Devialet Chat

Full Version: is Devialet a lifestyle product
You're currently viewing a stripped down version of our content. View the full version with proper formatting.
Pages: 1 2
I maybe asking a biased crowd.

Do you think a Devialet amp is a lifestyle product? ie not truely an audiophile hifi equipment

I talked to some die hard old school audiophiles who don't consider this little Class D amp anywhere close to their Class A monoblocks

would love to hear your thoughts
Is "lifestyle product" vs "audiophile hifi equipment" an either/or proposition. Do products have to be one or the other? Can something be both?

There's no argument about it being possible for a product to be neither.
First, it sounds as though your "old school audiophile" friends may be labouring under the misconception that the Devialets are class D amps: they are not.  In fact they combine both class A and class D modules, the aim being to give the voltage accuracy and purity of a class A amp with the current delivery and efficiency of a class D.

That being the case, I wonder whether the people you spoke to have bothered to listen to Devialets since they are apparently ill-informed and dismissive/defensive about them.

If you are considering a Devialet -- or any other piece of hi-fi equipment -- does it really matter what other people think about it?  For me, at least, the relevant questions are:
  • does it sound good (the way I'd like it to, to my ears, in my room)?
  • does it have the capabilities I need (inputs and outputs, streaming support, controls, etc.)?
  • is it easy and pleasurable to use?
  • does it enhance (rather than detract from) the environment in which it's going to be used?
  • does it give me the pleasure of owning a well-designed piece of equipment?
  • is it well-built and likely to last?
  • is it affordable?
This explains why defining a product as either "lifestyle" or "audiophile" is a false dichotomy: to some extent all hi-fi equipment is a lifestyle product insofar as it's bought to fit in with the lifestyle of someone who is an avid music listener and/or gear enthusiast (or somewhere in between).  However, as well as sound quality, factors like ease of use, aesthetics, design, and pleasure of ownership are very subjective: your opinion on those factors, and how important they are to you, might be very different to anyone else's.

I bought a Devialet more than seven years ago because it had a unique combination of sound quality, flexibility, and good looks, and I haven't yet seen anything that hits the "sweet spot" for me in quite the same way.  The sound quality in particular is certainly on a par with more "truly audiophile" gear -- whatever that really means -- at least to my ears, which is what matters. 

In short: if it sounds good, who cares whether someone describes it as a "lifestyle" product?
I went to a Magnepan dealer a month or so ago because I happened to be in the neighbourhood. It's 700km away from where I live and I've been wanting to go there for years. I came unprepared so he set up a Nuprime pre and two mono amps.

He chose Nuprime because they're Class D and, as he said "Devialet is also Class D so it will sound similar".

As soon as the music started I knew it wasn't anything like what I get from my Expert Pro. I told him it sounded like what I've always read Class D is supposed to sound like; Sterile. He changed to a tube amp and it sounded much more like my Expert. My conclusion is that Devialet doesn't sound like Class D but more like a tube amp. BTW, the tube amp didn't sound mushy at all.

I've also listened to different speakers with my Expert driving them elsewhere and, so far, I haven't heard anything better yet. That doesn't mean there's nothing better around but it does show that the Experts are pretty damn good.

As for the way it looks; I've always wanted to have some big mono blocks but instead I have these pizza boxes. To be honest, they don't fit into the 'lifestyle' I had planned.
When I last did a major update of my system, I started off by looking for speakers. My thinking at the time was that the speakers were likely to have the largest influence on the performance of the final system, so the idea was to decide on the speakers, then find amplification to suit the speakers.

The first time I listened to KEF Blades, the dealer chose to demonstrate them with Devialet amplification. This might tell you something, as the dealer certainly had other products in store that they could have used for the demo. I guess at the time I was a little like your die hard old school audiophiles, I eventually settled on getting the Blades, but I was sure I could find something better than this funny little fully integrated Devialet to power them. I had no interest whatsoever in the Devialet's "lifestyle" looks (although I did like the remote), and was very much of the view that separates would be better. Anyway, to cut a very long story short, I demoed lots of amplifiers with the Blades, but I ended up buying the Devialet because to my ears it offered the best sound quality. I almost bought it in spite of it's lifestyle packaging, as I really wanted to get a separate DAC and mono blocks.

If you look at how the Devialet ADH works, and the way the DAC is incorporated into the amplifier topology, it is very clever stuff that is designed for performance, not for looks. Indeed, the idea of ADH is to provide class A sound quality, without the thermal and power limitations of class A. Class A sound with raw class D power, the best of both worlds, not a lifestyle compromise.

Of course you will find some that will dismiss all this and state that sticking everything in one box is obviously a compromise, sacrificing performance for lifestyle looks. Only big separate boxes and pure class A will prove true audiophile performance.

Then you will get others that state that big class A amps are massively overpriced underperforming audiophile bling. Look at the measurements, there is no class A amp available that can match the performance of the Benchmark AHB2. Get the AHB2 and you get state of the art performance, anything else is bling and expectation bias designed to liberate gullible audiophiles from the contents of their wallets.

One thing I have noticed in the world of audio is that for every view there is always an equal and opposing view somewhere else.

