Devialet 120

[Scooby Blue]

Still looking at getting into the world of Devialet and have the opportunity of a 120 for a reasonable price, so a question. I’m still a big vinyl listener, but how good is the phono stage? If I were to get it and then have it upgraded to a 220, does the phono stage get upgraded too?

[Jean-Marie]

Full disclosure, I’m not a user of vinyl, but from what I understand, the phono stage of the 120 is not bad at all, even if the D220 has a superior one.

Now, as a beneficiary of an upgrade from the 120 to the 220, in can assure you that everything is upgraded, included the phono stage.

There is absolutely no difference between an upgraded 220 from a 120 and a 220 from the factory.

Jean-Marie

[mdconnelly]

I can't speak to the phono section of a 120, but the phono section of the 220 is surprisingly good with a lot of detail control available to customize for the cartridge you use.

[ArnoNYC]

Still looking at getting into the world of Devialet and have the opportunity of a 120 for a reasonable price, so a question. I’m still a big vinyl listener, but how good is the phono stage? If I were to get it and then have it upgraded to a 220, does the phono stage get upgraded too?

I've used a 120 with a turntable during several years, with vinyls being the original reason for my amp purchase. The setup was in our living room in an old NYC building, nothing specifically intended for music listening. Still, vinyls sounded absolutely great (provided that the records were of good quality  ). The only issue that I had was an occasional background noise which was fixed after I disabled the amp WiFi input.

I since upgraded it to a 220 Pro with CI, a decision mostly motivated by the better connectivity (and the price difference between a 140 Pro upgrade and a 220 Pro upgrade was definitely in favor of the 220). And yes, the 220 comes with a dedicated phono stage, but to be honest the difference was not stellar (but it frees some amp inputs...)

From my standpoint, unless you have a 10 k turntable and a very dedicated setup, I would save some $ and give the 120 a shot, as it's an amazing product for its price (especially on the preowned market).

[docvale]

Expert 120 and vinyl lover here.
While I cannot make comparisons with the phono section of the 200/220, these are my comments:
- the functionality of the phono stage of the 120 is limited to the control of gain. With the higher spec’d models you can also control the loading. This gets relevant with low output MC cartridges
- the MM functionality is spectacular. Zero, absolutely zero noise at well above realistic listening volumes and no distortion
- the MC functionality is disappointing. Apart of the loading control, which you can obviate to using a Y adapter with plug in resistors (which I tried), the noise gets audible at sustained listening volumes (not tragic, but after getting spoiled with the MM performance I got annoyed) and the body gets a bit flimsy. I solved it using a step up transformer and returning to MM gains.
The context of above: upgrade from Sumiko Pearl MM to Hana SL low output MC. Improvement of fine details and high frequencies, loss in presence and appearance of hiss. As said, magic restored with a Denon step up.

In a nutshell, if you are planning to use a quality MM or a high output MC, highly recommended.
With a low output MC you’d likely be unhappy unless you factored in a modest budget increase for a step up.
Hope this helps.

[Scooby Blue]

Thanks so far everyone - I have bitten the bullet and a 120 will be here next week! Any further tips greatly appreciated.
Also, I have a BlueSound Node 2i (Spotify, Tidal etc.) - any thoughts on it’s connection?
Cheers again.

[docvale]

It looks like you’ll “replicate” my system.
I indeed use the Node 2i as digital streaming transport, connected via a digital coaxial cable to the 120.
You’ll assign one of the inputs to digital coaxial via configurator, a 75 ohm digital cable with RCA ends and that’s it!
BluOS is also a very capable software.

[derekcohen]

Hi SB

I plugged in my Expert 120 for the first time today. There was a bit of trepidation on my part as I had read - after purchasing this amp - that low output moving coils were likely to suffer from hiss. My peripherals of note are a Supex 900 MkIV cartridge (in a modded Thorens TD150 and modded Rega RB300 arm), which has an output of just 0.2mV - much lower than the average MC (which is around 0.4-0.5mV). For comparison, I have Tidal (Master level) via a Cambridge CXN V2. Speakers are Kef LS50 Metas. I also have a KC62 subwoofer, which I plan to connect tomorrow.

How did the Supex work with the MC input? I'd say that the result is about 95%. I listened to Bill Evan's "You Must Believe in Spring", which I have had for 40 years. I had been using a Harmon Kardon HK6500 amp (70 wpc and high current), which saw off a Musical Fidelity A3.2. The HK produced a good sound, but the Devialet/Supex lifted the game to another level. Clearer, more detailed, sweeter. Why 95% and not 100%? Well, there is no hum as I feared. However, there is a faint noise coming from both speakers which is like a slight pulse. It is hidden behind the music and only apparent when the sound is turned down. It rises and falls with the volume. It is not present when the phono is changed to another input. I am hoping someone will comment about this.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[thumb5]

Derek,

The "faint pulse" sound you're hearing might be due to interference from the wi-fi module in the 120, if it's enabled.

If you aren't using wi-fi, you can disable it altogether. If you are using wi-fi, there is an option in the configurator to disable wi-fi when you're using the phono input, to avoid this problem. Open up the Phono Settings, then under Advanced Settings set Auto WiFi standby to on. Hopefully that should sort it out.

Ian

[derekcohen]

Thanks Ian! I shall give that a go, and let you know how it turns out.

Regards from Perth

Derek