Please help - My devialet D-premier sounds crap

[JohnnySix]

Has it got SAM active... and if so is it set to YOUR pair of speakers? Try turning SAM off, and make sure it isn't set to 2.1 speaker system (redirecting bass to sub/preout sockets).
I'm assuming that bass management facility of Expert Pro's goes all the way back to the D-premiere.

[Hifi_swlon]

Has it got SAM active... and if so is it set to YOUR pair of speakers? Try turning SAM off, and make sure it isn't set to 2.1 speaker system (redirecting bass to sub/preout sockets).
I'm assuming that bass management facility of Expert Pro's goes all the way back to the D-premiere.

I dont believe the D-Premier has SAM.

[thumb5]

@newlash09 - How are you getting on? Did you try any of the suggestions above, and if so what were the results?

[newlash09]

Hi all,

thanks a lot for your valuable suggestions. On a second read I understand that my post was too vague, and lacking sufficient info to credibly trouble shoot my problem. So here's a bit more detail.

I have two systems at home :

1. My HT system in my living room : Roku UHD > Marantz SR6011 + Parasound halo integrated > Qacoustics Concept 40's + Concept centre + Q7000i ( 5.1.4 setup ).  I also  use a Yamaha wxc-50 as digital streamer into a chord 2 qute dac plugged into the analogue inputs of the parasound amp for 2 channel music. All cabling is supra.

2. My dedicated 2 channel system : HP laptop running Dirac live > Devialet Air > PMC Twenty 26 speakers. All cabling is highend masterclass from Germany.

 I was used to the chord2qute and the parasound halo integrated's sound, both with the PMC twenty 26 and Qacoustics concept 40's. And when I plugged the devialet into this chain and replaced the combination of Parasound halo integrated + Chord2qute, the first noticeable difference was overwhelming bass. There was certainly a discernable increase in the clarity in the treble region. But the lower end still sounded very muddy. Then I changed the stock Devialet power chord, with a cardass cable and there was perceptible tightening in the bass and the lower mid range. 


 I have the same issue wether I play via the devialet air or feed digitally through the coax-in via a Yamaha wxc-50 playing flac downloads from HD tracks from my Nas. 

So, I installed Dirac live to add some room correction, hoping it could mitigate the over whelming bass. Thouhg it tidied it up a bit, the sound is still nowhere close to perfect. I still have muddy sound coming from my speakers.


So,  as a next step, I took my devialet to my friends place, who has an awesome sounding system :


 Custom PC running roon > NorthStar Supremo Dac > Ayon tube pre-amp > Parasound halo A21 power amp > B&W diamond 804 speakers. In a completely treated room. He has tweaked his system over many years to get the synergy right. And iam really familiar with how it exactly sounds, as I've spent quiet a few evenings listening there and drooling shamelessly. 


 I had configured the devialet to take the feed from the NorthStar supremo dac via its line level inputs before taking it to my friends place. And after plugging it in his system to replace the ayon tube pre-amp and parasound power amp, on playing there was a discernable drop in clarity which was very evident. 

 My friend who is an experienced veteran in this hobby, assured me that he would try to see if he could improve the sound trying various power cords and cables he had. But after trying for almost a week, he is of the opinion that the devialet needs a better dac. I will collect my devialet from him tomorrow, and try it again in my place. 

 I had posted my query asking for help, on the day my friend gave up. And I had simultaneously dispatched an email to the gentleman I bought the devialet from, explaining my issues. He assured me that the devialet was sounding pristine till the last he used it.


 So, can someone please help me here. Is there something iam doing wrong. I will certainly spend more time tomorrow, once I have the devialet back with it's configuration settings. If anyone has experience of their setting tweaks that improved clarity, then it would be really helpful.


 Many thanks in advance for your valuable time and help.

[PeppaPig]

Hi all,

So I bought a pre-loved Devialet D-premier blind without auditioning. And when I play it , it is not sounding upto its lofty reviews. There is some distortion and even my chord 2 qute dac has better clarity than the devialet. One of my friends who also uses a devialet, told me that the devialet is very sensitive to power cords, and also needs an isolation transformer to sound at it's best. Iam really lost now. 

 Did I buy a rotten apple, or is it worth throwing more money at isolation transformers and power cables to get it sounding right. Thanks in advance for your time.

What exact problem you have with your Devialet? Like me, my system doesn't sounds good too, but I know it was not Devialet's problem, I have some issue with my room acoustic, and speaker matching issue, as well as source issue.

