While it's fresh in my mind, here's a "brain dump" from this afternoon's launch of the Devialet Astra at Oxford Audio Consultants. I'll just write it as it happened, without too much editorial [other than my off-the-cuff comments in brackets like so].
The session was hosted by Phil and Nico from Devialet UK, with Mathieu P providing his usual technical insight - thanks to all of you. Apparently this was the world premier outing for Astra in a partner store.
We started with some background about Devialet, although most if not all people attending were already familiar with the brand, most being existing customers. Phil spoke about the 250 or so patents lodged by Devialet and represented by technology embodied in their existing product range - ADH, SAM, etc. Devialet are licencing some of this technology to other major companies including Alpine (cars) and Safran (aviation). They also work with cultural organisations including Opéra de Paris, whose name is lent to the special editions of Phantom and Astra.
Then on to the Astra itself. Nico explained how it builds on the Expert Pro with improvements to the ADH core, particularly affecting performance at high frequencies [a weak spot of the Expert series which has already been noted in reviews by ASR and John Atkinson]. The Astra also includes a new processor and operating system which provides better support for streaming services, enabling Tidal Connect and Chromecast, for example. Configuration is as flexible as it was for the Expert but instead of the familiar SD card, the configuration built on line is now transferred to the amp by the Devialet phone app. over a local network. [Meaning the Astra requires a LAN connection, either wired or wireless.] The wireless network now uses WiFi 6, and Bluetooth 5.3 is added. Apart from the obvious cosmetic changes to the case, there are now separate power and source selection buttons mounted on the front right-hand side. [In my opinion, somewhat less elegant than the single button front and centre on the Expert, but least a better decision than Apple's design to put the power buton on bottom of the new Mac Mini!] The matching remote control now has its own screen [which is a great improvement in usability].
[I was surprised by how much I like the Astra's casework in the light bronze finish; it's much subtler than it looks in photos, which I think don't really do it justice.]
The Astra uses a new version of the main Devialet phone app. which has been extended to support it. This includes support for sending a pre-built configuration to the amplifier and streaming directly to it.
A short Q&A followed, with these topics covered (in no particular order):
Phil and Nico then demonstrated a dual-mono pair of Astra which (I presume) was playing music streamed from the Devialet app, into a pair of Sonus faber Stradivari. Music included a selection of male and female vocal, jazz, live, trip-hop, and (by audience request!) classical and blues. Of course, it's hard to mentally A/B this set-up against my own system, but I heard pretty much what I have come to expect from a Devialet system: good tonal balance, plenty of detail, clean and sweet treble, with stable imaging and good control of the speakers.
After the demonstration I had a chat with Mathieu to discuss some more detailed technical points:
As far as the Expert series is concerned, we should expect no more changes to hardware or firmware. I also assume that there will be no updates to existing applications or configurator (although presumably if serious defects are found then they should be addressed by customer support). Devialet do have plenty of parts in stock to repair Expert series hardware if necessary, which is reassuring to hear.
All in all I found it a great opportunity to chat to people in Devialet, especially the ever-helpful Mathieu, and to see and touch the new generation amplifier. Although it's natural to feel a little disappointed that the Expert is not going to be developed any further, it's also encouraging to see Devialet launching a new product into this market.
Thank you to Jon and his colleagues at Oxford Audio Consultants for hosting the event and providing the requisite hot beverages on a cold and crisp winter day - much appreciated.
Finally, it was good to catch up with a few well-known faces from the forum; I trust you enjoyed the afternoon and had smooth journeys home.
@Confused - I'd be very interested to hear your take on the afternoon's events, too!
ETA: If anyone spots any mistakes in the above, please let me know and I'll correct them.
The session was hosted by Phil and Nico from Devialet UK, with Mathieu P providing his usual technical insight - thanks to all of you. Apparently this was the world premier outing for Astra in a partner store.
We started with some background about Devialet, although most if not all people attending were already familiar with the brand, most being existing customers. Phil spoke about the 250 or so patents lodged by Devialet and represented by technology embodied in their existing product range - ADH, SAM, etc. Devialet are licencing some of this technology to other major companies including Alpine (cars) and Safran (aviation). They also work with cultural organisations including Opéra de Paris, whose name is lent to the special editions of Phantom and Astra.
