Devialet Chat

Hi All

Glad to share with you my system



Power Cable: Audioquest NRG-X3 >> Power Conditioner: PS Audio Dectet Power Center (to all components) >> Main Source*: Aurender X100L 8 TB (tracks stored on eternal HDD or streamed from NAS) >> USB Audioquest Cinnamon USB A/B cable >> DAC/Pre/Amp/Streamer**: Devialet D200 >> Vertere Pulse X loudspeaker cables >> Loudspeakers***: Martin Logan Electromotion ESL


* Secondary Source 1: Denon DCD 1520AE SACD/CD Player >> connected to D200 via QED Signature coaxial digital cable
* Secondary Source 2: Macbook Pro (Qobuz or Tidal) >> Devialet Air Wifi
** DAC/Pre/Amp/Streamer: Soon to be D400 (order placed already)
*** Loudspeakers: Upgrade in process, either ML Montis, WA Sophia 3 or B&W 802D

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Comments, suggestions and/or feedback are welcomed

Very nice system! Let us know how you get on with the speaker upgrade. I'm sure you're aware there are some who question whether the Devialet is able to drive Martin Logans to their full potential. I'm happy with my D200 + Montis combo, but next week I'm doing a home demo of a Sanders Magtech power amp. Roger Sanders was a lead designer at Martin Logan for many years and now makes his own ESLs. He also makes amps that are specially designed to cope with the very low impedance of ESLs at high frequencies.

(21-Nov-2014, 17:23)Jwg1749 Wrote: [ -> ]Very nice system! Let us know how you get on with the speaker upgrade. I'm sure you're aware there are some who question whether the Devialet is able to drive Martin Logans to their full potential. I'm happy with my D200 + Montis combo, but next week I'm doing a home demo of a Sanders Magtech power amp. Roger Sanders was a lead designer at Martin Logan for many years and now makes his own ESLs. He also makes amps that are specially designed to cope with the very low impedance of ESLs at high frequencies.

Thanks Jwg1749

theoretically speaking, isn't the powered sub in the Monits supposed to make the life of Devialet easier since now all its power will be purely for the panel?

I auditioned the Wilson Audio Sophia 3 on D800 and was blown away easpecially with the high frequenscies, i believe it is one of the best tweeters i have ever heard. but the base was a bit tight and boomy, but i guess this was mainly because this was a brand new pair not yet broken in.

also i auditioned the B&W 802D with Classe but was totally disappointed. however the local dealer challenged me to try 802 at my place and was so confident i will like them.

The Monits i auditioned on McIntosh tube amps and was very impressed with the sound quality and how open the sound was.

how do u find ur Montis on D200?

Nice system and nice garden as well. Is it still summer in your country?

I'm wondering why you choose for the Aurender, when having a Air streamer on board. I see you do already use it for Qobuz and alike. Did you ever try to use JRiver for streaming purposes via Air? ChM

(21-Nov-2014, 17:38)Charlemagne Wrote: [ -> ]Nice system and nice garden as well. Is it still summer in your country?

I'm wondering why you choose for the Aurender, when having a Air streamer on board. I see you do already use it for Qobuz and alike. Did you ever try to use JRiver for streaming purposes via Air? ChM

Thankd Chm!

Where i live is always summer! it is only a question of whether it is a boiling or a tolerable one

for the aurender it was a multifactorial decision. Before migrating to Devialet, i had invested heavily in building and owning a hi-res flac library that is stored on a Upnp NAS which i used to stream to a Denon Network Player which has several drawbacks, a) it does not support gapless playback, b) support PMC up to 96Khz only and finaly c) has a low quality optical digital out hence there was a need for a DLNA/Upnp renderer to fill the gap in Devialet features since for me playing music from my offline owned library is still the main source. also while i consider myself at ease with computers, i don't believe they should be part of my playback system. they should only play part in library management. finally, as you may have read here on the forum, dedicated custom-build network bridges/servers like TotalDac1 and 3D Lab offer the best sound quality and i believe that the X100 is not far away from those guys if not actually on the same level since the X100 inherits all the hi-end specs of the USB audio out circuit of the flagship aurender W20.

last but not least, this one comes with a built-in 8 TB of storage so it eliminates the need of NAS and no hiccup in playback. and the cherry on the ice is that today i came to know from TVLogic that they have plans to integrate Tidal in their aurender line and once that happen there will literally be no place for my laptop in my playback setup

(21-Nov-2014, 17:35)amabrok Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks Jwg1749

theoretically speaking, isn't the powered sub in the Monits supposed to make the life of Devialet easier since now all its power will be purely for the panel?

