Still suggest upgrading?

[mmorrison55]

What benefit would you hope to get by upgrading your d200? Reports suggest there's a slight change in the character of the sound going from an Expert to an Expert Pro with some liking the change and others preferring the character of the Export range. You get a 20W per channel increase in power which is essentially inaudible in terms of peak loudness but may well be a contributor to that reported change in the character of the sound. Since you're using Roon, then your amp would become Roon Ready and you can stream to it using Roon's RAAT protocol as well as by using Devialet's AIR protocol. Some people prefer AIR, others RAAT.

Both the d200 and the 220 Pro are good amps but the differences  are small and not everyone prefers the Expert Pro range over the Expert range. I'd definitely want to listen, preferably in my own home with my own system, before deciding to upgrade to the 220 Pro because you might find the change more of a sideways move than an upgrade and even if you find the change is an upgrade it may not be a big enough upgrade to persuade you to spend $3100.

As 2 replies above has said, there are fears that Devialet has abandoned their amplifier line and there are reasons for those fears but the fact is that we never have any guarantees about the future so we should make our purchasing decisions on what the purchase offers us here and now and if it's not a good choice in the here and now don't buy in the hope that it might prove to be a good choice in the longer term.

I think the more important question for you is my first question above, what benefit are you hoping for? Is an amp upgrade the best way to get that benefit? It seems you're prepared to consider spending $3100 on the upgrade so what alternatives offering similar benefits can you get for that amount of money? If you're going to spend money then the 2 questions to consider, and they may not both give the same answer, are what is the current weak point in your setup and what will deliver the biggest improvement for the amount you're prepared to spend.

Thanks David for the input. Always welcomed and valued. I think you have helped me confirm I should probably stick with what I have for now. My budget is not huge, so best to hit up a few music shows that come through my area to see if something blows me away over what I currently have.

I am saddened by devialets abandonment of their amplifiers, but we can always hold out hope that will change in the near future.


Also, I agree that an in home demo would be the way to go, but unless I found someone locally who would lend theirs out (not likely), I don’t know how to go about this without feeling like a heel. I wouldn’t feel right using a dealer to demo this unit in house knowing full well if I liked it, I would be sending my old unit off for the upgrade.

Another wish list item for devialet… to offer an in home demo programs for such upgrades.