I’m still of the opinion that most, maybe even the majority, of new-comers to vinyl buy in at the wrong level.
Almost all of them come into it with the wrong expectations.
Most of the romantic notions about vinyl replay tend to evaporate extremely quickly with used gear, or most of the budget stuff out there, leading to extreme disappointment.
I still recommend going very, very basic … with a new, factory-setup table, at first … and if a few months later you’ve amassed enough vinyl and listening time that you know you want to continue, make as big a step up as you can manage.
Unlike DACs, where the differences between a competent $100 model and a $10,000 model can be measured in single-digit percentage points, differences between turntables, arms, cartridges and even phono stages are easily heard and extremely significant.