Audiophiles Once Loved Direct Drive, Now They Seem To Hate It

Same experience here, most fanaticism coming from Rega and VPI owners.
I didn't experience much fanaticism from Linn owners so far, just satisfied owners.

 

Seems to me that as a couple of posters have pointed out that the OP has this more than a bit backwards.
I worked in high-end(at the time) retail in the late-70's early 80's.
There was most definitely a look-down-the-nose attitude among the Linnites etc. towards the DD tables of the day, Pioneer, Denon.
Cogging was the Jitter of it's day.
The shop down the street was an original Linn dealer in North America.
One of our customers had a Linn table and offered to bring it in for an A\B with the big dog Denon, DP-80?
I don't remember the cartridge he had but we were using Denon 103 maybe 303 mc.
We demo'd with some Sheffield direct-to-disc, Telarc and other regular demo discs.
I believe the electronics were Conrad-Johnson pre & power amps, don't remember the speakers.

Long story short, they both sounded great at the time except the Linn was a lot more expensive, IIRC.

 

I always thought that DD is a must for DJs, but its benefits — ultra-fine speed control, instant start — are not important for a regular record listener.

 

The VPI HW40 is the third from the top as far as price goes, 20k vs 24 and 47.
Those 2 are belt drive idlers.

What's unusual is they give specs for all of their TT's except the DD.
W&F, etc.

 

Looks like the OP is from Brazil, maybe things were different regarding turntables over there, idk.

 

Audiophiles get a lot of things, if not most, wrong...

 

Ha! They are also very persistent and defensive for sure!

 

Right/wrong in this hobby is very subjective.

 

Yeah more than double the price of a HW-40, but for some reason I had the Statement table in my head, wrong manufacturer.
CLEARAUDIO STATEMENT V2 TURNTABLE
FROM $225,000.00
w/ Statement TT-1 tonearm & Goldfinger Statement

But, the good news is !!!!
If you have a trade-in, request Trade-in Price.

 

Is there a 'wrong' in a hobby when one is spending their own money?

BOTH can be good platforms

BOTH platform owners can be elitist snobs

screw it

 

There's a chief difference right there - calling it a hobby. To most so-called audiophiles, the gear is the hobby. To me, listening to music is a passion/need/want, whatever one chooses to describe it but it's not a "hobby". The gear interests me only slightly.

So why do I participate here? Hopefully, a few newbies read some of the things I post and take them to heart about keeping it simple and that most gear tweaks are a great way to create new problems and lose what can be loads of money and not necessarily better sound. I've known very few self-proclaimed audiophiles that even truly like music. They like playing with the gear and, in order to have some way of measuring things, they are stuck playing music. They also like collecting tons of recordings focusing on different pressings, labels, anniversary collections, boxed sets, etc., etc.

The above is partly (mostly?) true and partly poking fun. Right now, I'm just streaming Jazz24 out of Sea-Tac via my iPad Mini through my system. All I've heard this morning and afternoon is music.

 

People can need, want and be passionate about a hobby. In fact, most are.
They are not soulless drones.

Most audiophiles improve their listening experience by refining their gear.
The gear is a means to the end, not the end.
They can go hand in hand.
Some 'hear' music, some 'feel' it,

This "I'm a better audiophile than you because I'm about the music and you are about the gear", or vice versa, is not helpful.

 

Except, I NEVER call myself an audiophile. But defend away! Meanwhile, perhaps lower your blood pressure and put me on ignore because putting words in my mouth ain't cool.

 

Was I quoting you?
So everything is about you? Ok
That is the general tone of the thread.
But If the shoe fits...
Relax
Thanks for your concern about my health.
I'm good.

 

And now the personal insult. MmmmK...

 

Personal insult?
I did not quote you. Not once in this thread before your personal attack.
You quoted me and told me to 'lower my blood pressure'. You are deflecting.

Puting words in your mouth?
What makes you think I was replying to, and speaking for you?
I did not respond/quote you.
You did me.

 

And for your next thread,
Audiophiles onced love the sound of tube amplifiers but now they seem to hate them?

 

I see you post this sentiment a lot.
Not sure who you have been exposed to to give you this impression.
If the folks here where not music lovers first, I assure you they would find another hobby to sink those dollars in!
And I know you don't get it, but it's not only the gear...it's what you feed it.
Finding the best pressing (and for me, rarely the audiophile reissue) can be the most rewarding.
Junk in. Junk out....regardless of gear.
And I do enjoy music in my auto and on my garage boom box....and even on my phone......but on my systems....

 

This is my sense too. I had to check the date on this thread -- I assumed it was from at least 5 or ten years ago.

 

Hello post from SHF past.

 

It's interesting to read allegations of SL-1200 owners claiming it's the best table in the world. As an SL-1200MK2 owner myself, I can't say that I have heard any claims to that effect. It is an excellent table for the money that is well-designed and engineered, which sounds very good to many people. Of course, there are better tables, and there are worse tables.

Personally, I am in the direct drive camp, but if belt drives are what floats your boat, who am I to tell you otherwise?

 

Consider this though. If you buy the "wrong" record...you have plenty of other choices. The idea of audiophilia is, you want to "get it right the first time". So, even if you didn't quite get what you wanted the first time, you're gonna be stuck with it for a long time, although you can just go right out and buy a different record.

I think most audiophiles are primarily music fans first as well. Only when it comes to their gear, they don't want to spend the rest of their lives making a decision over and over. Oh yeah, they don't want to...but eventually the find, they have to.

 

Even within the 1200 range, there are various “levels” of performance.

 

My TT is the best in the UNIVERSE!!!!




Well, I like it.