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
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.
I had a very highly regarded belt drive TT for the last 4 years and loved it. I now have a new DD TT with coreless motor and it just blows away my old belt drive TT. There are also too many variables here to make a good direct comparison between the two TT's but I'm just saying I really like the DD sound.

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?
fjn04,

You say the arm was the same but the room was different.  So can we conclude the arm was the only common component?

Were the speakers and cartridges also different?

It was nice if you feel this answered your own question but I fail to see how it has meaning for anyone else.  We know individuals have different tastes and some do prefer BD while others are more satisfied by DD.

lancelock- Congrats on the new Technics TT. I too would be interested in further thoughts; especially if you are using the same cartridge.
 I have a 28yr old LP12 and a new Kuzma Stabi S and am happy with both. But, have a second system and room that needs a TT. Have been trying to gather as many opinions on the Technics as possible. Especially cartridges.

Thanks and Congrats again!