Pro 220 or D400

[Confused]

I am a bit surprised too on the absoluteness of some reviews. I had kind of made up my mind about upgrading my 200 to 220. I could for the reduced price, but nevertheless decided to compare 200 to 220 and 400 before I made a decision.

As I stated before I found the 220 be 'better' in most ways and different sounding than the 200. But the double mono 400 had many benefits a single 220 unit simply doesn't have. The more difficult your speakers are to drive the more power you will need, but the extra power of a 400/440 also creates an effortlessness that I didn't hear with the single 220. I personally found the 200/400 also more neutral sounding, but that might have been my personal preference, taste and in my setup, speakers etc.

There is no right or wrong in upgrading or sticking with what you have. I heard the 440 at the Whittlebury show but was difficult to assess in such a large room with unfamiliar Vivid speakers. What does the upgrade bring ? We are all different i like to be challenged when i listen with plenty of snap (the 250 was too refined for my ears) There are so many variables in all our systems. I can change the presentation of my sound in so many ways without spending a penny.....moving my Sasha's a few inches closer to my listening chair reduces the bass output and increases treble attack. In fact I recently had a mains block specially made for my Shunyata power cables and this has tightened up the bass in a way many of the new pro owners have described.

One day in the future I may trade in my 400 for the 440 but not before a proper demonstration. So many ways to spend our hard earned cash this is why we love this crazy hobby and Devialet !!

For what it's worth, I listened to the 440 Pro / Vivid demo at Whittlebury and was not impressed at all.  I am as sure as I can be that this was not the fault of the Devialet, or indeed the Vivid G4's it was just a poorly executed demo in what was a very large room.