My personal experience with Direct Drive versus Belt Drive

Arguing whethet belt drive or direct drive is better, without multiple double blind comparisons on several systems, is akin to arguing whether one prefers blonds or brunettes, but only while feeling their hair in a dark forest.

I'm a VPI fan from way back. And these days, from what I read, the affordable "sweet spot" of the line is the Prime.

My first turntables were cheap direct drives (2-3 of those w/bottom of the barrel cartridges). Had no clue about sound being good, bad, or indifferent back then (though music lit up my life then, as now).

Later I started to hear real qualitative differences, LP to LP; TT to TT; even in electronics. Upgraded entire system, and 1st "serious" TT was a then very stylish & attractive Denon direct drive w/mahogany base (can't remember the model #, but it's iconic--used ones still circulate). Had a Shure v15 cartridge then & was finally figuring how to set things up correctly. I like that sound: it seems relatively flat, uncolored, straightforward.

Several years later I upgraded to a VPI (whatever the current model was in '84...I'm forgetting the name). Also put a $500 Grado MM cartridge on it. Well set up, cabling optimized, running into a tube preamp w/a quite good phone section (VTL Ultimate). Well, this was a different experience of TT altogether. Too many things had changed for me to ascribe the changes in sound solely to DD vs belt drive, but it must have played a part.

The sound seems slightly softer, less edgy, but with far greater nuance and detail. Bass was amazingly good; treble rang like a bell, but had zero edginess or tension; midrange went on and on.

I had vastly upgraded speakers & amps by then, so could hear even tiny changes more easily. My guess about the DD vs belt drive change concerned to PLL (phase locked loop) servo feature used to control the motor rpm. Like any servo system, it constantly "searched" for the target rpm, and may have very slightly surged or sagged to achieve it. The result would probably be slight graininess and possibly truncated upper harmonics in treble. Just guesses.

Sadly, my turntable days are far behind me. But I'm certain that a competently engineered DD table circa 2017 would have to be very carefully compared to belt drive versions to detect any tiny differences that still exist. Things have come a very long way in turntable design since my audio heydey.

My personal experience is short and sweet.  I had a Marantz Turntable.  It was Belt Driven and basically a rebadged Clearaudio Emotion.  Very simple design, and a fabulous bearing.  I sold that and bought a Direct Drive Technics SL1210 Mk5.  Simply a better turntable.  Hard to put exactly in words but I felt there was more solidity to the sound.

Like many have here have had numerous tables as well, I have had in my system over 40 tables through the past 5 decades of every drive made. I think ALL , when
executed properly and faults are massaged out and lessened then properly set up
with cart and arm aligned they ALL have strengths in portraying the music.
They all have some drawbacks and weaknesses of their own by design or lack
of attention to it depending on ones ownership bias and finances to produce or own.
I always found it learned,  that at a time when everyone was dumping belt
to manufacture DD because the electronic end was at a rabid pace of growth and
precision and yet , Micro Seiki went back to making high end belt/string drives. Not a flag of my bias at all, but a good reason to not pigeon hole ones choices with blind/expectation bias.

" we cannot ignore the fact that in the world of rotating mechanisms the absolute requirements imposed by mechanical strength , precision and mass cannot be replaced on equivalent terms simply by electronics......we must now stand behind belief that there is no need to stick to *audio common sense* which dictated that it is possible to discriminate all the way between part of the mechanisms of the turntable " .......

Difference in opinion in ones choice of drive is not an absolute in best sound, just a best sound for the owner, period. I've heard all done with disappointment and all done to the point biased or not, an honest man would just smile and tap toes in acknowledgement without a single,  yeah but my  ................