Lewm would be talking about me. And there are several issues which he and I have fundamentally opposite views.
An isolated turntable like the SOTA is very obviously better at protecting against foot fall skipping which on anything other than a concrete floor can be a problem for analog lovers. Having to tip toe around is aggravating. DJ's use DD tables because of the torque which they need to slip "Q" and create other effects. Dance floors are usually concrete so, there is never an issue with foot fall skipping. Isolating the cartridge from extraneous "vibration" is critical for the best sonic performance. The cartridge is a very sensitive vibration measurement device. It will gladly pick up any vibration passed through the turntable or even the air. IMHO isolation is more important than the utmost in speed stability. The difference between the best belt drives and DD tables is extremely minor and by all accounts inaudible. Those of you who do not have suspended turntables place your tonearm down on a stationary record and turn the volume up. Go look at your woofer. I will be bouncing to one degree or another. That is environmental rumble. It will occur even on concrete floors. If you have a properly suspended turntable your woofer will remain in neutral position without any movement. Subwoofer users are going to be more sensitive to this for obvious reasons. Lewm does not use subwoofers. Airborne vibration is also a problem and might possibly be the reason some people prefer heavy tonearms and stiff cartridges as they will be less affected by this than light arms and compliant cartridges. The solution to this is an isolated dust cover, hearing protection for your cartridge. The Sota offers both a well designed suspension and an isolated dust cover. Lewm had an older Sota that apparently had speed stability issues. His table may have had issues but, that issue, if it was one, has been permanently solved by Sota's new drive train which will hold on to 331/3rd like a pitbull. On top of this Sota offers vacuum clamping which in the opinion of many is the best way to hold a record down, remove minor warps and dampen the record.
How much of a sonic difference does all this make? No idea. I have never run that comparison. You would have to put the same tonearm and cartridge on an example of each type of turntable and make an AB comparison playing identical copies of the same record. Would be fun to do. The rags are not interested in proving anything at the cost of losing a advertiser. We have to do this sort of thing ourselves to learn anything and it is expensive. However, the foot fall problem is painfully obvious and there can be no question that a properly designed suspension solves this problem.
An isolated turntable like the SOTA is very obviously better at protecting against foot fall skipping which on anything other than a concrete floor can be a problem for analog lovers. Having to tip toe around is aggravating. DJ's use DD tables because of the torque which they need to slip "Q" and create other effects. Dance floors are usually concrete so, there is never an issue with foot fall skipping. Isolating the cartridge from extraneous "vibration" is critical for the best sonic performance. The cartridge is a very sensitive vibration measurement device. It will gladly pick up any vibration passed through the turntable or even the air. IMHO isolation is more important than the utmost in speed stability. The difference between the best belt drives and DD tables is extremely minor and by all accounts inaudible. Those of you who do not have suspended turntables place your tonearm down on a stationary record and turn the volume up. Go look at your woofer. I will be bouncing to one degree or another. That is environmental rumble. It will occur even on concrete floors. If you have a properly suspended turntable your woofer will remain in neutral position without any movement. Subwoofer users are going to be more sensitive to this for obvious reasons. Lewm does not use subwoofers. Airborne vibration is also a problem and might possibly be the reason some people prefer heavy tonearms and stiff cartridges as they will be less affected by this than light arms and compliant cartridges. The solution to this is an isolated dust cover, hearing protection for your cartridge. The Sota offers both a well designed suspension and an isolated dust cover. Lewm had an older Sota that apparently had speed stability issues. His table may have had issues but, that issue, if it was one, has been permanently solved by Sota's new drive train which will hold on to 331/3rd like a pitbull. On top of this Sota offers vacuum clamping which in the opinion of many is the best way to hold a record down, remove minor warps and dampen the record.
How much of a sonic difference does all this make? No idea. I have never run that comparison. You would have to put the same tonearm and cartridge on an example of each type of turntable and make an AB comparison playing identical copies of the same record. Would be fun to do. The rags are not interested in proving anything at the cost of losing a advertiser. We have to do this sort of thing ourselves to learn anything and it is expensive. However, the foot fall problem is painfully obvious and there can be no question that a properly designed suspension solves this problem.