Wish I was more knowledgable on the tone arm front to advise. What I will say is that with VPI unipivot it's a thirty second swap (+ vtf / vta if a different cart) and they offer one of the SOTA current darlings in the tone arm world, the 3d printed arm, that while not cheap is not insanely priced.
A classic 1 would be a clear step up and a bargain at $2500 used approximately. And it's so massive and weighty that you could probably retire the home brew stand, which as impressive as it is, would probably curry approval with the significant other.
