Honest question about cartridge vs. turntable performance.

@honest1  You had a poor experience with your Linn Axis vs a Dual. Unfortunately that does not lead to a universal declaration, it leads to a 'humble opinion'-- like you just gave.

With groove damage, the issue is not obvious in most cases by looking at the LP. Last night, I put on what looked like a Mint condition Direct to Disc, the groove noise was annoying from the lead in groove on the first side to the lead out groove on the last. 
Many LP's look to be in great condition, but once on the table, they show off their true condition. I think in the case of this particular LP, the previous owner(s) had used a cartridge that was worn or otherwise damaged, as such after just probably one play, the LP was damaged. The fact that the LP was a Direct Disc would lead me to question whether the album had been also played back on gear that was unable to really track this album..thereby resulting in the damage.

Linn has just updated the most important part of their turntable, and it is not the motor, the type of drive, the speed control, the tonearm or the suspension system. It is the bearing!!! Precision engineering in the bearing is actually where I believe the biggest gains are to be had, others may disagree, but listening to what the bearing can bring is crucial. Direct drive tables are fine, so long as the motor doesn't cog ( which unfortunately a lot of them do) or contribute any noise into the platter. 

Having owned a Technics Direct Drive SP10 mk2 and now a Linn, I think both tables can deliver good to great sound. The Technics was a table that I thought could sound a bit like digital at times, IOW a little sterile and dry sounding. The Linn, if not set up 100% can also sound a little off, leading to the opinions that many naysayers have about it. The plus with the Technics was that one could mount almost any arm, the minus with the Linn is that the arm options are very limited. However, once set up correctly and with their Radikal power supply, the Linn is very hard to beat. Nonetheless, I think most drive types have their pluses and minuses...

@testpilot There have been two prior bearings for the Linn. The original and then the Cirkus. The new one called the Karousel attaches to the subchassis with a three point system. It is also more precisely machined to a mirror finish at the base. The added rigidity and the precision go a long way in improving the signal to noise ratio. If one looks at the typical bearing that most turntables utilize then one can see the obvious differences. This aspect is not something that we see discussed that much, most naysayers of the Linn platform have no idea as to what the bearing in their favorite turntable consists of, or even how accurately machined it is ( never mind the current condition of said bearing!)...yet IME this is a huge factor in the ultimate SQ.