Direct Drive vs. Idler Drive vs. Belt drive

I found Herb Reichert's piece in the latest edition of S'Phile uhhh....interesting. He reviewed the J.Sikora Initial which is belt drive and in an apparent effort to heap his usual unfettered Primaluna type hyperbolic and unrealistic praise upon it, he took a jab at his own Thorens TD124 calling it (I am not home to quote verbatim) a bucket of nuts and bolts by comparison. All this using a Jelco arm while the photo S'Phile published with his review shows a Kuzma, go figure. I wish I had his phone number so I could tell him that I will take it-his TD124- off his hands since he finds it to be junk. 
I bring it up here because I happen to believe that all three can be very good. It all depends upon implementation. Herb is a gifted writer but unlike Art Dudley who many have lumped him with, he has very mediocre gear and an apparent low bar used as a reference. 
For Herb Reichert to call the Thorens TD124 a bucket of bolts is like some proud new Tesla owner declaring an original mint Shelby Mustang to be outdated trash. Fine. That does not make it so and 98% of automotive cognoscenti would take the Shelby seven days a week and Sunday too. 
Yes, I have a TD124. Highly modified. And a highly modded Garrard 301. I suspect Herb's TD124 has not be properly cleaned, serviced, or modded and that he has an even worse arm than a Jelco (not bad mind you, but Jelco is not close to the top either) mounted to it. Herb, Herb, Herb, stop smoking so much herb Herb. 

i’ve owned a number of top flight direct drive turntables; including the Rockport Sirius III, the SP-10 Mk2 and Mk3, and now the Wave Kinetics NVS for the last 9 years. taken singularly; none of those were obviously lacking in speed solidity and musical flow. but over these last 6-9 months, in direct side by side comparison to the Saskia model two idler, and the CS Port LFT1 Belt drive, neither of which have servo’s......this idea of the human ear hearing the musical cost of feedback is very real.

execution of an idler or belt to the degree to take full advantage of the lack of feedback is paramount, but when you do your ’ears’ will thank you.

At 53K before tonearm I would hope the Saskia has what your previous DD’s did not. I would love to hear one to compare with my much less expensive set-ups. I have maybe 18K in my hot-rodded 301. 4K for a nearly NOS drive unit. Close to 2K for a solid brass platter, another 1K for a solid brass spindle/main bearing, close to 2K for a PSU to decrease motor noise, 3K for a custom plinth that weighs 50 lbs or so in layered cherry with cocobolo outer veneer, another 2K for things like an AS idler wheel and stillpointes, and 4K for my Reed 3P arm.
I trust yours sounds even better (since you are a regular on what’s best) and I happily surrender as to bragging rights and perhaps curb appeal. I can not convey how much pleasure my 301 gives me in every way. I have grown to love it more than my totally hot-rodded TD124 with nearly identical improvements and arm. By a smidge.
Both combine the durability of transcription table design with modern aspects and yet again with vintage aesthetics.
To me and perhaps me only, a turntable need not look like a piece of laboratory equipment. And I don’t think the Saskia looks like lab equipment, but stuff from TechDas et al.......

You gotta love this hobby. 
I've been in it since the age of 15 so 45 years. 
The other day I was listening to a well recorded live album of an artist I have seen many times, and on certain (but not all) cuts it was startling how real it sounded. I have never had that sensation with my digital rig (Aurender and Abbingdon Music Research DP777 with Wireworld's most expensive USB (Platinum Starlight Something Ridiculous)). 
My present thought with vinyl is that you have higher highs and lower lows than with digital, but when you get things right and have a damned good cartridge, magic can happen. 
My 301 has a VdH Crimson Strad on it. FWIW, I think the cartridge I have-dialed in by Brian Walsh-is a critical part of reaching this level of vinyl playback. 
And with all that said, it does not happen every day. I could probably play back that same record tonight and the magic won't happen. The zombie-dust stuff is at play whether it be ascribed to hearing differences day to day, atmospheric things, electrical, ambient noise, etc.