Then on to the Astra itself. Nico explained how it builds on the Expert Pro with improvements to the ADH core, particularly affecting performance at high frequencies [a weak spot of the Expert series which has already been noted in reviews by ASR and John Atkinson]. The Astra also includes a new processor and operating system which provides better support for streaming services, enabling Tidal Connect and Chromecast, for example. Configuration is as flexible as it was for the Expert but instead of the familiar SD card, the configuration built on line is now transferred to the amp by the Devialet phone app. over a local network. [Meaning the Astra requires a LAN connection, either wired or wireless.] The wireless network now uses WiFi 6, and Bluetooth 5.3 is added. Apart from the obvious cosmetic changes to the case, there are now separate power and source selection buttons mounted on the front right-hand side. [In my opinion, somewhat less elegant than the single button front and centre on the Expert, but least a better decision than Apple's design to put the power buton on bottom of the new Mac Mini!] The matching remote control now has its own screen [which is a great improvement in usability].
[I was surprised by how much I like the Astra's casework in the light bronze finish; it's much subtler than it looks in photos, which I think don't really do it justice.]
The Astra uses a new version of the main Devialet phone app. which has been extended to support it. This includes support for sending a pre-built configuration to the amplifier and streaming directly to it.
A short Q&A followed, with these topics covered (in no particular order):
- Devialet would like to integrate support for Qobuz, and there is no technical reason why it can't be done apart from the fact that Qobuz do not provide a proper streaming API; apparently Qobuz Connect is just a remote control mechanism and is not analogous to Tidal Connect or Spotify Connect
- The Astra uses the same phono stage as in the Expert, although it provides a slightly wider selection of cartridge loading
- Astra runs cooler than Expert and there is no problem stacking a dual-mono pair directly on top of each other (unless you have the Opéra de Paris version with the more delicate gold leaf finish)
- A dual-mono pair of Astra is rated to provide only twice the power of a single unit rather than four times as is the case for Expert. Mathieu said that this is deliberately conservative and in fact a dual Astra will sustain high power delivery for longer than a dual Expert.
- The Astra remote control is not compatible with the Expert [a great shame!] and in any case is not sold as a separate accessory
- There is no mechanism to wall-mount the Astra, and - if I understood correctly - for those intrepid enough to build your own, the display on the Astra does not automatically rotate if it were wall-mounted with the terminals downwards.
- The Astra does not support the Devialet AIR streaming protocol
Phil and Nico then demonstrated a dual-mono pair of Astra which (I presume) was playing music streamed from the Devialet app, into a pair of Sonus faber Stradivari. Music included a selection of male and female vocal, jazz, live, trip-hop, and (by audience request!) classical and blues. Of course, it's hard to mentally A/B this set-up against my own system, but I heard pretty much what I have come to expect from a Devialet system: good tonal balance, plenty of detail, clean and sweet treble, with stable imaging and good control of the speakers.
After the demonstration I had a chat with Mathieu to discuss some more detailed technical points:
- The ADH section is similar to what's in the Expert Pro, but has been optimised to improve power delivery at higher frequencies. This is most likely to be audible in percussion sounds and may also improve stereo imaging.
- The trusty TI PCM1792 DAC remains at the heart of the ADH section; it's still the best available choice for this application.
- The dual-mono configuration is slightly different to the Expert series; for Astra it's more symmetrical, rather than master/slave. The connection between the two amps is still digital, of course, and requires two cables - this enables all inputs on both units to be used.
As far as the Expert series is concerned, we should expect no more changes to hardware or firmware. I also assume that there will be no updates to existing applications or configurator (although presumably if serious defects are found then they should be addressed by customer support). Devialet do have plenty of parts in stock to repair Expert series hardware if necessary, which is reassuring to hear.
All in all I found it a great opportunity to chat to people in Devialet, especially the ever-helpful Mathieu, and to see and touch the new generation amplifier. Although it's natural to feel a little disappointed that the Expert is not going to be developed any further, it's also encouraging to see Devialet launching a new product into this market.
Thank you to Jon and his colleagues at Oxford Audio Consultants for hosting the event and providing the requisite hot beverages on a cold and crisp winter day - much appreciated.
Finally, it was good to catch up with a few well-known faces from the forum; I trust you enjoyed the afternoon and had smooth journeys home.
@Confused - I'd be very interested to hear your take on the afternoon's events, too!
ETA: If anyone spots any mistakes in the above, please let me know and I'll correct them.
Roon (Mac Mini), Wilson Benesch Full Circle, Expert 1000 Pro CI, Kaiser Chiara
Warwickshire, UK
