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
For the belt drive guys ... do yourself a favor and buy one of Origin Live's custom TT belt. Its an amazing upgrade and solid improvement for not a lot of money. It worked wonders for my classic Well Tempered Table. 

http://www.originlive.com/turntable-belts-replacement-new.html
Speed stability is the number one job of a TT. For years I thought that too. But it proved to be wrong in my system(s). It´s just another theory, it´s an illusion. How the music flows is essential, and the starting point is the turntable itself.

There is the actual speed you set your turntable at and speed stability - two different things

My first stereo when I was small 10? was a Hitachi am fm cassette player with microphone. I didn’t like the commercials on the radio so I made a cassette tape of favourite songs and played it for two weeks. Only that tape. Then one day I turned to the radio again. The songs I had recorded did not sound as good as my tape. They sounded slower and lethargic. Boring. It wasn’t until I was a little older that I realized that the cassette tape motor was running a little fast. But its speed was stable. I learned the difference between the two at a young age.

If your turntable has variable, adjustable, speed control....some like to set the tempo of their records to suit their moods. Can your Digital system do that ? The important part is that the speed you set it at stays there. It is stable.

Put four musicians in a room and ask them to play on four different consecutive days. They will play a different tempo on each day. Fill them with cappuccino’s before the fourth day playing and see what happens. Humans are not robots.

Dear @pbnaudio / @rotarius : I own and owned very good and not so good samples of DD and BD TT where with the good design the steady and speed stability never was or is a problem when in the not so good design it's.

I think that's not only a matters of TT price ranges but the quality of the TT design and critical and very important the manufacturer execution quality on that TT design. No less important is the customer overall TT set-up.

In the other side ( @harold-not-the-barrel  ) you are rigth: how the music/sound flows but this main whole audio system target is not a matters of this or that audio link in the system chain but a precise overall audio system set-up with " perfect " ( price define almost nothing. What define all is each one of us knowledge levels and each one " tools " about. ) choosed  links in that very complex audio system set-up.

I think that we can't be really sure of audio items comparisons of every kind if our system is not " there " when it's not TRUER TO THE RECORDING that's most be the main target for any music lover/audiophile as us.

 We want really enjoy the MUSIC not to all those DISTORTIONS that are imposible to avoid ( but only try to mantain it at minimum. ) and that always surrounded all audio systems.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC not DISTORTIONS,
R.
System building takes time and effort . The problem we have is a good reference yes live music is the best . I find great rewards in listening to other systems and trying to understand why they have certain strengths and weakness. I enjoy this quest as there are so many variables . The main goal is self satisfaction . Enjoy the music.    
Put four musicians in a room and ask them to play on four different consecutive days. They will play a different tempo on each day. Fill them with cappuccino’s before the fourth day playing and see what happens. Humans are not robots.
Yes, musicians can play at a different tempo but the notes will still be the same unlike a turntable which speed will affect the pitch.  In other words, not a very good analogy.