VPI Classic Direct Drive Turntable and VPI 12″ 3D Tonearm

It may be a bit of an oxymoron to describe the VPI Classic Direct Drive as the best turntable I have never heard. There is, however, a certain method in my mangled syntax. I don’t usually describe a product as a sonic breakthrough—especially a turntable. After something like half a century of living with analog audio—going back to my father’s Rek-o-Kuts—I have heard steady improvements in sound quality from the best products of a given day, but they have usually been limited and incremental.

Far too often, the sonic benefits have not existed at all. A new turntable has often been larger, more complex, and more expensive, but the fact that it sounds somewhat different than its predecessor or than the turntables of other manufacturers has not made it more musically realistic or better sounding. Once the novelty of a slightly different mix of sonic nuances wears off, it is just one more good turntable.

Worse, a few products with prices approaching or sharply exceeding the $30,000 cost of the VPI Classic Direct turntable have sonically underperformed. Awkward engineering, over-creative approaches to the laws of physics, complex and unstable setup, and uncertain reliability may be acceptable facts of life in a classic car—and possibly even in a rebuilt classic turntable—but they make no sense at all in an expensive, modern high-end product.

What is striking about the VPI Classic Direct is that it is relatively compact, draws on classic turntable engineering concepts, and really does make a massive and immediately apparent sonic difference. Moreover, VPI has produced a far more refined 12″ version of its unipivot tonearm, drawing on 3D printer technology to create a much more neutral-sounding tonearm wand that has no parts and is one continuous piece of lightweight epoxy resin (aside from the metal socket for the unipivot bearing).

The 3D printed ’arm tube gets its name from the additive manufacturing (or “3D printing”) process used to produce it. 3D manufacturing allows VPI to create a single-piece structure from headshell to rear stub that is designed and made to provide a totally even mechanical resonance response. VPI indicates that the ’arm is produced in shapes that can’t be machined and the wall thickness, the form, the structure have been varied so the resonant character of the ’arm can be set as is appropriate for a device that has to be rigid and yet not resonate. 3D printing also ensures that production is uniform and repeatable over a long production run.

The VPI Classic Direct is a major departure for VPI, which has had decades of real success in refining belt-driven units. It may look like an ordinary turntable, but it took years of effort and a partnership between VPI and a company with specialized motor design and manufacturing skills to develop a three-phase motor with an innovative new stator design that can eliminate the cogging and other problems of direct-drive turntables.

The Classic Direct uses a specially engineered direct-drive motor platter and motor assembly weighing some 40 pounds that easily drops into the turntable base, has virtually no cogging or vibration, and drives a remarkably heavy and inert platter. This integrated motor and platter assembly has a VPI-designed computer-controlled motor that is manufactured and handmade for VPI in the USA.

The Classic Direct uses the platter as a rotor and has an extremely demanding set of tolerances for the inverted bearing design that has been proven in other VPI turntables and uses a PEEK (poly-ether-ether-ketone) bearing surface for minimum friction. The assembly has no mechanical contact in the horizontal plane and VPI claims it has the lowest noise drive and bearing-design architecture possible.

The motor itself has a proprietary non-cogging drive system that uses the platter as the rotor and is servo-controlled, with an active feedback loop that measures and directly controls the speed of the platter to yield consistent and accurate playback. This allows it to achieve a speed accuracy of greater than 0.01% for both the 33 1/3 and 45-rpm speeds.

Moreover, the Classic Direct has a high-mass platter weighing 18 pounds, comprising a ½”-thick machined-aluminum plate bonded to 2″ of MDF to create a massive plinth that is so well damped it sharply reduces resonance. It also uses an external universal power supply that meets international standards and removes line-noise-generating components within the turntable.

The years of effort in putting this design together—and creating a custom motor, electronics, and platter—help explain the cost of the VPI Classic Direct. What really counts, however, is sound, and the end result is truly outstanding. The resulting “system” of the new tonearm and turntable does far less to color the sound than any unit I’ve heard to date.

