The Avid has some technical merits on the mechanical engineering side, very nice CNC milling. The platter sits on a conus shaft and a high quality diamond bearing on the top, above the platter. Sounds really good, but through the construction it has quite a bit of inertia, causing the whole system to require a little more torque to spin. So, the Avid has a quite strong motor for this purpose to compensate. As a result the torque can be heard in a more mechanical sound as well, mids are slightly recessed, all together I find it is playing less open.
The Prime has a 30% heavier platter and a more common bearing on the bottom (it does require three drops of oil every 12 months, while the Avid is maintenance free). Less fancy mechanically, but it's what has been successfully used before in all top models. The lower center of gravity, however, gives the platter a higher flywheel effect and this provides the music with a better flow.
Both are belt driven, but the Diva II SP comes standard with a power regenerating synchronous power supply, while to achieve the same, the Prime needs to add the extra SDS upgrade to the motor. So, here we have a cost advantage for the Avid.
On the tonearm side however, the Prime comes standard with the really exquisite 10" JWD 3D tonearm, while the Avid needs to add one. This propels the Prime into another sphere and it will also add more than double the cost of the SDS power supply to the Diva to achieve the same.
As to the actually important part, I felt the Prime plays with better flow, dynamics and soundstage overall. For the lack of a better explanation, playing records on the Prime and the Diva II SP, is like playing a golf swing vs. trying to hit the ball with force. Well, we all know what the result is
.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
