24-Jul-2020, 09:01
(This post was last modified: 25-Jul-2020, 03:21 by damonhayhow.)
I've just spent the past week exhaustively comparing a D1000 with D440 and wanted to share my findings in the only post I could find online on the topic (surprisingly? I thought more people would be curious as to the differences?).
To cut to the conclusion: even though I desperately wanted to make the "upgrade" to the D1000, the D440 sounded significantly better in the areas that count most to me.
As background, I was offered an amazing deal on a lightly used D1000 upgrade that I wanted to take advantage of. I was even luckier that I was able to bring the D1000 home and compare it to my 440, in my listening room, with my equipment, for as long as I needed. I was very frustrated to find that, while the D1000 had numerous sonic attributes that were superior, the overall result was surprisingly negative. So even though I was heavily biased TOWARD the D1000, the D440 won.
The description of the D1000 being the Devialet sound "writ large" is exactly right. While the character of the amps is essentially the same, compared to the D440, the D1000 has superior dynamics, more detail and control in the deep bass, paints a larger 3-dimensional soundstage and gives much better instrument separation and soundstage position specificity.
None of these attributes were things I felt were lacking in the D440. But, after hearing the D1000, I did want them. And initially, as I started noticing that the improvements in dynamics were real and significant, I was thinking "yes! this is great". But even then, something was not quite right? So I kept auditioning and comparing.
As I got several days into my comparisons, I started noticing that I was constantly adjusting the volume on the D1000, unlike the D440, and I was switching tracks a lot more. With the D440, from the first notes of any track the sound was instantly more relaxing. Then, Id keep catching myself forgetting that I was supposed to be auditioning gear, because I'd gotten carried away tapping my toe to the music. That never happened with the D1000.
So, one night I ran a blind comparison for my partner who had never auditioned audio gear before, with a record they had never heard before. Her response was emphatically that she wanted to turn down one of them (the D1000) because it sounded uncomfortably loud, but the other one (the D440, played loud) she just really enjoyed the song and wanted to keep listening to the next track of the record. Interestingly, someone with no knowledge or experience immediately reiterated exactly my impressions within just a few minutes of listening.
Eventually I was able to diagnose the D1000's issue as being extra hotness and bite in the treble. On any tracks with harsher sibilants, or bright instruments like trumpets or violins, it could cut the ears like a knife, where the D440 would not.
My speakers are Wilson Benesch Resolutions. While they are not warm and syrupy 1980s Sonus Fabers, neither are they more hotly-trebled B&W D3's. The speakers definitely do not suffer from harsh, biting treble. Moreover, I was listening to the same speakers, cables, source etc with both the D440 and D1000. The issue was the D1000.
The shocking realisation of the harshness of the treble came when listening on Tidal to the album "The Blues and the Abstract Truth (with Eric Dolphy)". The track I was auditioning finished and the track shuffled to track 11: Whole Nelson. I leapt for the remote to turn the cacophony down! It was horrendous. The trumpets were so harsh and bright as to be painful. The whole song was just a shambles of screaching noise. That shock made me wonder how bad it would sound on the D440? To my shock, it was nothing like the D1000 presentation. It was certainly a bright track with very high pitched trumpeting. But the knife edge was removed. It was actually a somewhat enjoyable track on the D440. I went back to the 1000 and it was a cacophony again. It was hard to force myself to listen to it.
Once I'd noticed the treble I started noticing it everywhere - on both vinyl and tidal - and realised it seems to be a defining character of the D1000. It explains my propensity to constantly fiddle with the volume and, sort of, lose the music for all the sounds. It also describes what @audio_engr had heard about the D1000 being more pure muscle, while the D440 is like an iron fist in a velvet glove. That particular description perfectly describes the difference I heard. I would just emphasise that the D1000's 'pure muscle' applies to the entire frequency range.
My hypothesis is that the increased emphasis that the D1000 put on the higher frequencies was carving a sharper outline around instruments and sounds, improving the instrument separation, imaging and soundstaging. However, the emphasis of every little click and squeak gives the impression that the actual body of the instrument/voice is too quiet (like when a person is whispering and you can only hear the sibilants). That feeds the desire to keep turning up the volume, until it is so loud that the sharp treble hurts the ears and it needs to be turned down again. This is also what makes the sound fatiguing.
As bad as being fatiguing, I found the D1000 killed emotion in songs that I love for the emotion. For example, Kishi Bashi's version of "This Must be The Place" on the String Quartet Live album is an incredible, uplifting track (IMO). As the pitch of his voice rises with emotion on the D440, it sends shivers down the spine and gives goosebumps. But on the D1000, that track literally just grated. I had to turn it down.
It took almost a week of auditioning nearly constantly to come to this realisation and understanding of the D1000 vs the D440. The only strong initial difference I noticed was that the D1000 plays louder than the D440 at the same nominal volume on the display. Other than that, they sounded near identical when listening casually, or studying for differences in multiple sound attributes.
A shorter audition would possibly make the D1000 seem more "exciting", dynamic and detailed, if you could hear any difference at all? That is what I noticed after a few hours of reconfirming the differences. And, obviously, for some speakers and recordings, the added "sparkle" of the D1000 presentation might be absolutely magical.
The more subliminal, subjective effects of fatigue and music lacking involvement are typically harder to audition quickly, prove or explain. If you get the chance to audition, I strongly recommend including some demo tracks with borderline-harsh trumpets or violins to test if the D1000 tips over that line. No doubt the bass on the D1000 is about as good as bass gets. But sit back and see which makes your toes tap on some of your favourite tracks? You (and your wallet) might be as surprised as I was.
