10-Nov-2020, 09:35
When I last did a major update of my system, I started off by looking for speakers. My thinking at the time was that the speakers were likely to have the largest influence on the performance of the final system, so the idea was to decide on the speakers, then find amplification to suit the speakers.
The first time I listened to KEF Blades, the dealer chose to demonstrate them with Devialet amplification. This might tell you something, as the dealer certainly had other products in store that they could have used for the demo. I guess at the time I was a little like your die hard old school audiophiles, I eventually settled on getting the Blades, but I was sure I could find something better than this funny little fully integrated Devialet to power them. I had no interest whatsoever in the Devialet's "lifestyle" looks (although I did like the remote), and was very much of the view that separates would be better. Anyway, to cut a very long story short, I demoed lots of amplifiers with the Blades, but I ended up buying the Devialet because to my ears it offered the best sound quality. I almost bought it in spite of it's lifestyle packaging, as I really wanted to get a separate DAC and mono blocks.
If you look at how the Devialet ADH works, and the way the DAC is incorporated into the amplifier topology, it is very clever stuff that is designed for performance, not for looks. Indeed, the idea of ADH is to provide class A sound quality, without the thermal and power limitations of class A. Class A sound with raw class D power, the best of both worlds, not a lifestyle compromise.
Of course you will find some that will dismiss all this and state that sticking everything in one box is obviously a compromise, sacrificing performance for lifestyle looks. Only big separate boxes and pure class A will prove true audiophile performance.
Then you will get others that state that big class A amps are massively overpriced underperforming audiophile bling. Look at the measurements, there is no class A amp available that can match the performance of the Benchmark AHB2. Get the AHB2 and you get state of the art performance, anything else is bling and expectation bias designed to liberate gullible audiophiles from the contents of their wallets.
One thing I have noticed in the world of audio is that for every view there is always an equal and opposing view somewhere else.
My view is that you ultimately have to listen for yourself, which is a lot easier said than done unfortunately. It takes a lot of time and effort to get to listen to a variety of kit. I also think that the audiophile world needs a lot more blind testing sessions. I know some folk do not like the idea of blind testing, but I would love it if dealers set up blind test sessions, I think it would be fascinating to listen to a variety of kit, expectation bias free.
The first time I listened to KEF Blades, the dealer chose to demonstrate them with Devialet amplification. This might tell you something, as the dealer certainly had other products in store that they could have used for the demo. I guess at the time I was a little like your die hard old school audiophiles, I eventually settled on getting the Blades, but I was sure I could find something better than this funny little fully integrated Devialet to power them. I had no interest whatsoever in the Devialet's "lifestyle" looks (although I did like the remote), and was very much of the view that separates would be better. Anyway, to cut a very long story short, I demoed lots of amplifiers with the Blades, but I ended up buying the Devialet because to my ears it offered the best sound quality. I almost bought it in spite of it's lifestyle packaging, as I really wanted to get a separate DAC and mono blocks.
If you look at how the Devialet ADH works, and the way the DAC is incorporated into the amplifier topology, it is very clever stuff that is designed for performance, not for looks. Indeed, the idea of ADH is to provide class A sound quality, without the thermal and power limitations of class A. Class A sound with raw class D power, the best of both worlds, not a lifestyle compromise.
Of course you will find some that will dismiss all this and state that sticking everything in one box is obviously a compromise, sacrificing performance for lifestyle looks. Only big separate boxes and pure class A will prove true audiophile performance.
Then you will get others that state that big class A amps are massively overpriced underperforming audiophile bling. Look at the measurements, there is no class A amp available that can match the performance of the Benchmark AHB2. Get the AHB2 and you get state of the art performance, anything else is bling and expectation bias designed to liberate gullible audiophiles from the contents of their wallets.
One thing I have noticed in the world of audio is that for every view there is always an equal and opposing view somewhere else.
My view is that you ultimately have to listen for yourself, which is a lot easier said than done unfortunately. It takes a lot of time and effort to get to listen to a variety of kit. I also think that the audiophile world needs a lot more blind testing sessions. I know some folk do not like the idea of blind testing, but I would love it if dealers set up blind test sessions, I think it would be fascinating to listen to a variety of kit, expectation bias free.
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
