Cello: I am impressed and I am also thinking about Koetsu, but only thinking at this stage.
With regard to the shoot-out, I will give you my own impressions. The arm was the top Schroeder with a 901 cartridge all mounted on the 265 plinth. (Tube amplification and horn/subwoofer speakers). All in all, very high-end. The study was performed at the home of Chris Brady, so I defer to him for the details and follow-up.
The fiirst platter was pure acrylic. I thought it sounded wonderful and better than my VPI HW-MK19 with a SME-309 arm and Grado Reference.
However, the next platter was lead filled acrylic, and it simply sounded better than the plain acrylic in all ways. Specifically, fuller or bigger sound with more resolution. I think were all surprised by the magnitude of the change.
The next platter was the leaded/cocobolo, which was a clear improvement over the leaded acrylic but not as dramatic as the first step. To me the improvement was resolution of low level details and fullness of sound. The transparency was improved and the dynamic range seemed enhanced as I recall.
Next came the switch to the 320 TT, which was a handsdown winner over the 265. It was livelier, bigger sound, more resolution of low level inputs, on and on. Just better in everyway.
The next was the 340, which was like the 320 but smoother and more silky. Now, I would say the answer is more refined than the 320. We characterized the difference between the 320 and 340 as more like the difference between Fuji color (320) and Kodak color (340).
In retrospect, I am glad to have purchased the T-340 because the short duration of my listening did not allow me to appreciate the full-breadth of the T-340 sound. It is like music, the best songs often take a little time to appreciate.
I hope this helps.
