Is Direct Drive Really Better?


I've been reading and hearing more and more about the superiority of direct drive because it drives the platter rather than dragging it along by belt. It actually makes some sense if you think about cars. Belt drives rely on momentum from a heavy platter to cruise through tight spots. Direct drive actually powers the platter. Opinions?
macrojack
Vitality is vital. Essential. Quintessential.
I never have heard any turntable I own wowing, fluttering or hunting. Perhaps I'm not critical or astute enough to observe these faults but I suspect I am happier being unaware of them.
Like that burned out pixel, it doesn't bother you at all until you notice it and then it can't be overlooked. Seems like the more you train your ear, the more it costs you.
I think I'm going to sell all my turntables except one direct drive. WOW!
LOL!
I realize that in most turntables, the speed is well-enough controlled that you don't consciously hear the wow or flutter components of speed controls.

However, it may be registering in your hearing in a way that causes you to think that one turntable "sounds better" than another, for reasons that you have a hard time explaining or describing.

Typically, a person is about 10 times more sensitive to flutter than to wow. So flutter must be kept to a much lower level than wow must be kept, in order for it to not be easily perceived.

This may possibly be why very different turntables with very disparate measurements in the "wow and flutter" category may not sound discernably different, even though one table may measure 10 times less than another. It may depend on what component of speed variation(wow or flutter) is present in their drive control(and at what amounts). A table with primarily flutter in their speed variation must have about 10 times less measured variation, as a table with primarily wow speed variations, for them to "sound about equal".

Maybe not many people really care about this, as long as they sound fine, and that's great.
I'm just pointing out that no turntable system has perfectly controlled speed, and that there are variations which need to be dealt with, and that they may influence what you hear if they get beyond a certain level of perception. Engineers will need to be concerned with these things when they design a turntable, but listeners must only be concerned about what they hear as the result(thankfully!).

It seemed to me that some proponents of the various forms of drive systems wanted to point out some technical aspects of why their "favorite" sounded better, and why their "less favorite" did not sound as good(to them). I thought that some of this technical information may contribute usefully to the discussion.
Of all types of TT faults, speed error and wow and flutter are the easiest to evaluate. A strobe disc and a neon bulb will verify that average speed is at least as good as the power line frequency (which is very good). Actually, quartz controlled DD turntables will be better than the line frequency. Test records have tracks with test tones that are designed to make wow and flutter evident. If you can't hear a problem with the test record you will never hear it with musuc.
Eldart, good to 'see' you!!!

Now Zikes, wait a minute. What's this "objectionable in some states" crap? Wasn't them minutemen (ie, founding fathers) who:

1) brewed their own beer,

2) grew their own hemp (and smoked it),

3) rode on horseback bearing guns & knives and

4) went back home to their favorite imported (and paid with hard currency) curvaceous African women?

Man, surely no one asked me to become a guerilla fighter in order to live like that! I *might* have joined in...

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