I'm probably wasting valuable ATP by bothering to type some thoughts on this topic, but type I shall -- with no false expectations of readership.
Obviously all that follow are no more or less than my opinions.
The cult of the
vinylista got cranked up (grasping at a mixed gramophone metaphor there, I am) after the heyday of LP records as a primary medium for music playback in the home, I'd opine. We were all pretty happy with carefully but not obsessively set up turntable/cartridge systems, with some tribal skirmishes
around low mass/springy (belt drive) platforms and arms/high compliance cartridges
vs. more massive and stable platforms (DD, but also belt and, yes, even a few holdouts for idlers)/higher mass arms/low(er) compliance cartridges.
I won't deny that the various flavors of line contact or "hyperelliptical" stylus geometries (all of which, AFAIK, stem from development of cartridge/stylus systems to play CD-4 multiplex 4-channel LPs) had some impact in the pre-CD era. They (I
think) benefit (indeed, they probably
require) more careful setup and alignment than more forgiving stylus geometries.
I
suspect that the retreat of album playing to niche status coupled with enhanced interest in the "hyper" stylus geometries has led us inexorably to the current somewhat overheated
obsessive approach to
playing a record.
FWIW, I still don't get obsessive about it -- and there are
more than a few records and record playing systems
around here.
So - for anyone who's bothered to read this far, or for the TL/DR crowd
- my 2024 suggestion for
listening to vinyls.
- Get a Technics DD turntable -- modern or vintage, new or used, cheap(er)or expensive.
- Get a good quality, reasonably priced medium-compliance MI or MM cartridge (or a lower-compliance, low output MC cartridge, if that really floats your boat!) -- I think any of the current brands/models are at least OK... even that $10 Audio-Technica AT3600 conical (sold under myriad brand names at a variety of price points via legitimate and less-legitimate sources).
- Get a decent preamp/EQ. Spend as much or as little as your conscience dictates. Pro tip -- if one's really strapped for cash or suffering analysis paralysis, find a good old vintage hifi integrated amp or receiver that's cheap. It can be beat up (put it behind the nice components in one's rack!); the power amp section can be dysfunctional, it's OK. As long as its preamp section works, the built in phono preamp/EQ will work and you can get an equalized, line level signal from TAPE OUT. S/N won't be the best but (!) the phono preamps were important in those days, so the performance is likely to be surprisingly good -- yes, even in a 40 year old, unrestored component.
- Obviously, a LOMC will require higher gain or an SUT if one decides that's where one wants to be. One more thing to worry about!
- Set up according to mfgr. recommendations and play yer rekkids.
...
whatever... 
