Brinkmann Bardo

Dbjain: "My initial impressions are that it grabs your attention and does not let you wander off in thoughts as you listen to music."

Excellent description as that's my impression with many direct-drive turntables regardless of brand. It has an intensity in the sound that motivates active listening, and when it's good it's more involving and when it's bad it can be fatiguing. I guess, just like anything in life, it's a matter of finding a balance in the result when implementing a technology. Such sonic description is the opposite of my impression with one particular low torque belt-drive turntable with a medium mass platter that I had to assist the start up with my finger; it was lazy sounding.

The Bardo sure looks well engineered and well built. I also like its compact size and modern look. From my experience with coreless motor, it can be one sweet machine...

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The coreless motor with the magnets on the underside of the subplatter is very much like the design of the motor in the Kenwood L07D. The SP10 Mk3 also has its huge magnet structure fixed to the underside of the platter, though the stator is not coreless. So the "magnetic drive system" is not so novel, but it's probably excellent.

The Bardo is, in spirit, also close to the Sony BSL(brush/slot-less) coreless motor from the classic PS-X70 era and the subplatter has optical imprint just like Sony's magnetic imprint on the platter's inner rim. The coils' position on the Bardo is different from other DD motors though. All in all, I am happy to see a modern turntable manufacturer giving direct-drive a chance but I am somewhat irked by them having to market it as "magnetic drive." I don't care what fancy words you use, if the platter and motor share the same bearing, it is direct-drive!

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Let's not forget the pioneers of this technology, the Dual EDS1000 / EDS1000-2 magnetic dd motor that they first introduced in '73. With 4 hall sensors, even though it isn't quartz controlled, it's rock steady, strong, dead silent, and shielded. Dual came out with this concept well before the others and was certainly on their drawing boards in the late 60's. 30+yrs later, they're still running spot on in decks. Japanese just copied. I too have had interest in the bardos (and oasis).