I know you’re absolutely serious and right if it’s about SQ of tape, because by coincidence, I have experienced that in a similar way myself as well.
A German analog society organised a fair some weeks ago and I heard a recording one exhibitor made the day before of their concert in a church. Played through a Denon cassette deck and a headphone, simply unbelievable, I closed my eyes and I was in that church.
Tape indeed is a great carrier for music.
I’d say go for it, you only live once
I took the plunge from digital only. EMM Labs cd/sacd player was very good but when I borrowed an old Yamaha direct drive and cheap phono stage in some aspects it came very close. When the EMM died I replaced it with a TT rather than another big digital player. Like you say there’s a natural quality that digital usually misses, good as digital can be.
Started with about a dozen LPs and now have around 300 or so, 50/50 new and s/h. Defo invest in an ultrasonic cleaner @Spider can help you out!
I was in Munich this year with a chap who’s also all in digital. Lampizator Horizon sort of all in. After spending the weekend at the show he’s come back with a view to resurrecting his analog setup. No matter the quality of the digital set ups the analog always sounded better in the systems we heard.
If it were me and a £4k budget I’d be looking at a restored Garrard 301/401 or SP10mk2 with a £1k or so arm that’d work with a Hana ML. Fantastic bang for buck.
Fuck’s sake. Can’t believe all the negativty. An alternative view:
I got back into vinyl about 10 years ago and started from scratch having even less records than Rudy. I’ve really enjoyed the journey. Ok it’s not been cheap but over the years I traded up and have slowly put together my end game system. I rarely listen to digital.
Also worth noting that in the event of financial catastrophe, either of my decks could be easily converted back into cash. There’s a ready market for classic heavyweight Japanese direct drives and SME 12" arms. The same is true of my record collection which I occasionally prune. It is currently around 400 records.
As far as the quality of modern vinyl, it’s a great time to buy jazz records with plenty of all analogue remasters coming out every month thanks to the Blue Note Classic Vinyl and Tone Poet series, the Acoustic Sounds Series and the Original Jazz Classics series which has recently been revived.
You only live once. If you want to try analogue, dive in. It’s fun and if you don’t love it, you won’t take a total spanking on it. You ought to be able to recover the majority of your spend if you buy secondhand/vintage kit that is sought after and easily sold on.
You are dead to me 
DEAD !
Fuck you and the vinyl’s you rode into town on.
Apostrophes? Pah !
I’d go for it tbh. I’ve got a lp12 which I’ve had since 1980, now upgraded to a middle of the range level. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but we love it.
As to lp’s, I’ve got about 300 and only ever listen to 100 of them. I’m impressed with the time people have to give 500 plus listening time rather than just being a record collector.
Get a technics with the arm already in it and wang a Hana on there.
Less faff and their accuracy will help with electric stuff.
That’s about right for most people I know. I reckon 80% of my records are there for sentimental reasons rather than playing.
Thats what pisses me off about the vast majority of new records. They’re 2 x LPs. At best 3 tracks per side which means getting up 3 times after your start to finish an album.
Despite hating double LPs, I still buy them and then play the album on Spotify so I dont have to get up. Fucking mental.
Been listening to Radio Paradise Flac stream , so much better than Spotify
For most of us the trip to fridge for beer, cupboard for biscuits and crisps, and to then to the record player is the most exercise we get a day.
To add, its even worse with electronic music that is mixed so one track flows into the next, vinyl literally spoils the music, imho.
At least you don’t have girls in their pants trawling through your collection saying
Can we play this song
And that one
It’s streaming time
If you have the time and the money is not an issue then no harm trying it if you buy good secondhand stuff (maybe not the cart). Even vinyl holds it 's value well or even goes up.
Nicks Raven would obviously be awesome but there is a Rega P8 on PFM that would be a great intermediate option with pretty easy set-up. I loved mine much more than the fancy but fiddly esoteric decks I had before.
I’m in both camps , I love the vinyl experience. I also love the convenience of digital.
From an audio perspective, with my hearing I can’t tell the difference between analogue and digital.
So ripped CDs on my server sound great and much better than Spotify.
So it goes like this , if I want to dip in and out of music it’s digital. If I haven’t had a drink or 3 I love to dig out an old album and reflect on all the experiences and memories it conjures up.
I love vinyl and it definitely sounds better than Digital; it’s the cost and pressing variability that would make it a deal breaker if I started again. Or, maybe I could just be more selective on the vinyl I bought 
I’m of the opinion that mastering > format. If anyone asks me to play the best sounding piece of music then I can just as easily demonstrate a digital file, SACD, record or tape - the common denominator is how well it was recorded and mastered, not the method of replay.
Convenience > sound quality