So to the demo itself. Refering to the previous pictures, the eagle eyed amongst you will notice that the lovely Aurender in the picture is not an N10, it is in fact the W20. I’m not sure exactly what happened here but the N10 was out on loan, I suspect a miss communication, possibly caused by OAC’s Alasdair being away last week.
A happy mistake though. The point being that the purpose of this visit was to give myself a better idea of what influence the digital ‘front end’ can have on a Devialet based system, is it worth paying that bit extra, where does the law of diminishing returns really kick in, it’s just 1’s and 0’s, surely they all sound the same, and so on. Having said that, I am appreciative of the dealers time and I do struggle with the idea of a 1’s and 0’s delivery system costing £13k, so I just wouldn’t want to waist the dealers time setting up and demoing something that I don’t feel I could ever rationalise buying, but was I happy to listen to a W20 due to this happy accident, oh yes, not a problem for me. So the N10 will need to wait for another day.
So to the listening. I think I should start by making it absolutely clear that each one in this trio was very good, so any differences I describe are on the margins, all were good, all work fine with a Devialet. Could we discern differences? Yes, in fact I was a little surprised that at this level there was indeed some discernible character to the units. Having said that, I think we spent a little over four hours in OAC Saturday, and although this is fine for getting a very good first impression, it is not enough time to fully establish the pro’s and con’s of these units.
We started with the N1Z. My preference is always to start with what I think will be the best sounding option, I find it easier to discern what has gone rather than detect what is improved, and despite the unexpected arrival the W20, I still had a feeling the N1Z would prevail here.
The N1Z was clearly very competent, I can see how it is getting it’s reputation, did it win the day, well actually no, but it did deliver the musical moment of the day. I had cobbled together a playlist for the day, on included was David Bowie’s ‘Oh You Pretty Things’. An odd choice perhaps, because I have never considered it a particularly good recording in audiophile terms, but it gets it’s place on my playlist because material like this is representative of the type of material I play, I’m not one for chasing stuff just because it is super specially recorded ulta hifi DSD. Curiously, it proved to be the demo track of the day and many ways. Anyway, the track starts with Rick Wakeman on the piano, and this delivered one of those rare hifi ‘wow’ moments, I have absolutely no idea how many times I’ve listened to that track, but the reproduction of that piano was utterly stunning. Not a particularly well produced album? Well the little Melco was digging out something extraordinary and left me slightly mesmerised. Although I didn’t realy understand the Melco’s overall standing in the scheme of things until we moved onto the other options.
Next up was the CAD CAT, as I felt I wanted to move to another USB outputting machine for the first direct comparison, and indeed another machine at a similar price. Apparently the CAD CAT had recently arrive back from Computer Audio Design have been mildly upgraded with some latest improvement, also, it was demoed in three box form, the CAD CAT itself, a linear PSU, and some kind of electronic earthing box, a kind of scientifically design electronic version of Enteq’s box of mystery crystals. Last time I saw the CAD CAT it was with a much smaller earthing box, which was a prototype at the time, I might be wrong but I think I was told it was going to be a £700, to £800 add on. The latest version used for the demo was much larger, with a much larger price tag of £1500. I must admit that at £1500 my hifi foo detector starts to activate. Plus, if you use this box it does move the CAD CAT from being the cheapest out of the N10 & N1Z alternatives, to being most expensive.
Anyway, so to the listening, or actually, not listening. The poor little CAD CAT did not initially cover itself in glory, suffering from the associated JRemote app freezing, being fixed and then freezing again. We didn’t really establish what was upsetting it, and on the third time of asking and a bit of faffing around it eventually worked fine. Not the best of first impressions though, and does lead to niggling thoughts about would this thing be troublesome and frustrating in use, would it be worry free with Roon and so on, why would I spend £1000’s on anther b@@@@@ Windows computer. (the demo was with the default JRiver)
But yes, it sounds good! Very good in fact, and overall I preferred my listening with the CAD CAT to the Melco. In many respects the two were very similar, and it was not a slam dunk victory for the CAD CAT. The key difference appeared to be the presentation of the bass, the N1Z was delivering the bass, all of it, to the lowest lows, but this is not about quantity or depth of bass, but character. It was things like typical kick drum bass that sounded much more realistic with CAD CAT. Also on the demo track list was Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé’s ‘Barcelona, the 2012 remake with a real orchestra, and this time a finely produced 24bit recording. The track has the most thunderous timpanies and although the Melco was delivering uttlerly thunderous bass, the CAD CAT just sounded more realistic. Did the CAD CAT pull off the Melco’s hair raising piano reproduction with the Bowie track? No, a perfectly finely produced piano to be sure, but the Melco magic was not there. So swings and roundabouts, but overall, the CAD CAT just edges it as the one I’d want to listen to. There was also a slight thought that the Melco’s sligh deficiencies here were less so with the 24 bit material than 16/44, but substantially more listening would be needed to be sure of this.
