Stumbled over a Devialet 120

[Sailor4W]

Congratulations mate. You're part of the club now!

What is it replacing?

A complicated system, that developed over a long time: I started out as a headphone listener and for this I used the well-known Headamp GSX-Mk2, combined with an Aqua Hifi La Voce S2 and the Sennheiser 800. This system as such was, and is, very good. But after some time, I got tired of listening to headphones exclusively. So I went ahead and bought the ATC SCM11 speakers. I used the pre-amp section of the GSX-Mk2 to feed that into an Odyssey Audio Khartago power amp, upgraded with the Kismet boards. So quite some boxes stacked over each other!

The set-up wasn't bad at all, except two things: the power amp seemed a bit slow to me and not resolving well enough. Also, my impression was that they did not pair well with the ATC SCM11s. The sound was a bit flat and uninvolved. But the worst was, the system picked up some power line hum along with a high-pitched hiss. I heard it only when I put my ears close to the speakers, but the noise shouldn't have been there in the first place! No matter what I tried, I just couldn't get rid of the noise, as weak as it was. I was always under the impression of missing some low-lever details!

And then: my wife felt that the unit spoilt the living room with so many boxes and cables lying on the floor! She kept on pestering me that she saw much nicer and smaller systems that would fit much better into the living room! So I was looking around a bit, not being serious at all. Till I saw this flashy Devialet unit at one of the local dealers. I was convinced this wonderfully looking piece of equipment would warm to her heart, for sure. But would it be any good sound-wise? So my curiosity got the better of me, and two days later it was at our place for testing.

With respect to the soundstage, I was fascinated from the very first moment I turned the unit on. I just loved it, and couldn't believe the resolution and clarity of the system. The Devialet held an iron fist over my speakers and for the first time, I heard their full potential! Just great! It took one second to know this system is just right for me.

With respect to the wife acceptance factor: we had breakfast last weekend and all of a sudden, my wife disappeared and I didn't hear a thing for about half an hour. Then she came back, having inspected the Devialet and said: this is a beautiful piece of equipment  !