In anyway the D-Premier should NOT sound distorted, no way! Blame your speaker or something else. It won't be the Devialet if it sounded distorted. If you said it sounds too bright or other issues like harsh, thin, then Devialet might be "Part" of the reason.

So go to your speaker's forum and see if you can find help from there. DEVIALET EXPERT and its PRO range is a extremely accurate amplification system which can sometimes make it sound too bright if the rest of components doesn't match it well.

[ogs]

@newlash09 What you describe does not make sense. I am not saying that you are not hearing differences, but swapping in a D-Premier in place of your amp/dac or your friend's Ayon/Parasound should sound 'different', not 'crap'. Different cables will give 'smaller' relative changes, not transform sound from 'crap' to 'good'. Forget cables and Dirac to begin with. Get the D-Premier to sound decent first, then you can start tweaking. You say your friend has tweaked his system for years.. remember that inserting a new main component in such a system often breaks synergy.

A few things you need to check:
Which firmware is the D-Premier running?
You have the analog input correctly configured as 'line' not 'phono'?
Are you sure there is no input clipping involved? Digital or analog?
And - this may seem obvious, but still - are the tone controls of the D-Premier disabled (0dB)?

Is there an ethernet port on the D-Premier?

In that case, I'd install the Roon trial, copy a few albums to a new folder and make this the Roon music folder (to avoid having Roon analyse your complete collection). Then try Roon's AIR to the D-Premier. This test will bypass most of your current setup. This may also work if the D-Premier only has WiFi, but the best would be ethernet.
If you can not make this sound good I suggest you bring the D-Premier over to your friend with a Devialet amp to compare.


EDIT: remember that the line input of the Devialet amps is AD converted to a digital signal.

[thumb5]

Adding to @ogs's post above, I wonder whether there is a problem with the D-Prem's configuration if you inherited it from the previous owner? I'm not clear from your previous posts whether you've built a completely new configuration for it, starting with a clean sheet. If not, I'd try taking out the SD card, which should make the D-Prem drop back to a factory configuration, then try your WXC-50 through a digital input (enabled by default).

[Celts88]

Is there an ethernet port on the D-Premier?

Nope, no Ethernet with D-Premier's, which was one of the large benefits (for myself) when I upgraded to the Pro's

@newlash09

is it worth throwing more money at isolation transformers and power cables to get it sounding right

Firstly see attached copy of original D-Premier White Paper for your info - sorry it won't help with your present issue, but thought no harm giving you some background info on the original D-Premier.

Secondly, depending on how much money you plan to spend on a transformer & power cables, if it was me I would save that money and put it towards upgrading your D-Premier to a 250ProCI. If you could afford that it will give soooooooooo much more, and will get you back into the 5 year Devialet warranty (think a single 250Pro upgrade was €3,490). I've also attached a copy of the 1000Pro White Paper, which will give you some idea of the benefits of the Pro Upgrade (the CI has even more additional goodies, but alas Devialet haven't issued a White Paper for that yet).

Hope the above helps with some info, and you manage to get your immediate issue with the D-P sorted soon.


  Devialet D-Premier-White-Paper-Munich (Copy).pdf (Size: 168.52 KB / Downloads: 10)

  Devialet Expert 1000Pro - WhitePaper (Copy).pdf (Size: 304.34 KB / Downloads: 7)

[newlash09]

Thanks a ton everyone

 You all have been really helpful. Before anything else I owe a few replies to previous suggestions :

1. My devialet d-premier 's version is 8.0.0
2. The d-premier doesn't have SAM. 
3. And it doesn't have a ethernet port either.

 As per your well meant suggestions , I moved the pmc's and the devialet into my daughter's bedroom. And the improvement in sound was night and day. And that is without trying to optimize anything. I just plonked the speakers on the floor, connected my old supra cables and removed the SD card to revert to factory configuration . And just streamed tidal via co-ax in from my yamaha wxc-50. And it sounded splendid. 

 For the first time since my purchase,  I was laughing cheekily

 And its only today that I saw promise in the sound. Now iam sure I can improve it further by adding a  good source, room treatment, power conditioning and cables. 

 Thanks to all for taking time out to help. I don't know if the new room or reverting back to factory settings did the trick. But iam really happy now with iam hearing. 

 I unfortunately have to travel tonight , and am impatient to get back home on Friday and play with the speaker positioning and my cables. 

[thumb5]

Good news! Thanks for letting us know, and have fun on Friday.