220 to 440 ROI

[ray1234]

...The DDC apparently passes the clock signal into the Devialet via AES, and this gives a marked improvement in the level of details Devailet can produce.

Bear in mind that with an AES connection, there is no separate clock signal; the clock is embedded in the data.  That means the source is in control of the audio sample clock and the Devialet has to extract the sample clock from the data, using an internal phase-locked loop or similar mechanism.  This is generally considered to be an inferior approach to the Devialet being in control of the audio sample clock, as it would be in the case of USB or Ethernet inputs (for example).  Whether or not it produces better sound quality is as always down to your ears and preference.

Absolutely, having clock passed onto the Devialet via AES is of course not as ideal as having clock connecting directly to the Devialet. However, given Devialet does not have a clock input option, this is the only option that works.... and on my own system, this works quite well.

The resolution and separation after the clock connection is on a totally different level compared to without a clock. Given Devialet is a product 10 years ago, the attention to quality of the clock inside the Devialet is probably not as much as DACs nowadays - that explains why even with an inferior AES connection, connecting a quality clock still improves quite a lot on resolution and details.

Who knows, maybe I’ll dip my toe into the Diablo ecosystem at some point, but I’n not done messing about just yet.

If you so decide on Diablo, get the 333 instead of 300, 333 sounds a lot more refined than 300.