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Bristol February 2017
#1
Devialet are exhibiting at the Bristol Show this weekend.

I am told that their own room will be based on Phantom Golds. 

In addition, Expert will be used by Melco, Kudos and Spendor.
Innuos Statement 2TB SSD with Next-Gen PSU (with Roon lifetime)
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Draytek Vigor 2860v-Plus/Devialet Original d'Atelier CI Nos. 54A&B/Magico M3 pair
Shunyata cables (digital/interconnect/loudspeaker/power)/Shunyata power units (Triton/Typhon)

 Dialog/Phantom Gold/Tree pair
Missing Link cables (power)
England
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#2
Well I went to the show - albeit only because I had another reason to be in Bristol.

It was barely worth the visit as most rooms were too small, poorly soundproofed, played unknown music at inappropriate levels and with constant in and out traffic.

Just a few exceptions including AudioNote - which has a group of serious supporters - and Spendor (using a 440 Pro) and Harbeth.

In the event Kudos did not use an Expert and the Melco room did not appear to have one either.

The Devialet room was ok, with effort made in terms of visual and aural presentation.

Having said that the show was busy so maybe my expectation of shows does not align with what the majority are happy to accept.
Innuos Statement 2TB SSD with Next-Gen PSU (with Roon lifetime)
MacBook Pro (with Air)
Draytek Vigor 2860v-Plus/Devialet Original d'Atelier CI Nos. 54A&B/Magico M3 pair
Shunyata cables (digital/interconnect/loudspeaker/power)/Shunyata power units (Triton/Typhon)

 Dialog/Phantom Gold/Tree pair
Missing Link cables (power)
England
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#3
It must have been pretty exciting to get a hands on look at the prototype streamerboard though, and a chance to fill in one of the first Devialet 'what I want' customer surveys ?

>>> 1st Place Award: Devialet, last decades most disappointing technology purchase.  <<<

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#4
I have just taken a quick look at the exhibitors list for the 2018 Bristol Sound and Vision show, Devialet are not listed.  This surprises me a little, Devialet have been a regular at the show for a number of years, although this did appear to be some kind of relationship between a specific hifi dealer, with Spendor speakers always being used with the Expert demonstrations.  Phantoms have also been demonstrated over the last couple of years.  This year however, nothing.......

Of course, the show is still a few weeks away and the exhibitors list is not final, so things may change.


http://www.bristolshow.co.uk/
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
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#5
It is a pity that they won't have a presence though attempts to do good demonstrations at shows are generally failures. Munich is fun but rather like a sweet shop - a novelty that you tire of. (Apart from the high end spin off show at the Marriott which is excellent.) The HFN Windsor show was hopeless last year, with only Absolute Sounds making a big effort on sound, personnel and customer liaison. Bristol is pretty chaotic with poor rooms and hopeless soundproofing. HiFi Wigwam seems to be moving from Scalford populated by enthusiast systems to somewhere and something different. No Devialet at any of these now.

So, if you want to hear good demonstrations in a good room, just find one of the few decent dealers (in the UK) - and treat shows as a nice place to gather with friends but not much more.
Innuos Statement 2TB SSD with Next-Gen PSU (with Roon lifetime)
MacBook Pro (with Air)
Draytek Vigor 2860v-Plus/Devialet Original d'Atelier CI Nos. 54A&B/Magico M3 pair
Shunyata cables (digital/interconnect/loudspeaker/power)/Shunyata power units (Triton/Typhon)

 Dialog/Phantom Gold/Tree pair
Missing Link cables (power)
England
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#6
A little unexpectedly, I had the opportunity to take Friday off and visit the Bristol show.  Not a great experience to be honest, I had thought that the Friday would be a little quieter than I experienced on a Saturday in 2016, the last time I went, but no, the place was rammed.  I guess you could take this as a positive, as it at least shows that there is still some interest in hifi.

Anyway, there was indeed no sign of Devialet there.  In recent years, Devialet has been shown with Spendor speakers in a Room that is organised by a Spendor dealer.  This year they were running the new(ish) Spendor D9's with an Auralic G series based front end, and you know what, I reckon this was one of the best sounding rooms of the show, a very listenable system.

