My personal experience with Direct Drive versus Belt Drive


This is my personal , yet limited experience, with a DD versus Belt Drive. This A/B took place in the same system. with literally the same tonearm. I am choosing not to mention brands at this point. I feel by keeping the brand out of the discussion, anyone who contributes to the the thread (myself included), can be a bit more forthcoming. I am not big on audiophile jargon, so I will keep this short and sweet. I started with DD, in a system which I was very familiar with. The room of course, was different. The DD struck me as near perfect. I could hear the starting and stopping on a dime, and the near perfect timing that many have associated with the DD.  It didn't take long at all for me to conclude this was not my cup of tea. It satisfied my brain, but didn't move my heart. Maybe I was used to the imperfect sound of belt drives, and it was indeed that imperfection, that made for an emotional experience. Who knows? (-: Fast forward to the belt drive.... Again, same actual arm. It sounded more analog to me. Decay was much more easy to hear, along with subtle spatial cues. Was it the less than perfect timing, that was allowing me to now hear these things I could not with the DD?  I have no clue! What I was sure about was the emotion of the music had returned.
fjn04

Showing 8 responses by fjn04

lancelock-Congrats on your move from VPI to the new Technics? Did you stay with the same cartridge? If so, can you share some general thoughts?
ochremoon- It sounds like you have heard quite a bit, so my assessment is also broad, to say the least.

onhwy61- None of the variables you referred to were obvious here.... Same rack.... feet and platter were similar or the same. 

We all hear differently, so I'm not suggesting belt (or Idler) drive have anything over DD.... All I'm saying is I preferred the belt drive that day.
lewm- With regard to your first statement, very well could be the case. I also had a similar feeling about two belt drive tables, auditioned the same day. I definitely won't mention the names, because tone arm and cartridge were not the same.
This was an A/B of the 2 tables in the same room, using the same system. It took about 10 minutes to move the arm from one table to the other. I'm also not drawing any absolute conclusions. (-:
I appreciate the input. I opened up the thread with the hope that discussion would not only talk about DD, Belt Drive..., but also discuss various turntables and tonearms. I plan on getting out to hear more turntables this year. Next on the list is a TW Raven GT. The other tables that have caught my interest are Oracle Delphi, and also the Well Tempered Royale 400. I have a Well Tempered GTA at the moment. These tables are at the very top of my price range. The Royale 12K with arm, the GT 10K sans arm, and the Delphi $8.5K sans arm. I'm not considering vintage at the moment. Hopefully, that won't come back to haunt me. lewm- I enjoyed trading the PM’s with you. I appreciate the input very much. Cheers -Don

OP chiming back in here (-: This is interesting stuff, but in the here and now, I'm thinking modern tables. I bet the new Technics is wonderful, but I would prefer more tonearm options. It seems like many here have been through analog battle.... Any thoughts on a table and arm. Could spend 10-12K, but would love to do it for 6-8K including arm. Tonality above all else. I would never want it mistaken for a digital front end.

Indeed- The consensus is belt, Idler, and DD, can all sound good. It would be great if we can touch upon some specific offerings. Again, range is 10-12K max for table and arm. I have no qualms with spending a little less.