Hi, I see that the forum is very quiet, probably most users have given up and try other things, or they are all so satisfied that no further problem is encountered. Either way, I thought it would be interesting to share some tweaks I performed on D400, hopefully useful to some of you :
1) Devialet is very sensitive to quality of the input. A Digital to Digital Convertor (DDC) benefits a lot in making the soundstage a lot more holographic. I use my Windows PC to output USB to DDC and then from DDC to D400 via AES.
2) The AES/XLR input of Devialet does not like the grounding pin 1 connected. Buy a ground lifting AES/XLR convertor, leaving the Pin 1 disconnected. This trick works on both AES input and the inter-connection between D400. Lifting the Pin 1 result in a lot more open soundstage.
3) Since my DDC is capable of taking in 10MHz external clock, I tried connecting it to a 10Mhz external clock. The overall sound is a lot more detailed and soundstage layering is also a lot better. Music instruments' harmonics sound much better. I think clock signal gets passed through to the Devialet via AES input, so even though there is no way to connect the clock direct to Devialet, a clock still significantly upgrades the digital signal quality.
4) Devialet amp is generally a very transparent amplifier with good air and treble extension, details are never the problem of Devialet amps. When cable matching, pay attention to use more full sounding cables with some 'taste', otherwise the Devialet could sound very detailed but thin and boring. Using more components (e.g. DDC and clock and PC streamer in my case) has an advantage in that one can tweak the sound with the cables of the components, otherwise it is less easy to tweak if there is only one streamer in front.
For info, I am using Devialet D400 and Focal Kanta 2. The combo projects a very airy and wide soundstage with sweet sounding vocals. The only upgrade I am planning is adding a pair of good subwoofers, that would help to deepen the soundstage and improve layering besides adding the bottom end.
Another question probably comes to mind of a lot of old users, is the DAC on the old D400 still keeping up with the new DACs? From what I hear, with the addition of a clock, the details and musicality of the D400 DAC can still keep up with today's DAC. I go around and listen to a lot of systems, I would not consider my system now to lack details or musicality compared to something like T+A DAC 200, and I actually like my system's sound more than Esoteric or dCS DACs.
1) Devialet is very sensitive to quality of the input. A Digital to Digital Convertor (DDC) benefits a lot in making the soundstage a lot more holographic. I use my Windows PC to output USB to DDC and then from DDC to D400 via AES.
2) The AES/XLR input of Devialet does not like the grounding pin 1 connected. Buy a ground lifting AES/XLR convertor, leaving the Pin 1 disconnected. This trick works on both AES input and the inter-connection between D400. Lifting the Pin 1 result in a lot more open soundstage.
3) Since my DDC is capable of taking in 10MHz external clock, I tried connecting it to a 10Mhz external clock. The overall sound is a lot more detailed and soundstage layering is also a lot better. Music instruments' harmonics sound much better. I think clock signal gets passed through to the Devialet via AES input, so even though there is no way to connect the clock direct to Devialet, a clock still significantly upgrades the digital signal quality.
4) Devialet amp is generally a very transparent amplifier with good air and treble extension, details are never the problem of Devialet amps. When cable matching, pay attention to use more full sounding cables with some 'taste', otherwise the Devialet could sound very detailed but thin and boring. Using more components (e.g. DDC and clock and PC streamer in my case) has an advantage in that one can tweak the sound with the cables of the components, otherwise it is less easy to tweak if there is only one streamer in front.
For info, I am using Devialet D400 and Focal Kanta 2. The combo projects a very airy and wide soundstage with sweet sounding vocals. The only upgrade I am planning is adding a pair of good subwoofers, that would help to deepen the soundstage and improve layering besides adding the bottom end.
Another question probably comes to mind of a lot of old users, is the DAC on the old D400 still keeping up with the new DACs? From what I hear, with the addition of a clock, the details and musicality of the D400 DAC can still keep up with today's DAC. I go around and listen to a lot of systems, I would not consider my system now to lack details or musicality compared to something like T+A DAC 200, and I actually like my system's sound more than Esoteric or dCS DACs.
