Is Direct Drive Really Better?

"For that question to be meaningful one would also have to know what the threshold of perception is for this phenomena. Measuring something is often easy. Correlating that measurement to perceived differences is often fraught with difficulty."

True, and not true. It is still a valid question, because I hear many people refer to stylus drag, but nobody offering proof that is it
a) Occuring measurably
b) Occuring at a level that we might expect the ear to be able to resolve.

Digital jitter has been accurately measured, and then somewhat correlated with audible effects. It's not too unreasonable to expect turntable manufacturers to do the same ?

I would add, at what point does the stylus drag and micro speed variations in a high end turntable fall below the speed stability of

a) The cutting lathe
b) The master tape recorder
c) The 2" multi-track tape source

so that the turntable is now more accurate than the LP it is playing ?

I must admit Chris's post comparing analog speed variation to timing jitter in digital is quite thought provoking ... I'd never thought of them in the same way, but in retrospect it's obvious that they cause similar distortions to the waveform.

Jejune, Not even close to the 1200. The Teres DD table will be flagship offering. It's both difficult and expensive to do DD right.

I thought the big belt drive Teres tables were flagships. If this DD thing is even more expensive then mebbe the 4yanx was right but sooner than he thought.

Since Teres makes one of the leading belt drive tables and has made quite a name for itself in so doing, I would say that their announcement weighs heavily in favor of DD superiority.
Again the question ------ at what price point?
Like Viridian, I value actual experience over projections and calculations and I suspect Chris at Teres has experimented with and tested turntables more in the last several years than all of us put together. For him to change directions so radically, I have to assume that he found more than just a likelihood that DD has greater potential than the belt drive with which he has enjoyed so much success.