Why According to some Turntable extremists Pitch Control and Direct Drive is Sacrilege?

I would not call it treble problems, the treble is just cleaner without 
correction. The heavy platter in combination with very low friction 
imparts a stability on its own, very little correction is needed.
I still use the Road Runner for calibration, on days with large power
fluctuations, a short connection with the needle in the groove brings
speed up to 33.333 rpm, and it stays there without additional 
correction.

I owned a Nakamichi TT for years, direct drive made as good as the Japanese could make them back then. Tried several arms, including a Forsell linear air bearing arm, it never sounded really good.  I gave up on analog for many years and embraced the new digital formats, but something was always missing. The best i heard back then was Townshend Reference and Maplenoll Ariadne, so when it came time
to find a TT that’s what i decided to buy. A Maplenoll Ariadne Signature came for sale on eBay and i jumped on it.
Air bearing, 60 lb lead platter, belt drive,and linear air bearing arm.
Very nice sounding TT with excellent bass and dynamics, especially 
with a PS audio regenerater supplying stable power.
Of course i could not leave well enough alone, a Phoenix Eagle, and
Road Runner where soon added for speed control and additional 
50 lb of steel platter was added to the mix. The now 110 lb plater
runs very stable, a variation of 0,001 rpm up and down is normal 
after warmup. I prefer the sound without the Road Runner correcting
the speed, the micro adjustments are subtle and not heard as
pitch variations, but more like a slight glazing in the treble.

The extra 50 lb stainless steel platter was  added on top of the original lead platter with no pressure on the air bearing.
With crossed fingers the compressor was started, and the bearing 
did it’s job without complaining. I give the platter a startup
push and target speed is reached in about 30 seconds.
The power supply actually ramps power up and down in the startup
fase to minimize belt slip/wear. The belt runs on a sub platter that is also the upper part of the air bearing , and is relatively short, custom 
made for me by Origin Live in the UK.
The extra 50 lb gives you better image stability, and improved dynamics and bass. I did not expect the level of improvement 
that where the result.

The Phoenix gear is back ! Now made and sold by SOTA.
https://sotaturntables.com/product-category/eclipse-series/

And Techdas and Micro Seiki before that are unable to build
DD tables ?  You make me laugh! Even VPI builds DD tables, when they want to. All design can yield excellent results when implemented correctly. You seem to be focused primarily on
what you can afford and have heard in your probably mid priced
system.

And a few very knowledgeable audiophiles that own several of the top
TT’s including EMT 950, prefer their heavy belt drive TT’s. Are they being fooled by advertising after owning and keeping these different tables, letting their
daily preferences rule ? I don’t think they are all flute players but we all have
our preferences, what you do at home is certainly up to you.

The funny thing is a lot of the cost no object high end TT’s
are heavy platter belt drives. Yes in the low and mid-fi, good deal
for the money TT’s the direct drives are strongly represented.
But who talked about such trivial limitations?