20-Jan-2016, 03:58
(This post was last modified: 25-Mar-2016, 21:09 by deviousalet.)
After lurking here for a year, I was delighted to join you all in enjoying a Devialet of my own. My D400 was wonderfully easy to set up. Even AIR worked well for me right away. My two D200 both make the power-supply noise but I'll take that in exchange for the rarity of working AIR.
Thanks to you all for this great forum. DevialetChat gave me the confidence to buy a Devialet where Devialet themselves gives the opposite impression. Thanks also to the USD/CAD exchange rate and a friendly northern neighbor for a great deal.
I'm sure with a few tweaks as suggested by you folks my system will sound even better, but I'm delighted with the upgrade that the D400 makes already. I'll post pictures when I have the aesthetics in acceptable shape but for now here's what I'm enjoying listening through:
Devialet 400 (configured dual-mono: "Master/Blaster") with firmware 9.0.1, SAM and DPM on, powered by Shunyata Z-PC10 Digital power cables, driving B&W 802N speakers wired with AudioQuest Castle Rock cables, sourced from a Mac Mini ('12 quad-core i7 dual SSD running Mac OS X.11.x and Amarra Symphony with Dirac), feeding the D400 via USB (AudioQuest Jitterbug, AudioQuest Diamond, UpTone Regen), optical (Lifatec Silflex), or AIR (AudioQuest Cinnamon and Belden Cat7 ethernet cables switched through a TRENDnet TEG-S81G)
I experimented with dual D200 bi-amping vs. dual-mono D400 just for fun, but as expected from Devialet's specs. and recommendations, the dual-mono setup sounds better. Maybe if I bypassed the passive crossovers in my speakers that equation might change, but then I'd need another D200 to drive my three-way speakers.
So far I find that USB sounds best, AIR (ethernet) second best, and optical a distant third. To be fair to AIR I have an inferior ethernet cable and no ethernet filtering beyond that provided by my switch so it isn't yet a fair comparison to my USB with a top-tier cable and regeneration/filtering.
My listening space is just a 10'x14'/3x4m corner of a 23'x20'/7x6m multi-use room with 7'8"/2.3m ceilings, wood floors, and lots of glass, but at least I'm in a rural area without too much background noise (usually 35-40dB). I placed my speakers loosely using the Master Set method.
My place in the great cable debate is that because I can easily hear the difference between some cheap and good cables I pay attention to cables even as I recognize the reality of psychoacoustics, confirmation bias, and the other problems of trying to be rational in a hobby that can be anything but rational (stereo imaging is obviously magic after all). I also agree with the anger about snake-oil sales and ridiculous markups in cables and other parts of this industry.
Since connecting the 3.5mm trigger cable and enabling an input on the slave unit I've measured the power consumption of my D400 as using 18W "off", 22W in standby, 53W idle, and 54-55W playing at -45dB to -22dB volume (which produces 50dB to 85dB in my room). I disconnect my D400 from the power source when not using them because I don't hear any benefit to leaving them connected to power and so don't know why I'd waste the power.
With my room around 65ºF/18ºC temperatures of my D400 are around 28ºC (A Amp), 26ºC (D Amp), and 30ºC (Supply) for both the master and slave units.
Thanks to you all for this great forum. DevialetChat gave me the confidence to buy a Devialet where Devialet themselves gives the opposite impression. Thanks also to the USD/CAD exchange rate and a friendly northern neighbor for a great deal.
I'm sure with a few tweaks as suggested by you folks my system will sound even better, but I'm delighted with the upgrade that the D400 makes already. I'll post pictures when I have the aesthetics in acceptable shape but for now here's what I'm enjoying listening through:
Devialet 400 (configured dual-mono: "Master/Blaster") with firmware 9.0.1, SAM and DPM on, powered by Shunyata Z-PC10 Digital power cables, driving B&W 802N speakers wired with AudioQuest Castle Rock cables, sourced from a Mac Mini ('12 quad-core i7 dual SSD running Mac OS X.11.x and Amarra Symphony with Dirac), feeding the D400 via USB (AudioQuest Jitterbug, AudioQuest Diamond, UpTone Regen), optical (Lifatec Silflex), or AIR (AudioQuest Cinnamon and Belden Cat7 ethernet cables switched through a TRENDnet TEG-S81G)
I experimented with dual D200 bi-amping vs. dual-mono D400 just for fun, but as expected from Devialet's specs. and recommendations, the dual-mono setup sounds better. Maybe if I bypassed the passive crossovers in my speakers that equation might change, but then I'd need another D200 to drive my three-way speakers.
So far I find that USB sounds best, AIR (ethernet) second best, and optical a distant third. To be fair to AIR I have an inferior ethernet cable and no ethernet filtering beyond that provided by my switch so it isn't yet a fair comparison to my USB with a top-tier cable and regeneration/filtering.
My listening space is just a 10'x14'/3x4m corner of a 23'x20'/7x6m multi-use room with 7'8"/2.3m ceilings, wood floors, and lots of glass, but at least I'm in a rural area without too much background noise (usually 35-40dB). I placed my speakers loosely using the Master Set method.
My place in the great cable debate is that because I can easily hear the difference between some cheap and good cables I pay attention to cables even as I recognize the reality of psychoacoustics, confirmation bias, and the other problems of trying to be rational in a hobby that can be anything but rational (stereo imaging is obviously magic after all). I also agree with the anger about snake-oil sales and ridiculous markups in cables and other parts of this industry.
Since connecting the 3.5mm trigger cable and enabling an input on the slave unit I've measured the power consumption of my D400 as using 18W "off", 22W in standby, 53W idle, and 54-55W playing at -45dB to -22dB volume (which produces 50dB to 85dB in my room). I disconnect my D400 from the power source when not using them because I don't hear any benefit to leaving them connected to power and so don't know why I'd waste the power.
With my room around 65ºF/18ºC temperatures of my D400 are around 28ºC (A Amp), 26ºC (D Amp), and 30ºC (Supply) for both the master and slave units.
