degrading away on master tape.

One day you shall find that even with a 100k+ turntable setup, 2 records may sound ok and the 3rd one may sound like sht. So, focus on getting your digital chain better.

If you want the sound of analog master tape (flavors flavors flavors..), get a software from Levinson called Master Class and run your files through it...Analog master tape sound for dayss...

I'm hoping for some feedback and help about what happened with a turntable I've just got. My system has two Dynakit Mk 3 60w monoblocks, a Sonos Port, two B&W 702 S3 speakers, a nas with my music saved as flac files, and a new Denon DP-25F turntable.  

I do have a preamp I can use.  I haven't been using it, or thinking about it I guess, because I haven't needed it.  That's obviously changed.  I doubt very much it will make enough difference but I'm looking to bypass the built-in preamp in the Denon and see what happens.  It's an Elekit 8550 tube preamp BTW.