30-Nov-2016, 21:04
There is plenty of resistance in "hifi" circles to Devialet on principle.
As the years have passed IMO, hifi enthusiasts have drifted away from equipment offering actual higher fidelity to anything which sounds nice to some group of enthusiasts.
There is nothing wrong with this from a buyers perspective, better to get something one enjoys listening to after all, but almost all the, frequently reassuringly expensive, kit being enjoyed definitely produces audible levels of distortion. It may be euphonic, enjoyable distortion but it isn't hifi in the original literal sense.
Back in the day both the source, a record player, and speakers were audibly coloured and one could select to taste.
Whilst CD players didn't all sound the same the difference between them was -much- less than the difference between any element of a record player, so one of the ways to tune to taste was taken away.
Neither the Audio Note nor Lampizator DAC are accurate, both are coloured, quite a nice colour though. As far as I know there has never been a SET amp design which doesn't produce audible distortion levels and in addition substantial frequency response modifications to most conventional speakers due to output impedance interaction.
These colourations seem popular with a large group of enthusiasts. I have no problem with people choosing stuff that sounds nice to them, they'd be daft not to. I do take issue with their implication that there is some magic as yet undiscovered reason why their coloured equipment is actually sounding "more like real music" rather than them preferring a bit of added distortion, when there is no other credible explanation.
I consider the Devialet the least coloured amp I have heard and that is why I bought my first.
I have other coloured amps here
but I don't use them much any more.
As the years have passed IMO, hifi enthusiasts have drifted away from equipment offering actual higher fidelity to anything which sounds nice to some group of enthusiasts.
There is nothing wrong with this from a buyers perspective, better to get something one enjoys listening to after all, but almost all the, frequently reassuringly expensive, kit being enjoyed definitely produces audible levels of distortion. It may be euphonic, enjoyable distortion but it isn't hifi in the original literal sense.
Back in the day both the source, a record player, and speakers were audibly coloured and one could select to taste.
Whilst CD players didn't all sound the same the difference between them was -much- less than the difference between any element of a record player, so one of the ways to tune to taste was taken away.
Neither the Audio Note nor Lampizator DAC are accurate, both are coloured, quite a nice colour though. As far as I know there has never been a SET amp design which doesn't produce audible distortion levels and in addition substantial frequency response modifications to most conventional speakers due to output impedance interaction.
These colourations seem popular with a large group of enthusiasts. I have no problem with people choosing stuff that sounds nice to them, they'd be daft not to. I do take issue with their implication that there is some magic as yet undiscovered reason why their coloured equipment is actually sounding "more like real music" rather than them preferring a bit of added distortion, when there is no other credible explanation.
I consider the Devialet the least coloured amp I have heard and that is why I bought my first.
I have other coloured amps here
but I don't use them much any more.
Devialet Original d'Atelier 44 Core, Job Pre/225, Goldmund PH2, Goldmund Reference/T3f /Ortofon A90, Goldmund Mimesis 36+ & Chord Blu, iMac/Air, Lynx Theta, Tune Audio Anima, Goldmund Epilog 1&2, REL Studio. Dialog, Silver Phantoms, Branch stands, copper cables (mainly).
Oxfordshire
