Went all analog / vinyl, I made a mistake

[Formerly YB-2]

Cannot beat vinyl for the best sound. I've purchased all the bits & pieces to do the digital thing, but I've yet to listen critically to a digital front end that doesn't tire me after an hour or so. I also enjoy 'the hunt' for old vinyl. Good-Will & 2nd-hand shops of all types generally have bins of old LPs. Most are uninteresting, but one can often come away with a few $1 LPs that make the 30min worth the effort. We are fortunate in having two of the very best vinyl stores within a couple of hours drive. A good record cleaner and you are generally in business with new tunes. Plus, swapping cartridges is a great way to get a bit different sound and same with tonearms and phono-preamps. While you can go crazy with all, the law of diminishing returns is quite steep above $2500 in vinyl, so no reason to do so.

As for destroying cartridges as one gets older...….. just remember to use your TA's cuing lever, both coming and going. I'm 72 and suffer from essential tremor and have yet to break a cantilever (never say never...….. I'm knocking on wood as I type this).

One other bit for the OP...…. new LPs often require a few plays to sound their best. The stylus actually can 'polish' the grooves.

[mulveling]

I think for many of us audiophiles, trying out vinyl is like starting a romance. The conditions have to be just right, you need to choose the right partner, be in the right state of mind, etc. I got lucky and fell in love, back in 2007. I saw a SOTA Star in Koa wood on consignment, literally iridescent in the waning sunlight, and it never got out of my head till I went back a week later (on my birthday) and bought that SOTA plus 3 records (that was all I had back then!!). Of course you have to choose more than just a table, and here was my starter kit:

SOTA Star III with Fidelity Research FR64fx arm
Benz Micro Glider L2
Dynavector P75 phono stage

The sound blew me away. It absolutely trashed my Meridian G08 CD player at a similar total $ outlay. I've been hooked ever since, and have accumulated a fairly large vinyl collection and a disturbing amount of expensive analog gear. My main system has not had a digital source hooked up for almost 10 years! I'm grateful to the SOTA & Fidelity Research for being an amazing 1st partner - and still have her today The SOTA's are great first partners because (besides sounding great) their built in suspension almost eliminates the need to worry about isolation (which can be a HUGE issue for many turntables). I'm also very happy I went for a quality low output MC cartridge right off the bat ($800 on a cartridge seemed a bit excessive to me at first) rather than risk disappointment with a lesser result.

If you're buying a lot of new vinyl reissues, I have found many to be extremely disappointing in sound quality. Digging in bins of vintage records, you can find gold. And yes, vinyl has an inherently higher noise floor even with fancy cleaners and all that. Plus the occasional pop, tick, and scratch. Of course it can be exacerbated by poor setup or gear matches, so it's always worth having an expert double-check everything until you get more experience. I'd enjoyed a friend's vinyl setup before I got into it myself, so I knew the vinyl noise wouldn't be a deal breaker for me.