I am going to try to be diplomatic here. The original post of this thread made quite a serious point, Arcam had found that with his new Pro, some music sounded excellent, other music did not. I have my own theory as to why this may be. Anyway, there have now been a number of posts regarding modifications, cables etc, that claim to improve the performance of the Devialet. One thing I wish to make clear is that I have absolutely no problem with people posting their experiences of such modifications and 'tweaks', in fact, I find this kind of stuff fascinating. However, I would offer a note of caution. Whilst a given 'tweak' may indeed offer an overall improvement in the amplifier's performance, it may not be a cure all for all issues Devialet, and if you read Arcam's earlier posts I believe this to be the case here. It is also worth noting that this forum has a very fine section called 'Tweaker's Corner', the perfect place for posting about many and varied mods. What I am trying to say is that I am seeing 'tweak' type posts appearing all over the place on this forum, and I believe in many cases these are diluting the intent of the thread.
Anyway, back on topic. My experience of the Pro informs me that versus the Expert, the Pro exhibits a much higher level of resolution, detail, clarity and shear realism when compared to the Expert. In many ways this is remarkable, when you consider that these aspects could be considered a strength of the Expert, so this is an improvement from a very high level.
So, the Pro is an extremely revealing beast. What then if you have an old CD, something mastered from tape, and with the D/A conversion performed using 1980's or 90's spec equipment. What if this 1980's D/A conversion was not the best quality, or indeed was not executed properly. One thing I do know is that a little analogue distortion does not sound that bad, a little digital distortion sounds horrific. Digital can sound good, but to sound good it needs to be done well. So, you have a CD where the original mastering to digital is in some aspect problematic. You may not have noticed this on your old amp/dac, but then you get a new amp/dac that is a magnitude more revealing, and at the same time because it is new, you are inevitably listening very carefully to your system. You have spent a lot of money, was it worth it, you just can't help but to listen very hard and worry. What happens next is because you are listening so hard and your new amp/dac is just so incredibly revealing, that you start to quite clearly noticing digital issues inherent with the recording. This is my theory of what is happening here. Maybe I am right, maybe I am wrong. But lets assume for a moment I am correct, then any tweaks that improve performance would actually make the issue worse by improving the revealing nature of the Pro.
To this end, I for one would love to listen to a couple of the exact recordings that Arcam has listed earlier in this thread. Unfortunately, I do not subscribe to Qobuz, and even trying to buy the same from Amazon or Ebay woyld be problematic, as I'd likely end up with a different version. Although an Amazon AISN number, or the CD's identification number might actually make this possible. (If Arcam can post details and I can find a copy somewhere, I'd be quite happy to buy then post to another UK forum member to enjoy, or I guess not enjoy if it does sound really bad!)
A final note to the Tweakers, it's all good stuff, keep it coming, keep filling up Tweaker's corner, in fact I might need some of this stuff, as I have Dev's on a glass shelf, with standard power cables, rubbish and speaker binding posts, I need help!
Anyway, back on topic. My experience of the Pro informs me that versus the Expert, the Pro exhibits a much higher level of resolution, detail, clarity and shear realism when compared to the Expert. In many ways this is remarkable, when you consider that these aspects could be considered a strength of the Expert, so this is an improvement from a very high level.
So, the Pro is an extremely revealing beast. What then if you have an old CD, something mastered from tape, and with the D/A conversion performed using 1980's or 90's spec equipment. What if this 1980's D/A conversion was not the best quality, or indeed was not executed properly. One thing I do know is that a little analogue distortion does not sound that bad, a little digital distortion sounds horrific. Digital can sound good, but to sound good it needs to be done well. So, you have a CD where the original mastering to digital is in some aspect problematic. You may not have noticed this on your old amp/dac, but then you get a new amp/dac that is a magnitude more revealing, and at the same time because it is new, you are inevitably listening very carefully to your system. You have spent a lot of money, was it worth it, you just can't help but to listen very hard and worry. What happens next is because you are listening so hard and your new amp/dac is just so incredibly revealing, that you start to quite clearly noticing digital issues inherent with the recording. This is my theory of what is happening here. Maybe I am right, maybe I am wrong. But lets assume for a moment I am correct, then any tweaks that improve performance would actually make the issue worse by improving the revealing nature of the Pro.
To this end, I for one would love to listen to a couple of the exact recordings that Arcam has listed earlier in this thread. Unfortunately, I do not subscribe to Qobuz, and even trying to buy the same from Amazon or Ebay woyld be problematic, as I'd likely end up with a different version. Although an Amazon AISN number, or the CD's identification number might actually make this possible. (If Arcam can post details and I can find a copy somewhere, I'd be quite happy to buy then post to another UK forum member to enjoy, or I guess not enjoy if it does sound really bad!)
A final note to the Tweakers, it's all good stuff, keep it coming, keep filling up Tweaker's corner, in fact I might need some of this stuff, as I have Dev's on a glass shelf, with standard power cables, rubbish and speaker binding posts, I need help!
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
