Expert Pro sound quality

[woodstock]

All,
I wanted to follow up my long post (#204) and update my opinion about the Expert Pro sound quality. I should reference many other wise and helpful posts from others, but that would cover several threads and would take me hours to do. Instead, I'll simply say a universal, 'thanks' to posts that followed my upgrade impressions essay.

One aspect of the sound of the Pro that I expressed some concern about was the high end, the treble, and that I felt it might be too .... much, or too metallic? The point of this post is to update that impression. Again, I hope this is useful to others thinking of making the upgrade who might be wondering about the changes the upgrade brings.

About two weeks ago, I rearranged the cables in my system; I created space between the power cords from the speaker cables, and unrolled the loose coils that one speaker cable was in. It is now a long loop under a couch (chesterfield or sofa). I have to say that I was amazed that I was able to hear a difference. The 'glare' or 'metallic' haze that I heard in the top end softened to the extend that I turned the treble up from -2.0 db back to 0 db.

Dr. Tone suggested a change of speaker cables, and I thought his suggestion was steering me in the right direction. Over the christmas holidays I obtained some Analysis Plus Oval 9 speaker cable from the very kind and helpful LeeC, a member of this forum. The AP cable replaced the QED silver 12 that I have been using. The QED is very similar (or probably a bit better) than the Nordost Purple Flare cable in sound quality. I installed the Analysis Plus cable yesterday, and have listened to the system quite carefully for two days. I won't go on about the cables, except to say that the Analysis Plus are much better; the point here is that my concerns or caveat about the high end on the Pro is fully and completely erased.

Correctly separating the power cord and speaker cables made a big difference, I am certain. Curiously, I always felt the left speaker, closest to the amp, was 'sharper' in sound. That was the speaker who's speaker cable was coiled, and which had the amp power cord sitting on top of the speaker cable. So rearranging the cables around that speaker logically made a difference to the sound from that speaker.

Changing from the QED speaker cables, which in retrospect I believe are 'tipped up' in the treble (probably like the lower-end Nordost) in comparison to the Analysis Plus, has refined the sound even further. Others have commented that the Pro sounds more 'analogue' (Confused? Thumb5?) and now I have to agree. The Pro has a wonderful clear, clean, revealing upper end, but it is without harshness. The bass is simply awesome.

In summary, the Pro is more revealing on the treble end of the spectrum, but it is not harsh or sharp. In my case- in my system- the faults I believed I heard were of my own making (sloppy cable arrangement) and in having speaker cables that are very likely not balanced in their presentation.

Cleaning up the cable placement made a noticeable difference in the sound quality. Changing the speaker cables also made a difference. With the Analysis Plus cables the sound is less 'in your face' but it is more midrange forward; the full detail of treble and bass is present but the sharpness that I had commented on earlier is gone.* I've listened in the 'listening chair', as well as while in other rooms, and when sitting directly beside one of the speakers. With cables well-orgainized and more balanced speaker cables installed, the 220 Pro is amazing.

Now listening to Calexico's Hot Rail album and All the Old Showstoppers by the New Pornographers. Loud and totally tubular.... (hybrid of surf slang and tube-audio play on words). What I mean is, it is really, really good. No harshness or sharpness or metallic sheen. It is also correct to note that I think the D220 Pro has softened a bit over 50 or 60 hours of playing, but the cable dressing and cable changing made a notable and important difference in my system; more noticeable than the burn-in effect of the amp.

Verdict on the D200 Pro:  Rock, classical, ska, acoustic, jazz, electro-ambient & amateur recordings, this thing sings. This is the amp I always wanted, and now I have it. 


(Thanks to Pim, Antoine, boba2013, Wdw, Axel, YabaVR, LeeC, Thumb 5, Confused, Dr. Tone and others. Also to Woodstock; even though he is not a fan of the Pro- I appreciated and respect his opinions about the SQ of the Pro update).

* I know that the AP Oval 9 cables are not filtering out information as I am getting more information and music with the AP cables than I heard before. Source file: 'Down to the River to Pray' from the 'Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?' soundtrack. So many layers of of voices, room acoustics... just wow.

Hi there. Happy New year to all. I have AP Oval 9 somewhere in the closet, should dig them out and give them a listen. A great thing about having a well thought out system is that even changing cables give you different flavours, just like tube rolling. One of my best decisions I've made on this journey and I imagine some of you may shake your head, was to part with my Rogue 150s. I spent more time fretting over tube burn out, that I burned myself out. I've owned Bel Cantos and Chord Amps. in the past but the Devialet by far surpasses them both. What I have noticed thow are Digital Amps are very sensitive  to the cable they use so it is good to have a variety on hand to play around with, just like if you were using tubes, except cables don't burn out.  Maybe they do but not as quickly.