Devialet into other power amps?

[f1eng]

Dr Tone,

But I would be surprised if dissecting the Devialet does the job. So, for you, it may not be the right pizza box.

Not dissecting, out of disgust, baby steps in a different direction.  If I find a power amp that tickles my fancy I have another line stage and dac I can use for a bit.  Better preamps and DACs than the Devialet's are easy to come by.   ADH and SAM is what makes the Devialet special, IMO.

The DAC is an integral part of ADH, which also incorporated the preamp function, so what you wrote is nonsense.

One can certainly buy more expensive DACs and preamps but judging whether they are different would be impossible since one can not separate the effect of the DAC from ADH.

FWIW in my experience making music recordings for almost 50 years ADC/DACs which are audibly transparent have been available at reasonable cost for years.
Yes one can pay a lot for one full of fashionable components, or buy one which is deliberately euphonically coloured but that doesn't make it "better" just perhaps nicer for somebody who doesn't like the balance chosen by the recording engineer, or to match speaker/room issues.

The euphonic sounds are also available as inexpensive DSP plugins, but most hifi enthusiasts prefer something reassuringly expensive. On my recording system the most popular plugin in according to the user forum simulates the sound of an analogue reel-to-reel recorder, which is fairly easy to do.