I'm a VPI fan from way back. And these days, from what I read, the affordable "sweet spot" of the line is the Prime.
My first turntables were cheap direct drives (2-3 of those w/bottom of the barrel cartridges). Had no clue about sound being good, bad, or indifferent back then (though music lit up my life then, as now).
Later I started to hear real qualitative differences, LP to LP; TT to TT; even in electronics. Upgraded entire system, and 1st "serious" TT was a then very stylish & attractive Denon direct drive w/mahogany base (can't remember the model #, but it's iconic--used ones still circulate). Had a Shure v15 cartridge then & was finally figuring how to set things up correctly. I like that sound: it seems relatively flat, uncolored, straightforward.
Several years later I upgraded to a VPI (whatever the current model was in '84...I'm forgetting the name). Also put a $500 Grado MM cartridge on it. Well set up, cabling optimized, running into a tube preamp w/a quite good phone section (VTL Ultimate). Well, this was a different experience of TT altogether. Too many things had changed for me to ascribe the changes in sound solely to DD vs belt drive, but it must have played a part.
The sound seems slightly softer, less edgy, but with far greater nuance and detail. Bass was amazingly good; treble rang like a bell, but had zero edginess or tension; midrange went on and on.
I had vastly upgraded speakers & amps by then, so could hear even tiny changes more easily. My guess about the DD vs belt drive change concerned to PLL (phase locked loop) servo feature used to control the motor rpm. Like any servo system, it constantly "searched" for the target rpm, and may have very slightly surged or sagged to achieve it. The result would probably be slight graininess and possibly truncated upper harmonics in treble. Just guesses.
Sadly, my turntable days are far behind me. But I'm certain that a competently engineered DD table circa 2017 would have to be very carefully compared to belt drive versions to detect any tiny differences that still exist. Things have come a very long way in turntable design since my audio heydey.
My first turntables were cheap direct drives (2-3 of those w/bottom of the barrel cartridges). Had no clue about sound being good, bad, or indifferent back then (though music lit up my life then, as now).
Later I started to hear real qualitative differences, LP to LP; TT to TT; even in electronics. Upgraded entire system, and 1st "serious" TT was a then very stylish & attractive Denon direct drive w/mahogany base (can't remember the model #, but it's iconic--used ones still circulate). Had a Shure v15 cartridge then & was finally figuring how to set things up correctly. I like that sound: it seems relatively flat, uncolored, straightforward.
Several years later I upgraded to a VPI (whatever the current model was in '84...I'm forgetting the name). Also put a $500 Grado MM cartridge on it. Well set up, cabling optimized, running into a tube preamp w/a quite good phone section (VTL Ultimate). Well, this was a different experience of TT altogether. Too many things had changed for me to ascribe the changes in sound solely to DD vs belt drive, but it must have played a part.
The sound seems slightly softer, less edgy, but with far greater nuance and detail. Bass was amazingly good; treble rang like a bell, but had zero edginess or tension; midrange went on and on.
I had vastly upgraded speakers & amps by then, so could hear even tiny changes more easily. My guess about the DD vs belt drive change concerned to PLL (phase locked loop) servo feature used to control the motor rpm. Like any servo system, it constantly "searched" for the target rpm, and may have very slightly surged or sagged to achieve it. The result would probably be slight graininess and possibly truncated upper harmonics in treble. Just guesses.
Sadly, my turntable days are far behind me. But I'm certain that a competently engineered DD table circa 2017 would have to be very carefully compared to belt drive versions to detect any tiny differences that still exist. Things have come a very long way in turntable design since my audio heydey.