My personal experience with Direct Drive versus Belt Drive

Dear @fjn04 : As @lewm pointed out the first and main TT target/task that's that the LP runs steady exactly at the required rpm's with no speed fluctuations and as he said that can happens with any well designed TT does not matters its kind of drive. No, idler drive are no better thyan DD/BD on this critical regards.

Now, to make any single audio item comparisons first premise that we have to have is to have a real REFERENCE and for me the only valid true-REFERENCE is: " near field live MUSIC ". No, other audio systems are not valid for a reference.

The other premise we have to take in count is each one live MUSIC experiences that most be at least one time each 1-2 weeks.

Third premise is  ( I know lewm could be angry about. ) that the audio signal been not touched by a single tube that can't " honor " what's in the recording.

After that and if our TTs all achieve that " perfect " speed the main critical stages are: tonearm/cartridge combo matching, tonearm/cartridge/TT overall set-up and phonolinepreamp. But all system links are important as are our ears and preferences . Main system target must be " truer to the recording " and for that the system has to have very high resolution with a wide frequency range.

So could be a little futile making comparisons with out several main premises and a true REFERENCE to make those comparisons.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC and not DISTORTIONS,
R.

Well, in general, a direct drive does have greater speed accuracy so you should expect the sound to be tighter and more accurate. Most of my LPs are classical, I hate the pitch instability of belt drives and what it does to piano recordings.  It happened even with a speed control box due to belt stretch..yuk.
I am sure there are plenty of very nicely designed belt drives that outperform plenty of DDs, I just don't think you can reach a general conclusion with a sample of 2! 

I make both - Belt Drives and Direct Drives and most definitely prefer Direct Drive - it reproduce music with an energy and pace that no belt drive have ever done in my system.   A simple test to do for all of you whom have belt drives that can accept more than one belt - VPI with the separate drive stations for an example - add 2 - 3 - 4 belts and the speed consistency increase along with the focus and energy / pace of the music.  DD have a vastly advantage over BD in speed consistency - any timeline test will confirm this and IMO speed stability is the number one job of a TT - yes everything else matters Platters / Mats / Clamps / Tonearm / Cartridge - the last three being variables on any table.  Listen to a well plinthed refurbished DD turntable be it a Technics or a Denon Vintage drive system and all this becomes clear 🎶 and yes I do make this variant along with the Belted ones 



Good Listening

Peter 

Speed stability is the number one job of a TT. For years I thought that too. But it proved to be wrong in my system(s). It´s just another theory, it´s an illusion. How the music flows is essential, and the starting point is the turntable itself. Extremely hard job to do, I have noticed over the years.
But I have made great progress.

This is why I included the phrase, "at a given price point". My old Direct Drive Denon was $750. Of course, that was back in the '80's! And my Scout is now selling for $2K, no surprise it's a better 'table. It should be. But it's the main bearing and the 12 pound platter that really keep the noise down. On that old Denon the silence between songs sounded like a bowling ball rolling down an ally! Of course, at the time I thought it was great! And the platter was not physically part of the motor, the pancake motor was down in the plinth, I could lift the platter off and watch it spin. A platter that didn't weigh 2lbs. So while my external motor is being pulled sideways with its small bearing keeping it straight, it is of good quality and does it very well, and much less of its vibration winds up in the record atop that 12lb platter.  But again, two different price points. If I find a $4k direct drive, I'm sure it will out perform my Scout. Or I would expect it to anyway. "Cheap to make", may be an accurate statement, the $2k Scout may actually out perform a $2k Direct Drive. Any architecture can shine if you throw enough money at it. My first 'Table was an idler wheel drive, it was a BIC that cost me $120. It did a fine job for a 14 year old in 1976! But, not world class performance I suspect.