D200/D400 on Computer Audiophile

[krass]

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f3-art...iew-23341/

[GuillaumeB]

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f3-art...iew-23341/

Interesting! What does everyone else make of this?  

Guillaume

[Confused]

I have to be honest here. I've actually got to the point where I'm looking forward to reading a bad review of the Devialet! Not with respect to sound quality, but if a reviewer were to publish something relating to Configurator bugs or white noise issues with AIR, then maybe, just maybe, this would shake a Devialet out of their ongoing complacency and spur them on to actually sorting out these issues.

[ogs]

Interesting! What does everyone else make of this?  

A bit disappointed he did not comment on the phase reversal function that is available, but not very many seem to notice this or use it. (On my 250 remote the button is labeled 'Invert'). And he was really lucky with AIR ethernet. No white noise during the test? I have a feeling Chris did not spend a long time listening to the 200/400. I for one do not quite recognize his description of the sound compared to what I hear. Lack of break-in? Cables mismatch?

[GuillaumeB]

Interesting! What does everyone else make of this?  

A bit disappointed he did not comment on the phase reversal function that is available, but not very many seem to notice this or use it. (On my 250 remote the button is labeled  'Invert'). And he was really lucky with AIR ethernet. No white noise during the test? I have a feeling Chris did not spend a long time listening to the 200/400. I for one do not quite recognize his description of the sound compared to what I hear. Lack of break-in? Cables mismatch?

Chris is under the influence of the Devialet spell. As smitten as he is, I didn't see a C.A.S.H. designation at end of review. With so many audio review sites awarding components their highest praise, the praise becomes somewhat diluted to my thinking. A prize for everyone! No one goes away unhappy! I like the comment Chris made about Devialet being the Apple of audio, yet his and other reviews failed to mention that chic Devialet tote which has retired my Trader Joe's/UNICEF totes, thus I award Devialet the "Best audiophile tote bag" distinction of honor. Hooray!

Yes you are quite right geoff: no C.A.S.H. award!

My overall impression with the review having read it a couple of times now was that Chris Conaker liked the 200/400 but wasn't massively enamoured with it and it took him some time to put ink to paper. He says that "prior to starting this review I received the Devialet 170. Shortly after receiving this product Devialet released a firmware upgrade that transformed the 170 into a 200.", so in my mind he's had this unit for a looong time! 

SAM didn't seem to make a great deal of difference with his speakers (TAD Compact Ref CR1 - anyone else on here own them?) and if anything he didn't actually like what effect it did have on the soundstage finding that "this enlarged soundstage may come off as a bit synthetic sounding to some listeners, myself included." 

In addition upgrading to the 400 there is no aha! moment: "Listening to Natalie Merchant and Christina Aguilera through the 400 monoblocks didn't really overwhelm me with anything that wasn't already present with a single stereo 200." Although he does go on to say that the additional power did help with more complex pieces one can't help but think that he wasn't hugely impressed. If anything the 400 revealed what was lacking with the 200.

I'm also surprised he didn't comment more about the difference in SQ between AIR and the Aries, which in my mind is significant. 

When you compare this, to say, his review of the Berkley Audio DAC, the contrast is stark! Of the Berkley he said " Rarely do I hear a component that's truly a game changer, a component that's so good I can't stop listening through it, and a component that's so good it renders much of the competition irrelevant."

Guillaume

[wikeeboy]

I thought the review was not thorough at all. Pretty disappointing really seeing he supposedly had it for so long.

[ogs]

I thought the review was not thorough at all. Pretty disappointing really seeing he supposedly had it for so long.

That is my thoughts too. The text appears to be more or less unfinished, as if he was in a hurry. At least compared to the Aries review or the Berkeley mentioned further up by Guillaume. Seems the Aries is not a good match for the Devialet amps?

[Confused]

I thought the review was not thorough at all. Pretty disappointing really seeing he supposedly had it for so long.

That is my thoughts too. The text appears to be more or less unfinished, as if he was in a hurry. At least compared to the Aries review or the Berkeley mentioned further up by Guillaume. Seems the Aries is not a good match for the Devialet amps?

Indeed, and in the review it states "during most of the review period I used the Auralic Aries as the music source component".   Thus he is not testing Devialet AIR, which is how the amp is designed to be used with digital material, furthermore, it is reckoned that the Devialet sounds better via AIR than an Aries.  So all a bit pointlless in many ways.

[GuillaumeB]

I thought the review was not thorough at all. Pretty disappointing really seeing he supposedly had it for so long.

That is my thoughts too. The text appears to be more or less unfinished, as if he was in a hurry. At least compared to the Aries review or the Berkeley mentioned further up by Guillaume. Seems the Aries is not a good match for the Devialet amps?

Indeed, and in the review it states "during most of the review period I used the Auralic Aries as the music source component".   Thus he is not testing Devialet AIR, which is how the amp is designed to be used with digital material, furthermore, it is reckoned that the Devialet sounds better via AIR than an Aries.  So all a bit pointlless in many ways.

Yup very good point. What surprises me is that he didn't hear enough of a difference between the Aries and AIR to make a comment. I'm not saying that the Devialet sounds bad with the Aries, far from it! But AIR is qualitatively better, I'm convinced of this having had an Aries in my system for a couple of weeks. It would have been interesting if he had compared it to some of his other sources, some of which he has reviewed in past months.

To be fair he says "via wired Ethernet Devialet AIR works awesome" but it doesn't really say anything about how it compares to other digital input modes.

Guillaume

[Dr Tone]

IMO, it's pretty clear he didn't really like it that much, but felt obligated to not outright say it after Devialet spent thousands shipping him out to France etc etc.


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