Devialet Sound Quality

[hk6230]

I would certainly like to hear your comment on your SAMed B&W 685 S2.

[Antoine]

Devialet, to me, is the ideal "wire with gain" true to the source. No euphonic colouring and flavouring sauces added like some (tube) amps do.

[Will]

I am classical music lover - who also regularly attends live concerts. As well, I listen at "moderate" volumes - live classical music is unamplified. In other words, I am looking for my system to reproduce without coloring the sound. The best description I have for the devialet is that it is the most "natural" sounding system I have listened too. I am currently listening to Mozart Violin Sonatas on modern instruments and am getting that warm tone that I would expect from a modern grand piano and a modern stringed violin. The tone would be quite different if the same music was played on period instruments, which are more astringent - and with the devialet I am able to hear the difference very clearly. I don't want my amplifier to impart a tonal coloration. I want to leave that to the musicians to decide!

[f1eng]

Nakatomi, where did u read devialet is lifeless. I would like to know how it was setup. My devialet had lifeless moments with certain cabling or power filtering equipment in the system. Would love to learn what devialet don't play nice with. Am sure all of us here had multiple lifeless moment with our systems (devialet or other brand combo). Many times its how the system component interacts with the room. Some tweaks make improvements while other throws the system off balance. My 2 cents for whatever its worth.

For example here mentioned about it:  theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?13053-Review-Devialet-D-Premier-v-TRON-Meteor-Voyager-valve-amps

I am the Frank in question.
Charlie is a friend of mine and our tastes differ.
He doesn't like anything digital or solid state. My opinion is that he likes some added euphonic colouration, his latest enthusiasm is for reel-to-reel tapes, which I know from decades of recording experience to be coloured, but in a generally pleasant way.
I consider the Devialet to equal the least coloured amp I have used, a Goldmund which costs 5x more.

[Damon]

Nakatomi63,

I'm not sure there is a simple answer to your question. ARC and VTL make very, very fine equipment, but they will have a different character than the Devialet. Since you have a D200, I assume you like it. As for soundstage depth, that is dependant on many factors, as others have noted here. Personally, I can't see that there is any way to really know what the actual 'soundstage' should be, and I would not want to spend too much time dwelling on it. Like some others here, I've actually played on recordings, and for us, any 'soundstage' is purely artificial. On our last demo, the singer was upstairs, in another room. If she is 'front and centre' in the recording it is not because she was actually standing there. Live miked shows, or classical performances may be different.

I do think that the forum posts you referenced made a point that I found debatable: there was a line about 'tonal colors and emotion, and that being what music is all about'. I'm paraphrasing, and I may even be mixing up posts. But my point is that to me, music expresses emotion through the subtle variations in volume, pitch and timing (as well as the big changes, certainly). The Devialet reveals the subtlety of musical expression more than anything else I've heard, and it is absolutely true that I have not heard a huge range of equipment. But if your amp or system is not giving you the details, it is not giving you the emotion of the music. So, solid state, or tubes or ADH does not matter; what matters is what you get out of the system. Tube amps add too much 'extra' for me.

Everyone has their own preferences for how they like their recorded music to sound. I love the Devialet. Like Frank, I have friends who are dedicated to tubes and analogue, but their systems don't do for me what my 'little' D120 does.

[baddog]

Damon - good points - I am coming from a very nice tube pre amp and tube amp system to the Devialet 400. The tube system was much more expensive, and did many things really well. And it was better to my ears then when I tried layering in a set of NCORE 1200 mono blocks into the system. The system can probably do vinyl better than the Devialet but that is an unfair comparison on many levels ( an actually I have not yet made the comparison ).

However that being said, I feel no regret from moving from that system to the Devialet. And once I get new speakers I will be even happier.

Every component has its strengths, my tube system was very very engaging and drew one in, however there are certain things it didn't do as well, in terms of dynamics, clarity and details. And the ability to go loud.

[f1eng]

The system can probably do vinyl better than the Devialet but that is an unfair comparison on many levels ( an actually I have not yet made the comparison ).

I will be very interested in your evaluation when you do compare.
I also expected my much more expensive analogue RIAA stage to better that in the Devialet. It did not. I use a step up transformer into the MM input.