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Devialet vs Linn Akuate (AK/1 A4200/1)
#1
Hi
I am currently an owner of a mainly Linn system - LP12 (Dynavector) and Linn DS into Akurate Kontrol and 4200 amp feeding Linn Ninkas

I believe many of you may be ex Linn owners and would be interested in opinions on comparisons and any advice....
Any compared to Exakt...

I am away in France next week and plan to go to a Premier dealer to listen...
Thanks
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#2
(31-Aug-2014, 12:55)ryl1e Wrote: Hi
I am currently an owner of a mainly Linn system - LP12 (Dynavector) and Linn DS into Akurate Kontrol and 4200 amp feeding Linn Ninkas

I believe many of you may be ex Linn owners and would be interested in opinions on comparisons and any advice....
Any compared to Exakt...

I am away in France next week and plan to go to a Premier dealer to listen...
Thanks

Hi ryl1e and welcome to Devialet Chat! Smile

Prior to owning Devialet I was Linn Klimax customer, owning a KDS, Klimax Kontrol and Solos... I traded these all in last year for the 500 (now 800!). I have never owned Linn speakers (and don't know the Linn Ninkas) so can't comment on those, however with the Devialet I experienced a fairly big upgrade in terms of sound quality and overall sound presentation. The Klimax rig was hardly shoddy mind you so that should give you an idea of the improvement you might be able to expect!

Interestingly I felt like I had to go dual mono to really leapfrog the performance of the Klimax gear. The 240 was still better but probably more of a diagonal move. A lot of this will depend on your speakers though: their sensitivity, impedance curve etc.

For a while I continued to run my KDS through the analog inputs of the Devialet as I preferred the convenience of UPnP (and also really liked the sound of the KDS which was faithfully reproduced through the Devialet system). I now use an external renderer with even better results.

With the Devialet expect a much more "forward" presentation, crystal clear/pin sharp resolution and bags of power that can literally drive any speakers. I'm sure other ex-Linn owners on here will chime in and give you their thoughts too. Smile

Cheers

Guillaume
Industry disclosure: UK distributor for Shunyata Research

220 PRO, totaldac d1 server with additional external power supply, totaldac d1-seven, Echole PSU for Totaldac, Wilson Audio Sasha 2, Shunyata Research cables, Shunyata Hydra Alpha A10 + DPC-6 v3, Various Entreq ground boxes and cables, Entreq Athena level 3 rack, 2 X SOtM sNH-10G with sCLK-EX + 10MHz Master Clock input + sPS-500 PSU, i5 sonicTransporter w/ 1TB SSD

UK
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#3
Oh I'll chip in! I wa a die-hard Linnie for years, culminating in Klimax DS, Klimax Kontrol pre-amp, and Lejonklou Tundra monoblock power amps (these are fabulous by the way). I've previously owned Akurate/Renew DS, Akurate Kontrol pre-amp, 4200s passive and Aktiv. Also 212 and Katan speakers, though I moved away from Linn speakers about 3-4 years ago as I heard speakers from other brands. I think Ninkas are lovely by the way!

The moment I heard a Devialet with my KDS I was blown away by it. The simplicity really appealed as well. I wasn't impressed with AIR though and felt from my initial experiments last year that AIR with iTunes or VLC was something around the quality of an Akurate DS. Then Guillaume experimented with the Simaudio Moon MiND 180D which provided the usability of the KDS - and things were getting close to Klimax sound quality. He then tested the Transparent Reference XL digital cable between the devices and that was it - better than Klimax DS in both our opinion! So the Klimax DS went to a new home...

I've heard Exakt a few times and haven't been hugely impressed, though a lot of it comes down to the 350 speakers I heard it with which I'm not a fan of. I don't like the rather hollow flappy bass in particular. I prefer Akubariks actually but again the're not perfect either. Exakt does have a wonderful precision with the microdynamics that the regular Klimax stuff doesn't. But it's oh-so expensive! Or rather it was when the Klimax Exakt stuff came out last year, and compared with a little D200 it seemed like a bit of a no-brainer to me. i felt Linn had gone the wrong way, largely due to the high pricing of the Exakt system.

I've recently tried AIR again and with different player software and been very impressed. Whether it's improved a lot over the last year or I just got it wrong initially and didn't test hard enough I don't know.
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#4
(31-Aug-2014, 12:55)ryl1e Wrote: Hi
I am currently an owner of a mainly Linn system - LP12 (Dynavector) and Linn DS into Akurate Kontrol and 4200 amp feeding Linn Ninkas

I believe many of you may be ex Linn owners and would be interested in opinions on comparisons and any advice....
Any compared to Exakt...

I am away in France next week and plan to go to a Premier dealer to listen...
Thanks


Hi ryl1e

It sounds like you have a Linn system that is fairly similar to what I ended up with - Akurate 4200, Akurate 242s (a step up from the Ninkas, admittedly) and a Kairn, with Ikemi and SBT sources.

The main difference I experienced when I changed (after being a Linn customer for 20 years) was a much more immediate and exciting sound, and I point the finger towards the 4200 here. I appreciate that you're an owner of one (as was I), but - in comparison to the Devialet - it sounded flat, uninvolving and "nice". Everything was listenable, but nothing was amazing. I think of it like an audio homogeniser .....

I'd suggest a dem of the D120 with your Ninkas as a sensible step. If you like what you hear, selling the 4200 and DS will basically cover your purchase of the 120. If you do get to a Devialet dealer, ask to hear the Ensemble system - a 120 with Atohm speakers.

Good luck - and keep us posted!!

