Co-sign on the signal chain. It's never better than the weakest link.
The better the stylus, pre-amp and AD-converters, the better the high and lo-end of the soundfiles. If you're just going to transfer them to mp3, it's probably no biggie, but if you're planning on flac or wav, then it might be worth looking further into.
I use both cubase and adobe audition for recording, but I find adobe audition (cool edit) a little quicker to work with. I use a bit of waves noise reduction pack if it's needed, but don't overdo it. I usually normalize the tracks and add a little soft compression on top.
Having a couple of presets ready will speed up the workflow, but ripping vinyl takes forever.