Is Direct Drive Really Better?

Raul: Sorry, but the only thing one can "judge" from that list is that you spent much time and effort collating those numbers. You can list claimed specs til the cows come home however, but for many reasons it still doesn't amount to an argument (scientific or otherwise), or illuminate anything about what we hear or which drive method is "best". It just doesn't. Appreciate your witholding the "wrath of Raul" however!

Doug: Hey baby, don't go all brain-masturbatory on us now! ;^) I have to side with SDT99 and Jyprez on this one. I too have never understood the 'damage to harmonic relationships' argument, since everything changes proportionally and in unison. A 1% deviation from the way something was performed on a recording is still well within the range of variation in tempo and tuning encountered in live performance, as well as the unique harmonic structures possessed by individual examples of instruments. Personally, I think you usually have to go to a 2% - 3% deviation for the music to start sounding a bit 'funny' in absolute terms, but I grant you that system fidelity and program material selection will have an impact on that threshold. I can't quibble with your opinion of what you hear, but my own suspicion is that if you didn't play a recording with which you were already familiar, or didn't play one in close proximity to hearing it at the correct speed, a 1% steady-state error, while audible in relative terms, would not call attention to itself in isolation. This is something that of course could be blind-tested for pretty easily, and I'd lay money on getting negative results.

Zaikes: Regarding:

Albert? You getting one of these for review to go with those racks? Now there would be a DD vs. BD showdown for you.

The answer is yes. I am assigned to do the advertising photography for Grand Prix Audio for this new turntable. I will do a review too if it sounds really good.

Although, to make things fair, I wish I had a Kuzma arm to mount on the GP. Two linear trackers and belt versus direct drive. As it stands I could get a Schroeder, an SME and maybe a Morch. Will have to wait and see.

Cool. Of course, even with a linear arm there'd still be the difference of air-bearings vs. conventional bearings. And at this level, I'd frankly expect resonant signature to trump drive type overall (you'd think that would be a strong point for anything from Grand Prix), but suspect each will have its strengths. If it's even close to a draw though, that would tend to support the view that DD can't be dismissed on nothing but facile principle. If it's not even in close in favor of the Walker however, it would probably be unfair to draw general conclusions regarding drive type.

It’s not possible to rule out all the variables in this audition. Even assuming the Walker and GP with the EXACT same cartridge (my Koetsu Jade Platinum Signature), one of these tone arms may favor the Jade more or less than another.

Then, add in my personal taste as well as how my own system is tuned with my current Walker Proscenium as the reference.

I've always loved linear trackers, owned at least seven 'em. Of course everyone says the latest designs from Schroeder and Morch are supposed to give linear track a run for their money. Factor in cost and we have an impossible task.

I think the best I could do is explain what I hear in my system and let everyone decide if it means anything or not. What's important is we are all discussing how great analog is. I think that's more important than WHICH system work for each person.

Raul,
I'm in general agreement that measured numbers determine the accuracy, but I will take issue on one small nit-picky area.

Lumping of wow and flutter is misleading, because I suspect that the frequency distribution of the wow and flutter noise will have a very pronounced effect on the perception of sound quality, just as it does with digital jitter.

I could have a table that had lousy wow measurement at 0.5Hz, but I suspect it would be much more pleasant to listen to than a better measured table with wow around 2kHz, right in the midband.

I truly believe in measurements and a scientific approach to audio, but often the most difficult thing is knowing exactly what to measure.

This has been a really fascinating debate, by the way, and I hope one day I'll have the time and/or the money to try a few more of the tables out there.