Bonjour to all!
We know that with respect to sound and integrated capability, the Expert Pro 220 is close to state of the art. My son has tried several amp configurations, and none can compare to the sound of the Expert 220. I noticed that a user replaced his Devialet with the Kinki EX-M7, which my son used previously. On its own, the Kinki has a pleasant sound that is very clean and tidy. In our circumstance, in comparison to the Devialet, the Kinki does not have the same transparency, speed, definition, and refinement.
Concerning streaming from a service, our observation and our opinion is that the Expert Pro 220 transparency is such that when fed a mediocre stream, it will faithfully reproduce that, good or bad. Some other components we've compared may offer more 'color' with lower quality streams, but with a high quality stream the Devialet is on another level (imho).
We recently purchased the Wyred4Sound USB Recovery, that uses a high quality FEMTO clock to clean and re-clock the signal as it exits the MacBook Air or iPhone 13 or iPad Pro 12.9. This re-clocked signal is then sent to Expert Pro. The difference to these ears is subtle but noticeable, with overall sound improvement as we experience it.
On sound quality in general; As with most here I am guessing, later evening listening is always better as there is just less ambient noise and perhaps the electricity is cleaner? We have settled on Qobuz, because upon extensively using Tidal, the new 'lossless' Apple Music, and Qobuz, We find Qobuz to be superior in sound quality to the others - even Tidal. This is just comparing sound quality, not usability. Given the Expert's transparency i.e. faithfulness to source as we perceive it, we find that stream quality is critical to the result, which can determine ok vs good to very good, then extraordinary. We want the extraordinary sound as much as possible, and we find the Expert Pro can deliver this with high quality recordings (not just high-res but also 16/44). With the right recordings, the sound quality is incredible with these S3s.
Our chain is as follows;
Frontier Arris FIOS router>
Sensible but not whiz-bang ethernet cable from Arris to EERO Mesh Router>
EERO Mesh Router (usually using WiFi to send stream to devices)>
Another sensible ethernet cable to the Expert Pro (so for Wifi streaming device shows as Expert Pro 220-ETH)>
Macbook Air or iPhone 13 Pro Max or iPad Pro 12.9 running Qobuz application>
Wyred4Sound Recovery connected via; for IOS devices apple use 'camera' dongle adapter / for MacBook use Apple Lightning 3 to USB dongle adapter>
Kimber cable 1mtr USB cable into Expert Pro USB port>
Expert Pro set with SAM on at 100% and DPM generally off (I know crazy high)>
Original Transparent MusicWave Ultra speaker cable around 3mtr length>
Magico S3 about 9ft apart with slight toe-in (my own speakers are Evolution Acoustics Micro One>
No Sub
Expert Pro / routers, and W4S Recovery all plugged into APC H10 power conditioner
My question to this learned assembly is; From a streaming standpoint, how can we make this better? Does the streaming capabilities of the Expert Pro offer the audio performance of say, an Aurender or Innuous at the high end, or Blue Sound Node at the lower end? Please feel free to help with any recommendations, which will be greatly appreciated.
Cordialement Mes Amis
We know that with respect to sound and integrated capability, the Expert Pro 220 is close to state of the art. My son has tried several amp configurations, and none can compare to the sound of the Expert 220. I noticed that a user replaced his Devialet with the Kinki EX-M7, which my son used previously. On its own, the Kinki has a pleasant sound that is very clean and tidy. In our circumstance, in comparison to the Devialet, the Kinki does not have the same transparency, speed, definition, and refinement.
Concerning streaming from a service, our observation and our opinion is that the Expert Pro 220 transparency is such that when fed a mediocre stream, it will faithfully reproduce that, good or bad. Some other components we've compared may offer more 'color' with lower quality streams, but with a high quality stream the Devialet is on another level (imho).
We recently purchased the Wyred4Sound USB Recovery, that uses a high quality FEMTO clock to clean and re-clock the signal as it exits the MacBook Air or iPhone 13 or iPad Pro 12.9. This re-clocked signal is then sent to Expert Pro. The difference to these ears is subtle but noticeable, with overall sound improvement as we experience it.
On sound quality in general; As with most here I am guessing, later evening listening is always better as there is just less ambient noise and perhaps the electricity is cleaner? We have settled on Qobuz, because upon extensively using Tidal, the new 'lossless' Apple Music, and Qobuz, We find Qobuz to be superior in sound quality to the others - even Tidal. This is just comparing sound quality, not usability. Given the Expert's transparency i.e. faithfulness to source as we perceive it, we find that stream quality is critical to the result, which can determine ok vs good to very good, then extraordinary. We want the extraordinary sound as much as possible, and we find the Expert Pro can deliver this with high quality recordings (not just high-res but also 16/44). With the right recordings, the sound quality is incredible with these S3s.
Our chain is as follows;
Frontier Arris FIOS router>
Sensible but not whiz-bang ethernet cable from Arris to EERO Mesh Router>
EERO Mesh Router (usually using WiFi to send stream to devices)>
Another sensible ethernet cable to the Expert Pro (so for Wifi streaming device shows as Expert Pro 220-ETH)>
Macbook Air or iPhone 13 Pro Max or iPad Pro 12.9 running Qobuz application>
Wyred4Sound Recovery connected via; for IOS devices apple use 'camera' dongle adapter / for MacBook use Apple Lightning 3 to USB dongle adapter>
Kimber cable 1mtr USB cable into Expert Pro USB port>
Expert Pro set with SAM on at 100% and DPM generally off (I know crazy high)>
Original Transparent MusicWave Ultra speaker cable around 3mtr length>
Magico S3 about 9ft apart with slight toe-in (my own speakers are Evolution Acoustics Micro One>
No Sub
Expert Pro / routers, and W4S Recovery all plugged into APC H10 power conditioner
My question to this learned assembly is; From a streaming standpoint, how can we make this better? Does the streaming capabilities of the Expert Pro offer the audio performance of say, an Aurender or Innuous at the high end, or Blue Sound Node at the lower end? Please feel free to help with any recommendations, which will be greatly appreciated.
Cordialement Mes Amis
