440 vs. 220 Disappointing?

[Gerronwithit]

I recently made the jump from an Expert Pro 220 to two Expert Pro 440s. I was prepared to be blown away but quite the contrary. To my ears, there is a loss of detail and sharpness with the 440s compared to my 220. When setting up new equipment, I always listen to about 15 songs that I am intimately familiar with. Just seems something is missing. The soundstage is a little bigger but things seem a little more homogenized. Anyone else have this experience? Thanks. dj

When I jumped from the 250 to the 1000 the difference was huge in all aspects of the sound. However, I recently front ended the system with a “cheap” WiiM streamer, primarily as an experiment but the results were again quite remarkable. It has opened up the soundstage, sharpened and separated the lyrics and instruments as well. I had the system working at about -25 dB without the WiiM but had to reduce it to -30 dB.

I don't want to shift the conversation but I would like to understand why did you need to decrease the voice? Was the highs become harsh?

The whole balance, clarity and detail with the WiiM attached meant that the power was not needed to get any more out of the available production. I suspect that the WiiM packages and delivers the music more effectively than connecting Qobuz, my current music provider, directly to the Devialet. Anyway, that is my opinion and experience