So to the Aurender W10, this time using the XLR conection. (there was the option to try with USB, but no, I was keen to hear via the theoreticaly superior XLR) Well, the Aurender also delivered one of those hifi ‘wow’ moments, so I got two in one day! Curiously, this was also with Bowie’s ‘Oh You Pretty Thing’, but not the piano, but the vocal. I’m not keen on the ‘it was like he was in the room’ cliche, but it does come to mind, there was just a realism and quality here that utterly staggered me. Then that piano, yes, very finely produced indeed, but did it mach the Melco piano moment? No, not quite. But there was something about the Aurender, it was just plainly and simply very good to listen to, in all areas, with everything, I loved it! Was it the best of the day, yes it was.
After the Aurender, I started to wonder about my slight niggle with the Melco bass, just how good that piano was, and so on. The thing is, even with the audition being with the same kit you have at home, it does take a while to get your ear in, in fact the system did not sound quite as I remembered it sounding at OAC, possibly because they have moved their little sofa back a little. So we ran back through a few track with the Melco. Funnily enough, I kind of expected the piano magic moment to be diminished second time around, I knew it was there and expecting it, but no, still there and still stunning. The bass issues I mentioned earlier, maybe they would not be so apparent now I’d spent some time with the system and sofa as configured, but no, second time around confirmed my view.
Anyway, a great day, and by this time a touch of audition fatigue had kicked in. So in conclusion, much to my amazement the N1Z comes last out of this trio, next up the CAD CAT, but the one I wanted to take home was the Aurender. OK, it’s not quite that simple, in this company the Aurender had cheated by not being an N10 and also by costing six grand more than the opposition. This does of course lead to the question of how much does the N10 give away to the W20 with respect to ultimate performance. Even then, what about the X100, who knows? Also, we then have the N1ZH to consider. I did discuss the N1ZH with OAC’s Alasdair, and although I don’t think he has spent hours doing back to back testing, he did say that he can’t really tell it apart from the N1Z. Now consider that if you buy an N1ZH, this leaves you with nine and a half grands worth of change versus the W20, now that’s a lot of change!
Also, with the margins involved here, I can imagine a different conclusion, if auditioned with different speakers and a different room.
However, I am now starting to form my own conclusion. What I want is something that offers the sonic magic I experienced with the W20, it would also be good if was something that would run Roon, and also preferable if it if it didn’t have a five figure price tag! OK, I can’t think of anything that ticks all of those boxes, but at least I am now a lot clearer as to what I’m looking for.
Finally, many thanks to OAC. Yet again they were great hosts, tea coffee AND biscuits were provided, oh, and some of the worlds finest kit. It's good to have dealers like this around, that part of the conclusion is for sure.
A happy mistake though. The point being that the purpose of this visit was to give myself a better idea of what influence the digital ‘front end’ can have on a Devialet based system, is it worth paying that bit extra, where does the law of diminishing returns really kick in, it’s just 1’s and 0’s, surely they all sound the same, and so on. Having said that, I am appreciative of the dealers time and I do struggle with the idea of a 1’s and 0’s delivery system costing £13k, so I just wouldn’t want to waist the dealers time setting up and demoing something that I don’t feel I could ever rationalise buying, but was I happy to listen to a W20 due to this happy accident, oh yes, not a problem for me. So the N10 will need to wait for another day.
So to the listening. I think I should start by making it absolutely clear that each one in this trio was very good, so any differences I describe are on the margins, all were good, all work fine with a Devialet. Could we discern differences? Yes, in fact I was a little surprised that at this level there was indeed some discernible character to the units. Having said that, I think we spent a little over four hours in OAC Saturday, and although this is fine for getting a very good first impression, it is not enough time to fully establish the pro’s and con’s of these units.
We started with the N1Z. My preference is always to start with what I think will be the best sounding option, I find it easier to discern what has gone rather than detect what is improved, and despite the unexpected arrival the W20, I still had a feeling the N1Z would prevail here.
The N1Z was clearly very competent, I can see how it is getting it’s reputation, did it win the day, well actually no, but it did deliver the musical moment of the day. I had cobbled together a playlist for the day, on included was David Bowie’s ‘Oh You Pretty Things’. An odd choice perhaps, because I have never considered it a particularly good recording in audiophile terms, but it gets it’s place on my playlist because material like this is representative of the type of material I play, I’m not one for chasing stuff just because it is super specially recorded ulta hifi DSD. Curiously, it proved to be the demo track of the day and many ways. Anyway, the track starts with Rick Wakeman on the piano, and this delivered one of those rare hifi ‘wow’ moments, I have absolutely no idea how many times I’ve listened to that track, but the reproduction of that piano was utterly stunning. Not a particularly well produced album? Well the little Melco was digging out something extraordinary and left me slightly mesmerised. Although I didn’t realy understand the Melco’s overall standing in the scheme of things until we moved onto the other options.