I have to rely on my friends and dealer and manufacturer demonstrations for comparative listening. For reasons I can’t explain, Robert Harley didn’t send me a dozen of the world’s most costly rival turntables to use as standards of comparison. I do, however, pay close attention to the sound of other turntables and tonearms, and it has been a long, long time since I heard any turntable make this large a difference in my system, and do so in ways that make me seriously question just how much coloration there really is in competing products.

If you get the chance to audition it in a truly revealing system, I also think that you will find the improvement in sound quality does not require a long period of comparative listening to detect. Put a great cartridge in the tonearm; put on any record of acoustic music with low-level passages mixed with truly loud, demanding dynamics and deep bass; and you will begin to hear the difference immediately.

I found this out almost by accident. I began my reviewing process by setting up the unit and by assuming the VPI Classic Direct would take time to settle down and break in. (It does take time to perform at its best. Give it a couple of days of use to hear it at its best.) Accordingly, I casually put a recording of Haydn string quartets on the VPI, and began to read without paying much attention to the music.

When I did begin to listen, it was because my first reaction was that the Classic Direct was revealing exceptional soundstage detail and information about the individual string instruments, but that something was subtly wrong. The Classic Direct seemed to have a very-low-level mechanical problem that I have never head on that record that was just barely audible. It was hard to characterize: Not quite like rumble, but close.

The moment I switched to another LP, however, I realized that the VPI Classic Direct had actually revealed a sonic problem in the pressing of the record that was so low in level that it had been masked by previous turntables. A different and clean LP did not have a trace of any such problem.

I’m not going to bore you with a list of the discoveries that followed as I began to seriously listen to my collection of LPs, or what the Classic Direct revealed about the problems in some of my older discount-bin and other not quite perfect records. Older audiophiles already know all too well how many bad pressings came out at analog’s peak. Younger audiophiles are fortunate in that today’s vinyl is usually far better in quality control, noise levels, and distortion—and equally fortunate that no record shops now exist that allow the buyer to preview and damage records on lousy demonstration turntables before they are sold.

What came through again and again, however, was that the Classic Direct had a lower noise floor and that its speed stability did reveal a new level of detail. Moreover, the drop in low-level noise and improvement in detail was not frequency specific, and the soundstage and ambience became more realistic. Really minute details—like a musician making slight movements in a chair or rustling a score, off-stage noise, a bowing error or tap—came through more clearly.

I can’t give you any meaningful estimate of the improvement in dBs (if such a thing is even measurable), but the difference was clearly audible on record after record. What matters even more, however, is the emotional impact that hearing more of the music makes in the best recordings. I am a chamber music fan. I like smaller acoustic jazz groups, and want them to sound as musically real as possible in my listening room. I want to hear the same detail and life I hear in a live performance.

Speed stability and pitch were superb as well. The VPI Classic Direct consistently provided a cleaner and more detailed sound with good recordings regardless of whether I was listening to Chopin and Bach piano and harpsichord recordings or some poor hapless orchestra fight its way through the semi-glorious excesses of Saint Saëns’ Third Symphony. (Really, was his mother frightened before his birth by a steam calliope?)

The VPI was exceptionally clean in the deepest bass, although this was a bit harder to detect than the improvement in the midrange. The bass was both tighter and deeper. Most importantly, the differences between bass frequencies and the detail in bass transients were clearer in both the midbass and deep bass.

You don’t need the Telarc drum spectaculars to hear this improvement. It is audible on any good pop or jazz recording with significant bass, or on organ music and full symphonic music with deep bass content. Cleaner bass also helps in the midrange where bass detail and control not only keep excess bass energy from masking the rest of the music, but also help improve soundstage detail in louder musical passages.

And yes, the new tonearm also made a major difference. As is the case with all good tonearms, you do need to very carefully align it to get the best sound. Let me stress, however, that my experience suggests that any good protractor will provide a reasonably good overhang adjustment, and 12″ arms have very little tracking error and really don’t benefit from side-thrust compensation when a touch more tracking weight will sound more natural.

