At the end of the day, it's entirely subective. Well into my 50s now, and I think I can safely say I've heard my fair share of turntables across the vast chasm of space and time. Now? I'm perfectly happy with my correctly set up LP12/Ittok LVIII/Arkiv. There came a time when the endless "itchy feet" of listening to the equipment rather than the music abated a little (and I do mean "a little").
One thing with turntables...........they can induce some incredible individualistic arrogance........way beyond any other facet of the high fidelity world. I think some of it is because more than any other aspect (yep, miles beyond the electronics boffins), it involves a heady mix of audiophile cravings, and applications of mechanical engineering. And what that engineering tends to do, is open a door to good, proven practice, and what I would describe as not quite [I]faux[I] engineering, but certainly a lot of stuff that is very very difficult to prove. Mechnical engineering and the broad expanse that is the playfield of the audiophile, can, at times, bring out some pretty dismissive attitudes to those of us considered to be children of a lesser god. Hell, at the end of the day, we are all permutations of what we like, the available budget, and our commitment.......which in some cases, moves on to obsessive compulsion. The bit that really matters is that we are all interested in the same subject matter. The kit you have at any point in time is unlikely to be the end of your personal journey, and personal experience tells me that journey can be very very circular in nature, so the kit you have today never ever makes you inferior (or superior) to anyone else.........not ever. Enjoy the music....that's very important.....but given our chosen subject, it's also very important to enjoy the journey.
A free Sondek and some vinyl? Hell's teeth young man, not only have you taken a step on your journey, you might well have come to a fork in the road that'll dictate the medium by which you choose to listen to music for the rest of your life. Enjoy it, and keep on with your personal journey.