13-Aug-2016, 04:07
I'm going to try to describe the experience of listening to a pair of the state of art B&W 800 Diamonds, driven by the D400 with SAM turned on, using as source vinyl records.
Eh, what's that you say? You own a Devialet Dxx, but you don't have a turntable, and don't listen to records. Hmm...how should I put it?
Think of it like buying a really really expensive sports car -- a Ferrari Testarossa, or a Lamborghini Countach. After the purchase, the salesperson takes you aside, and whispers in your ear. He (or she) says: "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but there's this feature, see, if you twist this knob and push this button, the engine horsepower greatly increases. We don't tell our customers because it requires a real expert to handle the car, which under this mode, has ferocious acceleration". You walk away, with a wise but knowing look. The next time you are on an open country road, and a certain wild look goes over your face...now, what did the salesperson say I need to do....
So, Devialet gives you all these inputs in the back of the unit, digital SPDIF, digital AES, digital USB, digital ethernet, and then there's this strange looking thing, Phono 2. What do you do? Use the SD card to turn it off. Because you don't have a turnable. Now, think of me as the salesperson whispering in your ear. I'm going to show you how to release the real power in the amplifier you just bought by not turning off the Phono inputs! Now, it's not for everyone, it's only for those who truly want to hear what their amplifier and speakers are capable of.
But, but, you say. I don't have a turntable. I can't afford those multi-thousand monsters with the multi-thousand dollar flimsy cartridge, and the need to clean my records. Relax! I will use as my demonstration a vinyl setup that cost me all of $400. I guarantee you that this $400 vinyl system will completely blow away any digital source of similar price, heck, any digital source of price 5x more. What about the software? Head to your nearest used record store. Buy the cheapest albums you can find, of music you used to love when you were young and wild! Ignore all the audiophile records.
So, we will use for our demonstration, a used $300 Technics SL-1200 MkII turnable, the so-called "Wheel of Steel", loved by DJ's worldwide as their favorite turntable of choice. For cartridge, we use the budget Shure "White" DJ cartridge, which produces a healthy output of 7 mV and costs all of $100. Set up time on the 1200: 30 seconds. The cartridge comes with its own headshell, and all you do is screw it on, balance the tonearm for zero balance, and adjust tracking force and antiskating. So, we are going to use a $400 source to drive a $20K amplifier (the D400) on a pair of $20K speakers (the B&W 800D). Sounds like insanity, no?
Where should we begin? Well, since we are reviewing a French amplifier, why not pick a French composer, let's pick that master of lyricism and haunting sensuality, Jules Massenet. One of his most famous pieces, which takes all of 20 minutes, is called Le Cid (from his opera of the same name). If I had to choose one piece of orchestral music to test a system, it would be Le Cid. It has stunning dynamic range, haunting woodwind playing, lots of cymbal crashes, castanets galore, the works.
Our recording of choice is a famous one on EMI, by Louis Fremaux and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, recorded by the incomparable team of Brian Culverhouse and Stuart Eltham, who produced many fine recordings. Unlike 99% of EMi recordings, this one is not compressed.
Massenet's music has this strange mixture of absolute lyrical beauty (which even Mozart cannot touch) combined with utter gaudiness, and excess. It's like he can't control himself. He mixes a beautiful sensual passage with loud orchestral passages, constantly keeping you guessing what's coming next.
My favorite track is Track 4, Marilene. This has the most haunting two minutes of woodwind music in all of the classical repertoire, it's a duet between the Cor Anglai (English horn, the most beautiful instrument in the whole orchestra) and a flute. They dance around each other, each drawing the other to new heights. Then comes Massenet as usual, with his wrecking ball, and the whole orchestra goes into a frenzy, percussion and castanets galore.