The real problem is make sure the counterweight is properly set up, that the cartridge is properly aligned, that azimuth and stylus rake angle is adjusted to produce the best sound, and that the turntable is carefully leveled with a record on the turntable. (It is also a really good idea to check the stylus alignment in the cantilever with a microscope. Stylus misalignment is rare, but it happens.) I’d also strongly advise using the VPI stainless steel HR-X center weight and periphery ring clamp. The ring clamp is centered by the platter, not the record, and the combination provides a much more level surface from even a seemingly flat record as well as better damping of recording noise.

Once the new VPI 3D tonearm is aligned, its new epoxy-plastic wand works synergistically with the turntable. The ’arm is also extremely clear of any low-level coloration, and this makes it exceptionally revealing at all frequencies and able to take advantage of the Classic Direct’s low noise floor. I have a collection of Accent label LPs that I obtained while working with NATO, and these have served as some of my references for years. The Classic Direct and 3D tonearm showed me that these Accents were ever better than I thought.

The Classic was also good enough for me to have a little innocent fun with several of my audiophile friends. I had a number of DACs in for review and I have a number of records clean enough so you really can’t hear pops or LP surface noise, at least over most of the record. A properly loaded Soundsmith Sussurro can be remarkably “flat” in the sense that the sound is easy to confuse with a CD or digital download. I got away with presenting the result as a really high-quality digital recording about half the time.

My favorite moment was when one of my more analog-oriented friends grudgingly admitted that digital had finally come of age. This led another friend to lecture him on the fact that digital had really been superior for years. Both were listening to an LP, admittedly one selected so the limits in dynamic range would not be apparent.

Months of listening with a range of cartridges have reinforced my favorable impressions, and little of that listening has been casual. The only caveats I have lie in the fact that the Classic Direct relies almost solely on mass-damping, and it is sensitive to acoustic feedback if you touch the actual tonearm base. This is not an issue on a decent table or shelf, and acoustic feedback is not a problem. As is the case with most turntables, however, setup and placement are key issues.

I’d also be careful about getting all the help you need in setup. This is a more or less open the box, put the turntable platter into the motor housing, mount the cartridge, and plug an RCA cable into the tonearm socket unit. But the motor assembly is really heavy and needs to be precisely aligned. Cartridge setup means mounting the cartridge and then actually listening to the azimuth and SRA adjustments, listening to make sure the tracking weight gives you the best sound quality in demanding loud passages. Checking every other aspect of the setup is really critical to getting the best out of this unit. (See JV’s article on cartridge setup.)

To hear the VPI Classic Direct and 3D ’arm at their best, you also will need to work with a dealer or fellow audiophiles to audition top-quality cartridges, pay attention to the quality of the interconnect that goes between the tonearm and the phono preamp, use a top-quality phono preamp, and load the cartridge properly. These are all “taken for granteds” by audiophiles with lots of analog experience, but be careful if you are upgrading to a better analog front end, or going analog for the first time. The VPI Classic Direct is a platform for the best analog sound I know of, and every associated aspect of the rest of the system really matters. If you are not an old hand with a lot of practical experience, you won’t get the considerable best out of this unit without a dealer or friend’s help.

These requirements, however, are part of the fun in choosing every analog front end and a key to letting your own taste help shape the sound and the resulting illusion of musical realism. Moreover, it has been a long time since I found a turntable that made so much difference in improving sound quality. The Classic Direct Drive delivers the sound quality its price tag implies and is now my reference. It is a continuing pleasure, and it constantly helps me rediscover my record collection.

SPECS & PRICING

Drive: Direct Drive
Motor Type: Custom Slot-Less Synchronous Electronically Commutated Motor (SSECM)
Platter: Machined Billet Aluminum
Platter Mass: 17.6 lbs. (7.98 kg)
Speeds: 33-1/3 RPM and 45 RPM
Wow: 0.02% (DIN)
Flutter: 0.01% (DIN)
Rumble: <-80 db
Tone Arm: 3D Printed Epoxy
Effective Arm Mass: 7.4g
Dimensions: 23.5″ x 17.5″ x 9.4″ (turntable); 6.25″ x 9.2″ x 4.6″ (power supply)
Weight: 72.5 lbs. (32.9 kg)
Price: 30,000

VPI INDUSTRIES, INC.
77 Cliffwood Ave. #3B
Cliffwood, New Jersey 07721-1087
sales@vpiindustries.com