The direct drive principle should have been the best, just as CD should have smoked LP. There has never been a Direct Drive TT, that I have heard, in the last 30 or so yrs, except the Goldmund Studio that has ever touched, even mediocre belt drive, or very old Idler drive systems sonically. The entire issue of Idler driven Garrard 301 and 401 as well as old Dual 1000 series tables , do present a substantial challenge to the best of today's belt drive systems. There is a life within those older models that eludes modern designs. Y. Sugano of Koetsu used the old Garrard 301/401 systems as a reference for his MC carts. I thought him insane untill I assembled one for myself and nearly passed out at the results. For people"who want to play records", there are plenty of great units available in todays market, belt driven to perfection. You can start with Well Tempered and you really wont have to go much further.........Frank
