Sota or Technics

Although I am a Rega guy and switched from DD 20 years ago (linear tracking Phase Linear 8000 and never looked back after a $500 Music Hall MMF5  blew it away), I agree with @chakster that hearing a turntable is at the bottom of the analogue chain. IMHO it’s arm first, then cartridge/phono stage, then table. Especially if it is well isolated from vibrations.

i as told years later that my PL8K may not have been set up properly…. I still think there was too much going on with fully automatic arm movement and the linear tracking aspect creating all sorts of noise. Did the direct drive system contribute to that? Not sure. Phase Linear was a marketing name as the “Sony Esprit” line for Pioneer and I know they made some decent stuff back in the day. Maybe @chakster has a few of their examples….

"Although I am a Rega guy and switched from DD 20 years ago (linear tracking Phase Linear 8000 and never looked back after a $500 Music Hall MMF5 blew it away". I think you’re too smart to believe that you proved something about DD turntables with that experience.

Phase Linear was once the name of a US company that won the Watts wars, back in the 70s when each month brought the introduction of an ever more powerful SS amplifier with ever lower THD measurements, made possible by the use of more and more negative feedback. The Phase Linear 700 produced 700W with something like .00001 THD and sounded like crap.
Contrary to what Chakster seems to be saying, I do think that each of the various drive systems does have a distinctive sonic signature until you get to the very best of each type, where the differences tend to melt away in favor of transparency and accuracy. But just when and where that happens would be another cause for argument. It also doesn’t make sense to me that Chakster would take the position that turntables are not much different from one another, given his devotion to those he has chosen to own, over most others of any type.

brother in law has Ultradeck w Isolation platform and Ortofon Bronze - sounds lovely.

Glad this worked out well for the OP

Cutting Lathe is also a turntable, but I doubt anyone can say “this Neumann cutting lathe is warmer and more dynamic than Skully cutting lathe”. The function of a turntable drive is to rotate on constant speed, period. The warmth or brightness coming from device that read the groove (aka phono cartridge), we are well aware of different sounding cartridges (completely different). 

@lewm - I am just saying that the turntable is less important than the arm or the cartridge/phono stage. Of course the noise created by the turntable differentiates it from others - it’s not just about getting the correct speed. And, of course better specs don’t necessarily mean better sound. Not everything audible is measurable and not everything measurable is audible. It would be easier for audiophiles to make equipment decisions if these statements weren’t true, but it’s not that simple. You need to listen.

@chakster -please confirm your agreement that turntables matter, even if they rotate at the correct speed, they can add varying amounts of noise.