Next up was the CAD CAT, as I felt I wanted to move to another USB outputting machine for the first direct comparison, and indeed another machine at a similar price. Apparently the CAD CAT had recently arrive back from Computer Audio Design have been mildly upgraded with some latest improvement, also, it was demoed in three box form, the CAD CAT itself, a linear PSU, and some kind of electronic earthing box, a kind of scientifically design electronic version of Enteq’s box of mystery crystals. Last time I saw the CAD CAT it was with a much smaller earthing box, which was a prototype at the time, I might be wrong but I think I was told it was going to be a £700, to £800 add on. The latest version used for the demo was much larger, with a much larger price tag of £1500. I must admit that at £1500 my hifi foo detector starts to activate. Plus, if you use this box it does move the CAD CAT from being the cheapest out of the N10 & N1Z alternatives, to being most expensive.
Anyway, so to the listening, or actually, not listening. The poor little CAD CAT did not initially cover itself in glory, suffering from the associated JRemote app freezing, being fixed and then freezing again. We didn’t really establish what was upsetting it, and on the third time of asking and a bit of faffing around it eventually worked fine. Not the best of first impressions though, and does lead to niggling thoughts about would this thing be troublesome and frustrating in use, would it be worry free with Roon and so on, why would I spend £1000’s on anther b@@@@@ Windows computer. (the demo was with the default JRiver)
But yes, it sounds good! Very good in fact, and overall I preferred my listening with the CAD CAT to the Melco. In many respects the two were very similar, and it was not a slam dunk victory for the CAD CAT. The key difference appeared to be the presentation of the bass, the N1Z was delivering the bass, all of it, to the lowest lows, but this is not about quantity or depth of bass, but character. It was things like typical kick drum bass that sounded much more realistic with CAD CAT. Also on the demo track list was Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé’s ‘Barcelona, the 2012 remake with a real orchestra, and this time a finely produced 24bit recording. The track has the most thunderous timpanies and although the Melco was delivering uttlerly thunderous bass, the CAD CAT just sounded more realistic. Did the CAD CAT pull off the Melco’s hair raising piano reproduction with the Bowie track? No, a perfectly finely produced piano to be sure, but the Melco magic was not there. So swings and roundabouts, but overall, the CAD CAT just edges it as the one I’d want to listen to. There was also a slight thought that the Melco’s sligh deficiencies here were less so with the 24 bit material than 16/44, but substantially more listening would be needed to be sure of this.
So to the Aurender W10, this time using the XLR conection. (there was the option to try with USB, but no, I was keen to hear via the theoreticaly superior XLR) Well, the Aurender also delivered one of those hifi ‘wow’ moments, so I got two in one day! Curiously, this was also with Bowie’s ‘Oh You Pretty Thing’, but not the piano, but the vocal. I’m not keen on the ‘it was like he was in the room’ cliche, but it does come to mind, there was just a realism and quality here that utterly staggered me. Then that piano, yes, very finely produced indeed, but did it mach the Melco piano moment? No, not quite. But there was something about the Aurender, it was just plainly and simply very good to listen to, in all areas, with everything, I loved it! Was it the best of the day, yes it was.
After the Aurender, I started to wonder about my slight niggle with the Melco bass, just how good that piano was, and so on. The thing is, even with the audition being with the same kit you have at home, it does take a while to get your ear in, in fact the system did not sound quite as I remembered it sounding at OAC, possibly because they have moved their little sofa back a little. So we ran back through a few track with the Melco. Funnily enough, I kind of expected the piano magic moment to be diminished second time around, I knew it was there and expecting it, but no, still there and still stunning. The bass issues I mentioned earlier, maybe they would not be so apparent now I’d spent some time with the system and sofa as configured, but no, second time around confirmed my view.
Anyway, a great day, and by this time a touch of audition fatigue had kicked in. So in conclusion, much to my amazement the N1Z comes last out of this trio, next up the CAD CAT, but the one I wanted to take home was the Aurender. OK, it’s not quite that simple, in this company the Aurender had cheated by not being an N10 and also by costing six grand more than the opposition. This does of course lead to the question of how much does the N10 give away to the W20 with respect to ultimate performance. Even then, what about the X100, who knows? Also, we then have the N1ZH to consider. I did discuss the N1ZH with OAC’s Alasdair, and although I don’t think he has spent hours doing back to back testing, he did say that he can’t really tell it apart from the N1Z. Now consider that if you buy an N1ZH, this leaves you with nine and a half grands worth of change versus the W20, now that’s a lot of change!
Also, with the margins involved here, I can imagine a different conclusion, if auditioned with different speakers and a different room.
However, I am now starting to form my own conclusion. What I want is something that offers the sonic magic I experienced with the W20, it would also be good if was something that would run Roon, and also preferable if it if it didn’t have a five figure price tag! OK, I can’t think of anything that ticks all of those boxes, but at least I am now a lot clearer as to what I’m looking for.
Finally, many thanks to OAC. Yet again they were great hosts, tea coffee AND biscuits were provided, oh, and some of the worlds finest kit. It's good to have dealers like this around, that part of the conclusion is for sure.
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
. Very clear and objective even if the conclusions must by necessity be subjective. 