I also spent some time listening to Guillaume's new favorite, the Wilson Benesh Resolution's.  A candidate for best sound in the show?  Maybe, but yet again this was a disappointing room for all the wrong reasons.  When I first got there they were playing some fairly obscure jazz on vinyl.   OK, some folk will like this kind of stuff but it is not for everyone.  The thing is, they played the whole side of the album, and when it was playing the room staff stood in the corner talking to each other.  When I first arrived in the room I managed to grab a spare seat in the corner, and the staff chatting was significantly louder than the music.  The jazz was the kind of stuff where the pianist and trombonist fall asleep for a while, the bass player improvises a little, whilst you get the occasional drum tap, so during the quiet bits all I could hear was chatting.  What a waste of time!

Later some guys at sitting at the front left the room, so I managed to blag one of the prime seats, the album was switched to another, and again the whole side played.  During this period I did get a better impression of the system, and I think picked up on some of the Resolutions magic that Guillaume had mentioned previously.  Contrast this to demo's from some of the other manufacturers, Cyrus and PMC get an honorable mention, who played very contrasting music, track after track.

One thing that dragged me to Bristol was seeing that Cyrus were demonstrating their new Signature streaming system, DAC and amps wth the KEF Blade.  When I arrived at the room I found that it was in fact the Blade 2.  This was in itself interesting as I have never even seen the Blade 2, let alone listen to a pair.  The Blade 2 is more or less a 2/3 size version of the Blade, and they are generally reckoned to be better than the original Blade when used in smaller rooms.  In the flesh, I was surprised at just how much smaller they look, more like half size than two thirds.  Would I swap Devialet amplification for the Cyrus rig?  I don't think so no, it was a good system, but mids and highs had a bit if a digital edge that the Devialet lacks.  Sometimes the best things about these shows is getting home and finding your own rig was actually the best of the day.

Some nice pictures:

         
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
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#7
Oh wow, nice pictures @Confused. I really like how the Resolutions look. Absolutely amazing. Unfortunately haven't heard them yet.
Bluesound Node > Matrix Audio X-SPDIF 2 > Genelec 8351B & 7360A
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Tampere, Finland
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#8
I still find these shows quite exciting for some reason. Maybe it’s coming across something unexpected or actually hearing something sublime! Having not been to the Bristol show for three years, I was looking forward to it even though Devialet were not going to be there. For sure, there is a lot of dross at this show but it doesn’t set out to be a high end show like Munich. It’s a consumer show with a fairly broad appeal.

I now seriously want some TAD loudspeakers or at least try them out with my D400 at home. Nothing else at the show made me want to reach for my wallet.

Some demos did not sound right to me. The Cyrus/KEF Blade 2 should have been more impressive I thought. I have heard both of these sound better in other systems. Unlike Confused, I thought the Spendor/Auralic system sounded flawed. This was with a classical piece. I did not wait to hear any other music however. 

Strangely, I was rather taken by the sound of one or two of the valve based systems on show. There was a Ming Da power amp which had a very seductive approach. Perhaps I was tiring of the relentlessly harsh sound of low cost transistor amps.

There were several active speakers on show this year from Canton and Dali for example. Also many attempts at one box solutions, even from Quad! Manufacturers seem to be keen to cover all possible requirements.

Perhaps if Devialet is serious about the U.K. HiFi market, it should have been here. Devialet seems to have it’s own somewhat quirky marketing methods however and it studiously avoids the largest HiFi exhibition in this country. I still enjoyed it though!
D440 Pro, Auralic Aries G1, Project Xtension 10, Ortofon Cadenza Black, Esoteric SA-50, Sonus Faber Olympica II, Audioquest cables. Mutec MC-3 + USB.
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#9
@Harry. , yes, I agree regarding the Cyrus/KEF Blade 2 system.  One thing that occurs to me is that they had an enormous amount of toe-in on the Blades, something like 35°.  KEF recommend a very small deviation from straight ahead, and this is typically how they demonstrate them, indeed, it is how I have mine set up after very much experimentation.  I am sure this did not help, plus any harshness inherent in the system is exacerbated by having the tweeters aimed straight at you.

We will have to agree to disagree regarding the Spendor/Auralic rig though!Shy
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
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