All these drive systems are competent, and all are poor choices, depending on implementation.
You would be hard pressed to dismiss the sound quality of a Brinkmann Oasis or a Dobbins Beat for being direct drive. You would be hard pressed to dismiss the sound quality of a Shindo or VPI Rim Drive for having idlers that transmit energy from their motors to platters. And you'd be hard pressed to dismiss the sound quality of a Rega P9, a VPI Classic 3 for being belt drive turntables.
And what about an EAR magnetic drive? Or a 47 Labs Koma loop drive? Let's start by saying that if the main bearing is excellent, and the mounting/anchoring scheme for the main bearing and tonearm is sound, drive choice is a matter of voicing, with convergence between them increasingly possible. That is to say, I agree that robust drive matters, so torque and speed precision can be delivered by all of these and yet they tend to sound somewhat different.
The early years of my hifi interest coincided with an emerging orthodoxy about turntables and the elevation of the turntable itself as an influence on sound. The orthodoxy favoring belt drive was led by Linn in the form of the Sondek by the early 1970s but there were other players in the consensue, including Empire and Sony (before their move to direct drive). In a few short years back then, once-revered idlers became toxic, belt-drive became audiophile religion and direct drive achieved mass market ubiquity. As speakers and amplifiers got better, the reputation of idler drive turntables was done in by too-frequent use in poorly-conceived and built plinths and old noisy bearings. Belt drive was elevated by its simplicity and layabout sound. Direct drive was undermined by shiploads of plastic wax rotators that couldn't sound great with *any* drive system.
My first discrete turntables were belt drive: Pioneer PL12D, Lenco L85, Transcriptor Saturn and Glass Skeleton, Linn Sondek. And then one day in 1976 I heard Luxman's then-new PD-441 and PD-444 direct drive turntables. At a time when a Linn Sondek cost $350, the Luxman PD-444 cost $800 and had two tonearm mounts. The smaller but same design PD-441 cost $500. Both before figuring in the cost of a tonearm. In the latter '70s this was real money. I had no real complaints with my Linn and Transcriptors until I heard the vivid but even tone of the Luxman.
I bought one, and later another as I began running two systems. In parallel I had Linns, Pink Triangle, VPI and Thorens in and out of my systems but the Luxman PD-444 always won out. I still have two of these turntables today. And to give you s perspective of the relative role of drive system in sound quality, in the last several years I achieved a greater improvement in the Luxmans by changing out the entire footing scheme than the Luxmans themselves offered over other good turntables with different drives. I repeat: The replacing the original demi-suspension feet on my Luxman PD-444 with a multi-layer mechanical grounding scheme yielded more difference than drive system differences. And how would I know this? Because the Luxman PD-444 and the PD-555 had the same physical plinth and footing but the 555 was belt drive and the 444 was direct drive, and I have had the chance to hear them side-by-side with same tonearm and cartridges.
It's probable that if Luxman or anyone duplicated the 1970s PD-444 today, it would cost something on the order of a Brinkmann Oasis and yet I can't say it is the only way to go.
I recently heard in my own system a Technics SL-1200 that was aggressively treated for resonance control by Sean Casey at Zu, and which I further modified by changing out the stock feet for 1 lb. solid brass cones. It also had Sean's custom-machined arm mount for Rega-gemoetry tonearms and in this case was fitted with an Audiomods arm optimized for the Zu103 cartridge. The platter was epoxy damped and balanced. The plinth was aggressively treated with a variety of internal damping materials. And of course the tonearm and mount is a massive upgrade over the stock Technics. The results were astonishing, especially coming from the prosaic Technics, much maligned and debated in audiophile circles (including here). That turntable was easily competitive sonically with anything on the current market selling for $3000 - $5000, once the stock mushy rubber and plastic feet were tossed aside. Want to make it better: there's a $695 super bearing available online, user installable.
And yet a $1295 belt-drive VPI Traveler is sonically convincing, as is a Rega RP6 and they can be had for under $1500 with an entry cartridge.
Meanwhile, I have a virtually NOS Garrard 401 idler drive turtable mounted in a Loricraft-style plinth crafted from solid teak blocks. Whereas my Luxman 444s are appliance-like in their consistency and reliability, the Garrard requires some attention and tweaking to keep it quiet. But it's worth it when I lower the stylus. With a Thomas Schick arm and either a Zu103 or Ortofon SPU cartridge, sound explodes from the speakers with energy and projection no belt drive equals and that most direct drive can only muster with perception of more distance between you and the performance. Same arm and cartridge, same surface, same vinyl, different drives/plinths -- big differences. Which one is right? Well, that's why I have both.
What I don't have, presently? A belt-drive turntable. I won't say I'll never have one again. The 47 Labs Koma uses an elastic cord to drive both its playing and counter-roatating platters. That and the DD Brinkmann Oasis are the two most interesting successors when my 35 year old Luxmans die, or maybe one of them finds its way here sooner.
Phil
