@loverockinobvoiuly you will get many opinions, and none are wrong as it is all personal preference.
i used to run a modest pro-next debut with a Sumiko blue point EVO3. That unit sounded amazing, absolutely loved it. In total I think it is about $800 these days by purchasing them together up front. I used that for almost 10years, as 90% of the quality comes from needle setup and quality of that stylist. Last year I broke the tip off and needed to get it sent in. While waiting I was drawn to another table. And due to lead time I went for it, $5k later I’m very happy (Xtension Evolution with blackbird) but the difference between $800 and $5k was not worth it. To be honest if you set the $1200 stylist next to the $450 they look identical, my dealer stated the specs are nearly identical. For reference the rest of my system is McIntosh preamp/amp (600watt/channel) with B&W 802D2’s. The reason I state this is that the system sounds amazing, and the difference was minimal between the 2 tables.
again I highly recommend the Sumiko blue point EVO3 and a modest table such as the pro-ject debut.
i used to run a modest pro-next debut with a Sumiko blue point EVO3. That unit sounded amazing, absolutely loved it. In total I think it is about $800 these days by purchasing them together up front. I used that for almost 10years, as 90% of the quality comes from needle setup and quality of that stylist. Last year I broke the tip off and needed to get it sent in. While waiting I was drawn to another table. And due to lead time I went for it, $5k later I’m very happy (Xtension Evolution with blackbird) but the difference between $800 and $5k was not worth it. To be honest if you set the $1200 stylist next to the $450 they look identical, my dealer stated the specs are nearly identical. For reference the rest of my system is McIntosh preamp/amp (600watt/channel) with B&W 802D2’s. The reason I state this is that the system sounds amazing, and the difference was minimal between the 2 tables.
again I highly recommend the Sumiko blue point EVO3 and a modest table such as the pro-ject debut.