Is Direct Drive Really Better?

4yanx,
I can't place either the 320 or 380 in the hierarchy of world class turntables. I imagine they belong there but I don't know the competition at all. Relative to each other, the difference is obvious and convincing. The 380 was easily the best turntable at Chris Brady's house that day. We now have established that one manufacturers only DD is better than his best BD. Does that bring us any closer to a conclusion about the opening question?

One word regarding your question, MJ.

No! :-)

No offense at all, 4yanx. I understood what you meant and what the point of your question was. Macrojack is correct that the word humiliated can have a malicious connotation, but it also means humbled, which is the meaning I had in mind. I do accept that it may have sounded a bit sensational of me to use that word so that's why I suggested humbled. Enough with the semantics. :)

I went in expecting to hear a difference very much along the same lines as what 4yanx's describes. That is, I expected to hear a small difference but more on the lines of a cartridge swap. But the difference was much more profound. Perhaps this is because we don't often hear this level of change in the tempo of music reproduction. There is also, I believe, much more brass used in the platter so it is not the same as just taking a 320 and installing a direct drive motor. Again, this could help explain the obvious increase in dynamics along with the Reference arm and Universe. I was having too much fun just listening to enguage Chris in a detailed discussion.

I agree that CB's accomplishments don't prove that DD is the only true path to perfection and I can't say how the sound of the 380 might compare with a Walker or Rockport, etc. Perhaps the difference between a 360 and 380 is less profound but I suspect that the increase in snap alone will easily seperate the 380 from the other Teres models.

Dan, do you have any sense of whether the differences you heard in the 380 match up with the kinds of differences people seem to hear between BD and DD generally? Put another way, was it the "DD sound" that you heard (admittedly at a very high level and admittedly with a whole lot more going on)?

Drubin, I was expecting this question and I have thought about it some. My take that on it is rather than just being belt or direct drive that makes the difference it is more the proper application of torque. But to more directly answer your question I would assume that this is true. I wouldn't stretch this out and say that all DD's are going to be superior to belt drives in tempo and speed stability and the same would apply to idler wheels, IMHO.