What's amazing here is when the Cor Anglai and the flute begin to play, you hear the ambience in the hall, a sort of hushed silence that reveals the size of the hall. The sound just echoes around and makes the instruments much louder than they are. The phono stage on the D400 is capable of such delicacy combined with such thunderous dynamics, that my whole listening room was shaking as the crescendo builds on this track. With SAM turned on, the response of the B&W 800D is extended to 16 Hz, and with orchestral peaks hitting well over 100dB, there was not a hint of harshness or brightness. Each cymbal crash is rendered with absolute precision, and you hear the sound hitting the back of the hall and returning. It reminded me of my experience in Boston's Symphony Hall, listening to Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, where the brass instruments get louder and louder, and the orchestral fortissimos just resonate and slap across the back wall and return. You can hear all this and more with a $400 turntable.
Still not convinced? Eh, you don't like classical. Very well, let's pick some rock and roll. Loggins and Messina made this fun recording called Full Sail, which has very low bass in several tracks. On the B&W 800D, when these low frequency bass notes come, they are so fast, that you feel it more in your chest than in your ears. Your first reaction is "what the hell was that?" before you realize a second later that it was a bass note very low down in frequency. When on the opening track, they sing of centipedes crawling on you, you almost feel like checking to see if they are crawling around your listening room!
We have to end with an audiophile recoding, so let's pick the old warhorse, Jazz at the Pawnshop, released numerous times on LP, CD, and now on multiple SACDs. The LP version released by Rega records still sounds the finest to my ears, and on the D400, you hear way into the jazz club, all the clinking of glasses being picked up by the waitresses, the swish of the cleaning cloth, the scraping of chairs, the gentle murmur of Swedes talking through the music, along with the main instruments playing. The xylophone on track 2 is rendered with crystalline precision, each thwack comes across pure and direct.
So, there you have it. Remember, this information is not to be shared widely. It is only meant for a few select customers, who we believe have the skill it takes to control this amplifier in the Phono mode, where the real power inside is released, and the amplifier takes on a whole new performance level. For all our normal customers, we recommend they stick with the digital inputs, where life is more sedate, things are more controlled, dynamics are a bit subdued, and the pace is more gentle.
Finally, a picture of the room and setup, in case you are interested. This is my basement home theater. The large B&W HTM1D center channel speaker and the AW855 subwoofer played no part in this production. The Technics turntable is shown on right at the top of the stand. D400s are just below it. LP cover of Le Cid shown on bottom.
Adieux, Mon Ami.
Eh, what's that you say? You own a Devialet Dxx, but you don't have a turntable, and don't listen to records. Hmm...how should I put it?
Think of it like buying a really really expensive sports car -- a Ferrari Testarossa, or a Lamborghini Countach. After the purchase, the salesperson takes you aside, and whispers in your ear. He (or she) says: "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but there's this feature, see, if you twist this knob and push this button, the engine horsepower greatly increases. We don't tell our customers because it requires a real expert to handle the car, which under this mode, has ferocious acceleration". You walk away, with a wise but knowing look. The next time you are on an open country road, and a certain wild look goes over your face...now, what did the salesperson say I need to do....
So, Devialet gives you all these inputs in the back of the unit, digital SPDIF, digital AES, digital USB, digital ethernet, and then there's this strange looking thing, Phono 2. What do you do? Use the SD card to turn it off. Because you don't have a turnable. Now, think of me as the salesperson whispering in your ear. I'm going to show you how to release the real power in the amplifier you just bought by not turning off the Phono inputs! Now, it's not for everyone, it's only for those who truly want to hear what their amplifier and speakers are capable of.
But, but, you say. I don't have a turntable. I can't afford those multi-thousand monsters with the multi-thousand dollar flimsy cartridge, and the need to clean my records. Relax! I will use as my demonstration a vinyl setup that cost me all of $400. I guarantee you that this $400 vinyl system will completely blow away any digital source of similar price, heck, any digital source of price 5x more. What about the software? Head to your nearest used record store. Buy the cheapest albums you can find, of music you used to love when you were young and wild! Ignore all the audiophile records.
So, we will use for our demonstration, a used $300 Technics SL-1200 MkII turnable, the so-called "Wheel of Steel", loved by DJ's worldwide as their favorite turntable of choice. For cartridge, we use the budget Shure "White" DJ cartridge, which produces a healthy output of 7 mV and costs all of $100. Set up time on the 1200: 30 seconds. The cartridge comes with its own headshell, and all you do is screw it on, balance the tonearm for zero balance, and adjust tracking force and antiskating. So, we are going to use a $400 source to drive a $20K amplifier (the D400) on a pair of $20K speakers (the B&W 800D). Sounds like insanity, no?