True, the powered sub does make things a bit easier for the amp, however providing sufficient watts to a big bass unit isn't a problem for a Devialet. The problem with the Montis is that towards the top of the frequency range the impedance drops to about 0.5 Ohms. ESLs act as capacitors: that's to say they require voltage above all. Most solid state amps, faced with a capacitor that has an impedance that low, will not be able to offer sufficient voltage, and the consequence will be that the amp's protection circuits will cut in, resulting in distortion. So the theory is that a solid state amp needs to provide huge voltages in order to drive an ESL panel properly.

(21-Nov-2014, 17:35)amabrok Wrote: [ -> ]The Monits i auditioned on McIntosh tube amps and was very impressed with the sound quality and how open the sound was.

What you've experienced here is that tube amps roll off at high frequencies, and so the problem of HF distortion doesn't occur.

(21-Nov-2014, 17:35)amabrok Wrote: [ -> ]how do u find ur Montis on D200?

I think the Montis are very good with the D200. I just wonder if they might not be even better with an amp specially designed to drive them.

There's lots of info on amplification over on the Martin Logan Owners Forum.

Matt

(21-Nov-2014, 18:09)Jwg1749 Wrote: [ -> ]

(21-Nov-2014, 17:35)amabrok Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks Jwg1749

theoretically speaking, isn't the powered sub in the Monits supposed to make the life of Devialet easier since now all its power will be purely for the panel?

True, the powered sub does make things a bit easier for the amp, however providing sufficient watts to a big bass unit isn't a problem for a Devialet. The problem with the Montis is that towards the top of the frequency range the impedance drops to about 0.5 Ohms. ESLs act as capacitors: that's to say they require voltage above all. Most solid state amps, faced with a capacitor that has an impedance that low, will not be able to offer sufficient voltage, and the consequence will be that the amp's protection circuits will cut in, resulting in distortion. So the theory is that a solid state amp needs to provide huge voltages in order to drive an ESL panel properly.

(21-Nov-2014, 17:35)amabrok Wrote: [ -> ]The Monits i auditioned on McIntosh tube amps and was very impressed with the sound quality and how open the sound was.

What you've experienced here is that tube amps roll off at high frequencies, and so the problem of HF distortion doesn't occur.

(21-Nov-2014, 17:35)amabrok Wrote: [ -> ]how do u find ur Montis on D200?

I think the Montis are very good with the D200. I just wonder if they might not be even better with an amp specially designed to drive them.

There's lots of info on amplification over on the Martin Logan Owners Forum.

Matt

very helpful! Thanks Matt

Have you tried running the system with everything except the Devialet running through the PS Audio Detect Power Center? To be clear, I have no experience whatsoever of the PS Audio Detect Power Center, however, I have listened to a Devialet powered system with one of the PS Audio "P" range mains conditioners and to my ears there was a clear loss of dynamics / impact etc when the Devialet was running through the PS Audio. Maybe the PS Audio Detect Power Center will not have this effect, I have no idea? Although it's worth a try if you have the time, and wont cost you a penny to at least experiment. Thinking about it, your speakers have built in amplification, so it might even be worth trying combinations of the Montis & Devialet connected separately.

Om a completely different point, looking at your photographs makes me realise how scruffy my own system looks! Much respect! I think I might do a bit of cable tidying up and similar this weekend. The view out of my window differs also, rain dripping off my shed, leaves falling off a tree.......

The PS Audio 'Dectet' is a just a filtering unit, like the 'Quintet' I do own. It has a special high power exit. In using that I really don't experience a power loss nor loss of dynamics. It also serves as a protection unit. In amabrok's 'boiling' country this might be very usefull.

The 'P' series are a power regenerator, which is building up a new sinuswave from scratch, with less distortion in the wave.

'Antoine' is using the last one in his system. I'm shure he did some elaborate testing to find whether it's improving the SQ. I do remember him being very positiv on this subject on another (Dutch) forum. ChM

@Charlemagne - Interesting post, from what I am inferring from what you have said, it looks like something like the PS Audio Detect or the Quintet might actually be a very useful addition to a Devialet powered system? I know Devilaet's are "noisy" in terms of mains interference, but for me I am reluctant to consider something like the "Power Regenerator" type of kit for the Devialet itself.