17-Jul-2016, 15:53
There is much disquiet about Devialet currently, but I have been trying to think about the upgrade as dispassionately as possible.
At one level, this is quite a simple question. Assuming I can achieve a satisfactory audition of the 1000 Pro, it is a simple matter of whether or not any perceived increase in sound quality is worth the £5000 cost.
There is another way of looking at this though. £5000 is quite a lot of money, so I could consider selling the D800, adding the £5k upgrade cash, and look to the alternatives. It is hard to say what is going to happen with Devialet residuals at the moment, on the one hand, the new models should depress values, on the other hand, starting from scratch, the cheapest route to the new models would be to buy second hand and pay for the upgrade. However, for the sake of argument, I shall go for a 'round number' which I suspect is about right, and put a second hand D800 as being worth maybe £10000.
I think at times like this it is worth looking at what the competition has to offer, if only to confirm that continuing with Devialet is the best way to go.
So, in financial terms, continuing with the Devialet and upgrading is equivalent to a value / cost of approximately £15000.
So what is the competition like at this level? To be roughly equivalent, you would need to consider a package of DAC, pre-amp and amplifier. Strictly speaking, you would need to include a phono stage also, but I suggest this is ignored for now for simplicity.
So, with £15K available, what would be the best choice of DAC / amp outside of the Devialet fold. For me, I suspect it will be difficult to find something better than the 1000 Pro for this money. So disquiet about Devialet or not, if sound quality is paramount, the upgrade is probably the best way to go.
No harm looking for alternatives though before parting with the cash! I think I would start by considering the Chord Dave, but this would only leave about £7k for the amp. Which is not quite enough for the Chord SPM 12000, and this assumes using the Dave as a pre-amp. This might be quite a decent combo, but I'm already upping the budget. It is not easy this one! Any ideas? One thing is clear, there are a lot of alternatives out there!
By the way, this thread is posted in part as a bit of fun, in part it is quite serious in terms of taking a look at the alternatives out there. However, it is not intended as another conduit for Devialet bashing! There is enough of that out there currently.
One thing, I guess we could also consider alternatives for the new cost of the 1000 Pro, which it has been announced is £22,9000. Which building on my initial Chord Dave idea, would also bag the SPM 5000 Mk II, which if nothing else, is a lot bigger than a Devialet!!
At one level, this is quite a simple question. Assuming I can achieve a satisfactory audition of the 1000 Pro, it is a simple matter of whether or not any perceived increase in sound quality is worth the £5000 cost.
There is another way of looking at this though. £5000 is quite a lot of money, so I could consider selling the D800, adding the £5k upgrade cash, and look to the alternatives. It is hard to say what is going to happen with Devialet residuals at the moment, on the one hand, the new models should depress values, on the other hand, starting from scratch, the cheapest route to the new models would be to buy second hand and pay for the upgrade. However, for the sake of argument, I shall go for a 'round number' which I suspect is about right, and put a second hand D800 as being worth maybe £10000.
I think at times like this it is worth looking at what the competition has to offer, if only to confirm that continuing with Devialet is the best way to go.
So, in financial terms, continuing with the Devialet and upgrading is equivalent to a value / cost of approximately £15000.
So what is the competition like at this level? To be roughly equivalent, you would need to consider a package of DAC, pre-amp and amplifier. Strictly speaking, you would need to include a phono stage also, but I suggest this is ignored for now for simplicity.
So, with £15K available, what would be the best choice of DAC / amp outside of the Devialet fold. For me, I suspect it will be difficult to find something better than the 1000 Pro for this money. So disquiet about Devialet or not, if sound quality is paramount, the upgrade is probably the best way to go.
No harm looking for alternatives though before parting with the cash! I think I would start by considering the Chord Dave, but this would only leave about £7k for the amp. Which is not quite enough for the Chord SPM 12000, and this assumes using the Dave as a pre-amp. This might be quite a decent combo, but I'm already upping the budget. It is not easy this one! Any ideas? One thing is clear, there are a lot of alternatives out there!
By the way, this thread is posted in part as a bit of fun, in part it is quite serious in terms of taking a look at the alternatives out there. However, it is not intended as another conduit for Devialet bashing! There is enough of that out there currently.
One thing, I guess we could also consider alternatives for the new cost of the 1000 Pro, which it has been announced is £22,9000. Which building on my initial Chord Dave idea, would also bag the SPM 5000 Mk II, which if nothing else, is a lot bigger than a Devialet!!
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