Where should we begin? Well, since we are reviewing a French amplifier, why not pick a French composer, let's pick that master of lyricism and haunting sensuality, Jules Massenet. One of his most famous pieces, which takes all of 20 minutes, is called Le Cid (from his opera of the same name). If I had to choose one piece of orchestral music to test a system, it would be Le Cid. It has stunning dynamic range, haunting woodwind playing, lots of cymbal crashes, castanets galore, the works.
Our recording of choice is a famous one on EMI, by Louis Fremaux and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, recorded by the incomparable team of Brian Culverhouse and Stuart Eltham, who produced many fine recordings. Unlike 99% of EMi recordings, this one is not compressed.
Massenet's music has this strange mixture of absolute lyrical beauty (which even Mozart cannot touch) combined with utter gaudiness, and excess. It's like he can't control himself. He mixes a beautiful sensual passage with loud orchestral passages, constantly keeping you guessing what's coming next.
My favorite track is Track 4, Marilene. This has the most haunting two minutes of woodwind music in all of the classical repertoire, it's a duet between the Cor Anglai (English horn, the most beautiful instrument in the whole orchestra) and a flute. They dance around each other, each drawing the other to new heights. Then comes Massenet as usual, with his wrecking ball, and the whole orchestra goes into a frenzy, percussion and castanets galore.
What's amazing here is when the Cor Anglai and the flute begin to play, you hear the ambience in the hall, a sort of hushed silence that reveals the size of the hall. The sound just echoes around and makes the instruments much louder than they are. The phono stage on the D400 is capable of such delicacy combined with such thunderous dynamics, that my whole listening room was shaking as the crescendo builds on this track. With SAM turned on, the response of the B&W 800D is extended to 16 Hz, and with orchestral peaks hitting well over 100dB, there was not a hint of harshness or brightness. Each cymbal crash is rendered with absolute precision, and you hear the sound hitting the back of the hall and returning. It reminded me of my experience in Boston's Symphony Hall, listening to Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, where the brass instruments get louder and louder, and the orchestral fortissimos just resonate and slap across the back wall and return. You can hear all this and more with a $400 turntable.
Still not convinced? Eh, you don't like classical. Very well, let's pick some rock and roll. Loggins and Messina made this fun recording called Full Sail, which has very low bass in several tracks. On the B&W 800D, when these low frequency bass notes come, they are so fast, that you feel it more in your chest than in your ears. Your first reaction is "what the hell was that?" before you realize a second later that it was a bass note very low down in frequency. When on the opening track, they sing of centipedes crawling on you, you almost feel like checking to see if they are crawling around your listening room!
We have to end with an audiophile recoding, so let's pick the old warhorse, Jazz at the Pawnshop, released numerous times on LP, CD, and now on multiple SACDs. The LP version released by Rega records still sounds the finest to my ears, and on the D400, you hear way into the jazz club, all the clinking of glasses being picked up by the waitresses, the swish of the cleaning cloth, the scraping of chairs, the gentle murmur of Swedes talking through the music, along with the main instruments playing. The xylophone on track 2 is rendered with crystalline precision, each thwack comes across pure and direct.
So, there you have it. Remember, this information is not to be shared widely. It is only meant for a few select customers, who we believe have the skill it takes to control this amplifier in the Phono mode, where the real power inside is released, and the amplifier takes on a whole new performance level. For all our normal customers, we recommend they stick with the digital inputs, where life is more sedate, things are more controlled, dynamics are a bit subdued, and the pace is more gentle.
Finally, a picture of the room and setup, in case you are interested. This is my basement home theater. The large B&W HTM1D center channel speaker and the AW855 subwoofer played no part in this production. The Technics turntable is shown on right at the top of the stand. D400s are just below it. LP cover of Le Cid shown on bottom.
Adieux, Mon Ami.
