I don't think it's anything to do with the replay equipment, cheap or expensive, but with the limitations of the medium itself, i.e. the LP. Regardless of what it's played back on, an LP is still cut on a lathe, with all the limitations that involves in HF headroom, stereo separation, LF extension and so on. Then, it goes through several intermediate steps with quality loss at each step, before ending up with the stamper that actually produces the LP. Stampers have a finite life, so the earliest pressed LPs will be better than the last ones when the stamper is worn.
If you've ever heard a lacquer played straight off the cutting lathe, you'll know how much quality loss there is in the production process, and the lacquer is still not as good as the tape that made it as the cutting process is anything but transparent.
Digital, on the other hand has zero quality loss in the production process, the CD or download is exactly the same as the master in the factory. That record companies have chosen to debase the currency by ruining CD's potential is a matter of regret, but that doesn't take anything away from the capabilities of the medium.
Yes, you can indulge your hobby by choosing the individual components, or you can use something perfectly competent like an SL1210, but what you're playing is the problem, not what you play it on.
S.