Since 2013, I have moved from D240/250, then Dual mono D800, then to 1000Pro. The short answer to your questions are I would do it again, and the key reason is an improvement in sound quality.
I think I am one of the few people who has been lucky enough to listen to a D800 and 1000Pro back to back. I wrote about this at the time, see link:
https://devialetchat.com/Thread-Expert-1...ght=Oxford
The above was two years ago now, but the key parts of those first observations stand. The main improvement I find with the 1000Pro is it's ability to realistically reproduce the details in the music. Far greater insight is provided, but in a very natural way, even two years after getting the 100Pro this aspect is still surprising and delighting me.
So how big is the jump from D800 to 1000Pro? Obviously there are limits to how big a jump this can be, after all, the D800 is a fine product in it's own right, so there has to be a limit. What I would say is that the step from D800 to 1000Pro is far greater than the step from D250 to D800.
One surprise with the Pro was just how good the performance of AIR is, particularly after inclusion of the CI Board. To explain this, with the D800 I was running a microRendu feeding a Mutec MC3+USB, feeding the Devialet via AES/EBU. This set up gave a very nice improvement in sound quality with the D800. With the 1000Pro, a back to back comparison between AIR and the mR Mutec set-up was almost a dead heat. So if AIR works for you, then the Pro almost gives you a decent quality source for free. I have been trying very hard recently to get a source that materially improves on AIR, this has been hard work, but I have got there now. With my current set-up, I kind of feel that I have arrived at a place that I have been trying to get to for years, I could not be happier with the 1000Pro.
As an aside, a short time after doing the D800 / 1000Pro A/B test I was lucky enough to spend an hour or so listening to a full dCS rig, running DAG mono blocks and Wilson Audio speakers. This was a very, very, expensive system, something like £120K, before you add cables + speakers. This system was excellent, but I listened to it with exactly the same demo music that I had used for my earlier D800/1000Pro audition. Did I think the dCS system was in another league? No, it was frighteningly close to what the 1000Pro could achieve. The dCS / DAG rig might have edged things in terms of dynamics, but overall I would say comparable, despite the £100k price difference. I'd love to put the dCS rig in to a back to back test with a 1000Pro, maybe even blind, but the dealers don't seam keen on doing this! So I think that if you are looking for definitively better than the 1000Pro, you would struggle to find it at any price, you might find something subjectively you prefer, but not definitively better. There is a "law of diminishing returns" with audio products, I think the 1000Pro must be near the top of the curve.
So in summary, yes, I would do it again!
I think I am one of the few people who has been lucky enough to listen to a D800 and 1000Pro back to back. I wrote about this at the time, see link:
https://devialetchat.com/Thread-Expert-1...ght=Oxford
The above was two years ago now, but the key parts of those first observations stand. The main improvement I find with the 1000Pro is it's ability to realistically reproduce the details in the music. Far greater insight is provided, but in a very natural way, even two years after getting the 100Pro this aspect is still surprising and delighting me.
So how big is the jump from D800 to 1000Pro? Obviously there are limits to how big a jump this can be, after all, the D800 is a fine product in it's own right, so there has to be a limit. What I would say is that the step from D800 to 1000Pro is far greater than the step from D250 to D800.
One surprise with the Pro was just how good the performance of AIR is, particularly after inclusion of the CI Board. To explain this, with the D800 I was running a microRendu feeding a Mutec MC3+USB, feeding the Devialet via AES/EBU. This set up gave a very nice improvement in sound quality with the D800. With the 1000Pro, a back to back comparison between AIR and the mR Mutec set-up was almost a dead heat. So if AIR works for you, then the Pro almost gives you a decent quality source for free. I have been trying very hard recently to get a source that materially improves on AIR, this has been hard work, but I have got there now. With my current set-up, I kind of feel that I have arrived at a place that I have been trying to get to for years, I could not be happier with the 1000Pro.
As an aside, a short time after doing the D800 / 1000Pro A/B test I was lucky enough to spend an hour or so listening to a full dCS rig, running DAG mono blocks and Wilson Audio speakers. This was a very, very, expensive system, something like £120K, before you add cables + speakers. This system was excellent, but I listened to it with exactly the same demo music that I had used for my earlier D800/1000Pro audition. Did I think the dCS system was in another league? No, it was frighteningly close to what the 1000Pro could achieve. The dCS / DAG rig might have edged things in terms of dynamics, but overall I would say comparable, despite the £100k price difference. I'd love to put the dCS rig in to a back to back test with a 1000Pro, maybe even blind, but the dealers don't seam keen on doing this! So I think that if you are looking for definitively better than the 1000Pro, you would struggle to find it at any price, you might find something subjectively you prefer, but not definitively better. There is a "law of diminishing returns" with audio products, I think the 1000Pro must be near the top of the curve.
So in summary, yes, I would do it again!
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
