Better than the Project Carbon TT for $ 500.00

08-22-15: Mmakshak
Is there a difference between DD turntables and belt-driven turntables(foot tapping?)?

Very much so. To quote VPI founder Harry Weisfeld in an Absolute Sound interview:

After studying the operation of belt-drive ’tables for 30+ years and the sound of direct- and rim-drive ’tables it was determined that the only way to get perfect (or as near to perfect as possible) speed accuracy was to go direct-drive. Spending many years listening to Denon DP-80s, JVC TT-101s, Kenwood LO-7s, etc. hardened my viewpoint on this.

No machining accuracy can make up for the fact that in belt-drive you deal with motor-shaft error, motor-pulley error, belt elasticity, and platter and bearing run-out and roundness errors. While on their own they are small, when added together it is impossible to get as accurate a speed as with direct-drive. All these errors compound and produce more errors in the belt motion. The DD is roughly three times lower in speed error than any belt- or rim-drive we have measured, with numbers running around +/-0.008% and noise levels near –100dB.

And Herb Reichert, writing for Stereophile, had this conclusion after listening to the DD Pioneer PLX-1000 vs. the VPI Traveler and decades of experience with belt drive turntables:

Yes, people, the Pioneer PLX-1000 plays music like a high-torque direct-drive record-playing machine. That is why I enjoyed it so much. It gave tangible force and soulful energy to pop, R&B, jazz, and electronica. Belts can't touch the PLX-1000's excitement, naturally formed detail, and clearly expressed forward momentum. And who could have imagined? This new Pioneer also showcases the complex tonal character and elegant structures of classical music better than any affordable belt-drive I've experienced.

This is an interesting thread which reminds me of something that got me thinking about "archiving" LPs (an ad for phono stage with a USB plug is to blame)…I have a bunch of LPs from recent stuff to decades ago (I'm old) and they seem to be self archived. Not a single one has erased itself, become de-laminated (some of my CDs are doing that), or lost their original sound in any meaningful way. Who knew?

Wolf...good storage practices; low humidity, records stacked vertically? Or is it that we worry too much about the longevity of a vinyl record?

My heap of LPs all (or most) have cat scratches on the spines from a house my band lived in for 7 years in the 70s, they were used with a KLH model 20 with a Pickering cartridge (with that little brush…remember those?), and abused by crazed hippy chicks and drunk revelers often (as were we). I had an OK Dual table later that died in the mid 90s and the LPs were stored after that, until about 6 or 7 years ago…now I clean anything I want to listen to with a Spin Clean, separating my LPs into 2 categories: cleaned and not cleaned. Also, all the LPs I've cleaned (including new ones) get a Mofi anti static sleeve. Surprisingly, the KLH didn't hurt these things, and stuff like my original Tull "Stand Up" still sound great.

Getting rid of one's vinyl records is indicative of a serious mental illness. Seek help immediately.