I’ve owned both these products and am commenting from direct personal experience. When I owned a VPI Classic 3, I purchased a used SDS (for about $750) and noticed a definite improvement in sound quality. I was in an upgrade phase and that set-up was soon the weak link in the system so it was replaced by, in my opinion, the greatly superior Basis 2800 with vacuum, stabilizer base and placed on a Vibraplane. As good as it sounded , the speed was off. 5k for the Basis Synchrowave was not sounding appetizing and with a bit of research I found the Phoenix gear. SDS, new about $1200+/- and inferior, Phoenix gear new, about $600 and superior. For me it was a no brainer and it works perfectly. I’m no engineer or physicist but it seems pretty simple: most LPs were designed to be played at 33 1/3 or 45 rpms. Anything other than that is outside of design spec. The Phoenix gear delivers a clean regenerated power source to the motor and the link between the Roadrunner Tach and PSU insures proper platter speed. Since the minute fluctuations in speed are restrained to a mere .005 rpm window, I would defy anyone or any measuring device to detect any pitch or tonal variations because of speed issues. It seems like there’s a lot of flat earth "thinking" and "reasoning" going on in this discussion. Yes, it possible and useful to use digital and engineering advancements to improve analog systems.
Also, why this constant hijacking of topics? Nobody was asking about DD tts. This was a direct question about two specific products. Start a different discussion if you want to argue the merits of DD vs Belt drive tables, geez :)
Also, why this constant hijacking of topics? Nobody was asking about DD tts. This was a direct question about two specific products. Start a different discussion if you want to argue the merits of DD vs Belt drive tables, geez :)