ATB, Ken

(01-Sep-2014, 15:25)Rufus McDufus Wrote: Oh I'll chip in! I wa a die-hard Linnie for years, culminating in Klimax DS, Klimax Kontrol pre-amp, and Lejonklou Tundra monoblock power amps (these are fabulous by the way). I've previously owned Akurate/Renew DS, Akurate Kontrol pre-amp, 4200s passive and Aktiv. Also 212 and Katan speakers, though I moved away from Linn speakers about 3-4 years ago as I heard speakers from other brands. I think Ninkas are lovely by the way!

The moment I heard a Devialet with my KDS I was blown away by it. The simplicity really appealed as well. I wasn't impressed with AIR though and felt from my initial experiments last year that AIR with iTunes or VLC was something around the quality of an Akurate DS. Then Guillaume experimented with the Simaudio Moon MiND 180D which provided the usability of the KDS - and things were getting close to Klimax sound quality. He then tested the Transparent Reference XL digital cable between the devices and that was it - better than Klimax DS in both our opinion! So the Klimax DS went to a new home...

I've heard Exakt a few times and haven't been hugely impressed, though a lot of it comes down to the 350 speakers I heard it with which I'm not a fan of. I don't like the rather hollow flappy bass in particular. I prefer Akubariks actually but again the're not perfect either. Exakt does have a wonderful precision with the microdynamics that the regular Klimax stuff doesn't. But it's oh-so expensive! Or rather it was when the Klimax Exakt stuff came out last year, and compared with a little D200 it seemed like a bit of a no-brainer to me. i felt Linn had gone the wrong way, largely due to the high pricing of the Exakt system.

I've recently tried AIR again and with different player software and been very impressed. Whether it's improved a lot over the last year or I just got it wrong initially and didn't test hard enough I don't know.


Me too Rufus - was gobsmacked at just how good and reliable AIR sounded today, having not used it in anger for the best part of a year. Has led me to totally reevaluate next steps.

ATB, Ken
Auralic Aries G2 > Kii Control > Kii Audio 3 BXT
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#5
Went to Easylounge in Antibe (not as exotic as you may think - Antibe is good however)for a listen...

Lots of manufacturers in the shop: Devialet, Linn, Naim, Rega etc
Played a Devialet D200 into B&W speakers (not sure model but bookshelfs with tweeters on top)
Comments by dealer - he liked to use Linn Akurate DS as source - seemed an expensive way to us and defeated the demo somewhat...
However, was interesting as i did get the "never heard that detail before" moment but did not like the balance of the sound
Comment on construction of 200 - nice but underside does remind you of a laptop
Need to have another listen...
will arrange in dealer in uk (Leeds)
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#6
(04-Sep-2014, 10:34)ryl1e Wrote: Comments by dealer - he liked to use Linn Akurate DS as source - seemed an expensive way to us and defeated the demo somewhat...

The Akurate DS actually has a very nice digital output and I've heard of more than one person using the Devialet in this way. Also using the Linn DS means that you can use UPnP to stream from a NAS, use Kinsky etc so there's a convenience aspect to this too.

What didn't you like about the balance of sound?

Guillaume
Industry disclosure: UK distributor for Shunyata Research

220 PRO, totaldac d1 server with additional external power supply, totaldac d1-seven, Echole PSU for Totaldac, Wilson Audio Sasha 2, Shunyata Research cables, Shunyata Hydra Alpha A10 + DPC-6 v3, Various Entreq ground boxes and cables, Entreq Athena level 3 rack, 2 X SOtM sNH-10G with sCLK-EX + 10MHz Master Clock input + sPS-500 PSU, i5 sonicTransporter w/ 1TB SSD

UK
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#7
Linn Akurate vs Totaldac anyone? (and throw in Krell Connect, Linn Unitiserve, Pioneer N50 (wild card entry), and many many more possibilities......
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#8
(04-Sep-2014, 11:16)Confused Wrote: Linn Akurate vs Totaldac anyone? (and throw in Krell Connect, Linn Unitiserve, Pioneer N50 (wild card entry), and many many more possibilities......

I'll see if I can get my hands on a Linn Akurate DS as my local dealer does Linn... might take a while to organise though.

For what it's worth aerki (who was the inspiration for me trying the d1 server in the first place) had an Akurate DS (which he considered to be better than AIR) before going for the d1 server... but I'm still curious to try this myself.

Personally I wouldn't mind also trying the top of the range Aurender and seeing if it can usurp the d1 server. That might be a bit more tricky to arrange though. Tongue

Guillaume
Industry disclosure: UK distributor for Shunyata Research

220 PRO, totaldac d1 server with additional external power supply, totaldac d1-seven, Echole PSU for Totaldac, Wilson Audio Sasha 2, Shunyata Research cables, Shunyata Hydra Alpha A10 + DPC-6 v3, Various Entreq ground boxes and cables, Entreq Athena level 3 rack, 2 X SOtM sNH-10G with sCLK-EX + 10MHz Master Clock input + sPS-500 PSU, i5 sonicTransporter w/ 1TB SSD

UK
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#9
Balance of sound: hard to describe but when you get used to a sound from your own speakers...
The B&W/ D200 was a little bright (treble +ve) to me

Probably need to take the Ninkas to next demo

Any thoughts on construction/ laptop base?
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#10
The construction of the 200 seems fine to me; of course, you don't get the same "milled from solid" construction as in the Premier/250 but then you'd pay a substantial premium for that. I suppose that the plastic underside is partly a concession to wireless performance. Having installed mine, I haven't given its underside a lot of thought, really Smile Actually I find the use of a plastic base more noticeable in the remote control which would have a slightly nicer tactile quality if it were all-metal.
Roon (Mac Mini), Wilson Benesch Full Circle, Expert 1000 Pro CI, Kaiser Chiara
Warwickshire, UK
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