What am I doing wrong?

[petrik]

I have had my 120 for a year and I think I am about to give it up. I have home demoed a Naim Superuniti and enjoyed the music better than during the last year with the 120. I am wondering if this is just a question of taste or whether I have set up the 120 wrongly (though I have changed things about in every way I can think of). I would welcome ideas.

I have a Cyrus Signature transport into the 120 via Chord Signature TA coaxial. Good Tellurium Q cables lead to Spendor D7 speakers. The detail and soundstage are incredible but the system has always sounded forward, 'edgy', and while not sibilant the treble is sometimes uncomfortably sharp.

The Naim doesn't project the music from that lovely black background that the 120 creates. You don't have the fine-etched detail. But the music just seems so much more involving and listenable. 

So, is the 120 and the Spendor a bad match? Is Cyrus not right, though I have tried PC/usb and heard a similar sound? Don't mention speaker position since they have been in every inch of the room at one time or other. I have swapped cables and those I have are the best of numerous tries. Am I missing something? Do I just not 'get' the Devialet sound?

By the way, I set up the Naim for streaming in 5 minutes without the slightest issue. I have never been able to get Air working, couldn't even get the download to open (or uninstall). Streaming is not important for me, but this has not inspired confidence in the 120.

Thanks for sharing your concerns. I have never thought that Devialet would sound forward or edgy so I am thinking that something is not right on your setup. From my experience the Devialet should sound detailed but very pleasant. There are actually quite many ex-Naim owners who have changed to Devialet.

There is actually a thread where an another Devialet owner was saying the sound being aggressive, forward, and sharp. It might be worth to read it through.
https://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?tid=4215

Apparently he got it resolved by just doing a new configuration from scratch (using Devialet default configuration and not changing anything on it) and loading it to his Devialet.
https://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?...2#pid61642
https://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?...0#pid61660

Have you tried this already?