I have just watched a you tube where an "audiophile" recorded a comparison between a Technics SL1200G turntable and an Audio Technica LP5X turntable. The Technics set up cost over £3000 compared to the Audio Technica set up which cost less than £600. Listeners where invited to see if they could hear the difference. I could not hear an appreciable difference when Dire Straits "On Every Street" was playing on on both turntables, alternately. Of course this is not a scientific comparison and no technical data were supplied. The you tube video converted the sound from both turntables to compressed digital music files and this could account for the fact that I and many other listeners could not hear a difference. Had we been listening live to the turntables in a side by side comparison the difference might have been clear, but I doubt it: any differences in perceived sound quality would be very marginal. You are probably hitting the law of diminishing returns, and Audio Technica make very fine turntables at a reasonable price.
The Technics SL1200 G is a very high quality turntable and it is as good as turntables can get. Why would anyone want to pay thousands much more when perfection of sound and build quality have been achieved by the SL1200G? Perhaps, pride of ownership and bragging rights come into play.
over the years turntables have improved to the point where good ones have superior resolution and sound quality than the records they are playing. You could be paying thousands of pounds to play a piece of vinyl which is worth at most £30. It is my opinion that the quality of the vinyl LP is the limiting factor for sound quality and that is why it is often very difficult to discern differences in turntable set ups and pre-amps etc.
I have got a CD copy of the Dire Straits "On Every Street " album, and I could notice the quality difference between the two turntables sound reproduction and the CD; to me the CD sounds much better, even when I use the exact same hardware. Possibly this is because the you tube digital audio is lossy.
For some music I have both the CD and Vinyl versions of the album and always the CD sounds better for me. I only play vinyl records for reasons of nostalgia to remind me of the past. Even though a well recorded vinyl LP album sounds fantastic, I prefer the CD version provided that the digital version has been well produced. Nothing will convince me otherwise.