..for DJ’ing purposes, DD is obviously preferable (pick-up speed/torque, stability for cuing etc.), but for listening, no reason not to go belt-drive. In fact a lot of mega-expensive audiophile TT’s are belt-driven, the purist argument being that having the motor beneath the platter causes unwanted noise/distortion.
These days entry DD options are fairly expensive, so for your purposes you’ll get a lot more bang-for-buck with a half-decent belt-drive, leaving you more to spend on a quality (non-DJ) cartridge and sound card which you’ll need for good rips.