To cut to the conclusion: even though I desperately wanted to make the "upgrade" to the D1000, the D440 sounded significantly better in the areas that count most to me.
As background, I was offered an amazing deal on a lightly used D1000 upgrade that I wanted to take advantage of. I was even luckier that I was able to bring the D1000 home and compare it to my 440, in my listening room, with my equipment, for as long as I needed. I was very frustrated to find that, while the D1000 had numerous sonic attributes that were superior, the overall result was surprisingly negative. So even though I was heavily biased TOWARD the D1000, the D440 won.
The description of the D1000 being the Devialet sound "writ large" is exactly right. While the character of the amps is essentially the same, compared to the D440, the D1000 has superior dynamics, more detail and control in the deep bass, paints a larger 3-dimensional soundstage and gives much better instrument separation and soundstage position specificity.
None of these attributes were things I felt were lacking in the D440. But, after hearing the D1000, I did want them. And initially, as I started noticing that the improvements in dynamics were real and significant, I was thinking "yes! this is great". But even then, something was not quite right? So I kept auditioning and comparing.
As I got several days into my comparisons, I started noticing that I was constantly adjusting the volume on the D1000, unlike the D440, and I was switching tracks a lot more. With the D440, from the first notes of any track the sound was instantly more relaxing. Then, Id keep catching myself forgetting that I was supposed to be auditioning gear, because I'd gotten carried away tapping my toe to the music. That never happened with the D1000.
So, one night I ran a blind comparison for my partner who had never auditioned audio gear before, with a record they had never heard before. Her response was emphatically that she wanted to turn down one of them (the D1000) because it sounded uncomfortably loud, but the other one (the D440, played loud) she just really enjoyed the song and wanted to keep listening to the next track of the record. Interestingly, someone with no knowledge or experience immediately reiterated exactly my impressions within just a few minutes of listening.
Eventually I was able to diagnose the D1000's issue as being extra hotness and bite in the treble. On any tracks with harsher sibilants, or bright instruments like trumpets or violins, it could cut the ears like a knife, where the D440 would not.
My speakers are Wilson Benesch Resolutions. While they are not warm and syrupy 1980s Sonus Fabers, neither are they more hotly-trebled B&W D3's. The speakers definitely do not suffer from harsh, biting treble. Moreover, I was listening to the same speakers, cables, source etc with both the D440 and D1000. The issue was the D1000.
The shocking realisation of the harshness of the treble came when listening on Tidal to the album "The Blues and the Abstract Truth (with Eric Dolphy)". The track I was auditioning finished and the track shuffled to track 11: Whole Nelson. I leapt for the remote to turn the cacophony down! It was horrendous. The trumpets were so harsh and bright as to be painful. The whole song was just a shambles of screaching noise. That shock made me wonder how bad it would sound on the D440? To my shock, it was nothing like the D1000 presentation. It was certainly a bright track with very high pitched trumpeting. But the knife edge was removed. It was actually a somewhat enjoyable track on the D440. I went back to the 1000 and it was a cacophony again. It was hard to force myself to listen to it.
Once I'd noticed the treble I started noticing it everywhere - on both vinyl and tidal - and realised it seems to be a defining character of the D1000. It explains my propensity to constantly fiddle with the volume and, sort of, lose the music for all the sounds. It also describes what @audio_engr had heard about the D1000 being more pure muscle, while the D440 is like an iron fist in a velvet glove. That particular description perfectly describes the difference I heard. I would just emphasise that the D1000's 'pure muscle' applies to the entire frequency range.
My hypothesis is that the increased emphasis that the D1000 put on the higher frequencies was carving a sharper outline around instruments and sounds, improving the instrument separation, imaging and soundstaging. However, the emphasis of every little click and squeak gives the impression that the actual body of the instrument/voice is too quiet (like when a person is whispering and you can only hear the sibilants). That feeds the desire to keep turning up the volume, until it is so loud that the sharp treble hurts the ears and it needs to be turned down again. This is also what makes the sound fatiguing.
As bad as being fatiguing, I found the D1000 killed emotion in songs that I love for the emotion. For example, Kishi Bashi's version of "This Must be The Place" on the String Quartet Live album is an incredible, uplifting track (IMO). As the pitch of his voice rises with emotion on the D440, it sends shivers down the spine and gives goosebumps. But on the D1000, that track literally just grated. I had to turn it down.
It took almost a week of auditioning nearly constantly to come to this realisation and understanding of the D1000 vs the D440. The only strong initial difference I noticed was that the D1000 plays louder than the D440 at the same nominal volume on the display. Other than that, they sounded near identical when listening casually, or studying for differences in multiple sound attributes.
A shorter audition would possibly make the D1000 seem more "exciting", dynamic and detailed, if you could hear any difference at all? That is what I noticed after a few hours of reconfirming the differences. And, obviously, for some speakers and recordings, the added "sparkle" of the D1000 presentation might be absolutely magical.
The more subliminal, subjective effects of fatigue and music lacking involvement are typically harder to audition quickly, prove or explain. If you get the chance to audition, I strongly recommend including some demo tracks with borderline-harsh trumpets or violins to test if the D1000 tips over that line. No doubt the bass on the D1000 is about as good as bass gets. But sit back and see which makes your toes tap on some of your favourite tracks? You (and your wallet) might be as surprised as I was.