My view is that you ultimately have to listen for yourself, which is a lot easier said than done unfortunately. It takes a lot of time and effort to get to listen to a variety of kit. I also think that the audiophile world needs a lot more blind testing sessions. I know some folk do not like the idea of blind testing, but I would love it if dealers set up blind test sessions, I think it would be fascinating to listen to a variety of kit, expectation bias free.
Next year I’ll be with Devialet for 10yrs and no regret whatsoever. A pure joy for ears and eyes. JRiver and Qobuz provide thru Microsoft Surface the necessary ingredients for feeding a wonderful system. Pity Devialet has given some sort of priority to Roon Apple users, although the last upgrade seems to be more Windows compatible.
(10-Nov-2020, 16:51)vgbfamily Wrote: [ -> ]Next year I’ll be with Devialet for 10yrs and no regret whatsoever. A pure joy for ears and eyes. JRiver and Qobuz provide thru Microsoft Surface the necessary ingredients for feeding a wonderful system. Pity Devialet has given some sort of priority to Roon Apple users, although the last upgrade seems to be more Windows compatible.
The term 'lifestyle product' is one that has perplexed me for a long time, though I think I personally have only noticed it with Devialet amplifiers. I admit I just don't get it. First of all, what is a 'lifestyle'? Active? Military? Gay or straight? Deadhead, mod or rocker? Accountant or professional skateboarder? Is is about the interior design we like?

The amp is just a little box in the corner that does a bunch of stuff to help the hi fi play recorded music. Speakers are bigger or smaller boxes that do some other part in reproducing recorded music, as are cables and power conditioners and streamers and DAC's.

Too often it seems to be a situation where persons criticize a product because of the way it looks, especially if it is compact or makes the more traditional designs and boxes appear outdated or clumsy. It is common that when a company does design without being bound by 'the old ways' that their efforts are dismissed. New technologies and materials make it logical to adapt or redesign (and rethink) all sorts of products. We like that creativity in cars and cameras and computers and heating and AC and airplanes. And loudspeakers. Devialet amps do, in a very compact box, what most other products prefer to do, or still do, with bigger or multiple boxes.

And why do the critics of Devialet no make the same comment about Mcintosh amps or D'Agnostino amps? Or the Kii 3 active system? That McIntosh has not moved away from blue lights or big meters is clearly a lifestyle design decision, and I doubt anyone with a D'Agnostino amp hides it away. Nope, those are the real 'lifestyle' amps; 'Hey, look at the size of my amp and cables! I've got 21st century tech, but it's all wrapped up in a box to look 80 years old. Cool!'. (Actually, we might not say 'modern tech' and 'McIntosh' in the same sentence Smile ).

Thinking back over the past four years of being part of this forum, my overwhelming impression is that Devialet owners appreciate the compact design, the innovative SAM and AHD technologies, and most of all, the sound. None of us would bother with these expensive products if the sound did not warrant it. Some have sold and moved on to other product, and that too is (usually) because they are after a different sound experience, rather than a traditional box experience. (Devialet software issues fully acknowledged here).

Finally, consider that the industry does not dismiss the Devialet design approach or technologies. Rather, they are following. I suspect Devialet have been the inspiration for many other small, multi-function integrated amplifiers, such as NuPrime, Naim and NAD. Others, too, that I can't think of. Lifestyle product or not, the Expert & Pro amps, and the Phantoms, are serious, outstanding audio products.

BTW, some excellent posts before mine, all more informative and concise.
Having asked above whether it's possible for something to be both a lifestyle product and an audiophile product, i'll answer my own question by saying "yes".

As quite a few above have since commented, the "lifestyle product" attribution tends to be appliesd on the basis of physical style, size, and ease/convenience of use whereas "audiophile product" tends to be attributed on the supposed basis of sound quality.

Let's take 2 other products, the McIntosh range and the D'Agostino amplifiers. Both have extremely strong visual styling, they're immediately identifiable and their meters are just as much a styling feature as the Devialet's chrome piazza box. When it comes to size, they're both large and heavy, just as much a statement as the Devialet's small size and weight. As to ease of use and convenience, I haven't used McIntosh or D'Agostino products but I doubt there's much difference in the ease of use/convenince stakes in practical terms. I'd say anyone who buys McIntosh or D'Agostino amps is making just as much of a "lifestyle" statement when they put them on display in their system as anyone who buys a Devialet is making.

When it comes to sound quality, well I'm going to fall back on Stereophile's recommended product listing. McIntosh and D'Agostino amps get Class A ratings on Stereophile's list. So does the Devialet Expert 140 Pro. That indicates that all of these products deliver the level of sound quality that audiophiles demand, even though they do sound different because of their different electrical design approaches.

There's one big reason for buying a Devialet over a big "audiophile" amp. You will never get a hernia lifting a Devialet, or run into the problem I ran into when I helped a friend by lifting a big and heavy McCormack power amp a couple of months after having my prostate removed. If you don't know what kind of problem that might have been, don't ask - the answer would prompt a "too much information, I didn't need to know that" response but trust me, you wouldn't want to have it.

I can remember the ads for body building products which I saw in my youth, the ones that talked about disparagingly about "90 pound" weaklings. The Devialet is a 20-40 lb product depending on model and some Audiophile amps run to 3 and 4 times that sort of weight. They probably don't play any louder and they don't sound better, just different. The Devialet is probably more expensive on a lbs per dollar scale and a lot more effective on a dB per dollar scale but it also costs less than many" audiophile" amps and it's better for your health whenever you move it. What better recommendation could you want? :-)
Nothing matters but the fact that Devs sound great.
Let the "lifestyle vs audiophile" fools go and play with themselves.
Just go and enjoy the fab sound a well set-up Devialet Expert Pro gives you.
As for looks- mine are pretty much invisible in my set up. Looks are irrelevant.
Pages: 1 2