One thing I found interesting in the SoundRebels review is that the reviver preferred the Devialet when being fed via analogue from an Ayon CD 35. The Ayon features SET tubes and has a reputation for being a fine sounding CD player, if perhaps a little warm. In my experience, the very best sound I have achieved from a Devialet has been when feeding it digitally. As an example, my Devialet does sound nice when fed from my Yamaha AVR, and is in fact slightly warmer, but to my ears it is a massive step down in terms of accuracy and realism.
This reminds me of the infamous "clinical" comment in the Hifi Pig 220Pro review. The reviewer also made the comment "just lacking that warmth I would like to hear".
It is also the case that to subjectively review an amplifier, you need speakers, and speakers vary massively in terms of tonality, warmth and so on. I can think of some occasions when I have heard a Devialet with speakers that are perhaps at the dryer, more clinical end of the spectrum. The result was good, but perhaps not to my taste. Conversely, I have heard Devialets demoed with "warmer" sounding speakers, and I have loved the results. The subjective margins between warm, clinical, realistic, and so on can be quite fine. I often wonder how much reviews like this may be influenced not just by the reviewer's subjective preferences, but also what speakers happened to be on hand for the review.
With reference to @K4680 's post above regarding the editor of a German hi-fi magazine writing that Devialet has too little bass, I spent a lot of effort comparing different amplifiers with the Blades before buying a D240. The accuracy, definition and extension of the bass was one of the aspects that eventually led me to buying Devialet, nothing I tried was better than the D240 in this regard, including some rather more expensive options. This is also backed up in objective measurements, there is not much out there that has a lower output impedance than a Devialet, which objectively is supposed to provide superior control and grip over speakers.
I guess if you do own a Devialet and wish it was a touch warmer with your speakers of choice, you could perhaps turn the treble down a bit. This might seem like a flippant comment, but my last amplifiers did not have tone controls, and I do occasionally come across a recording that is a little thin or hot, which may sound a touch "clinical" (or just plain annoying) with my system. Take 3dB or so off the treble, it sounds great again. A nice feature for lovers of warmth, or lovers of music which is very often poorly recorded, perhaps. There is a lot of music that I love that is not the best in terms of recording quality. Having being spoilt by the Devialet's flexibility in this regard, I actually think I would find it hard to swap to an amp that didn't have the option of the occasional tweak on the tone controls.
This reminds me of the infamous "clinical" comment in the Hifi Pig 220Pro review. The reviewer also made the comment "just lacking that warmth I would like to hear".
It is also the case that to subjectively review an amplifier, you need speakers, and speakers vary massively in terms of tonality, warmth and so on. I can think of some occasions when I have heard a Devialet with speakers that are perhaps at the dryer, more clinical end of the spectrum. The result was good, but perhaps not to my taste. Conversely, I have heard Devialets demoed with "warmer" sounding speakers, and I have loved the results. The subjective margins between warm, clinical, realistic, and so on can be quite fine. I often wonder how much reviews like this may be influenced not just by the reviewer's subjective preferences, but also what speakers happened to be on hand for the review.
With reference to @K4680 's post above regarding the editor of a German hi-fi magazine writing that Devialet has too little bass, I spent a lot of effort comparing different amplifiers with the Blades before buying a D240. The accuracy, definition and extension of the bass was one of the aspects that eventually led me to buying Devialet, nothing I tried was better than the D240 in this regard, including some rather more expensive options. This is also backed up in objective measurements, there is not much out there that has a lower output impedance than a Devialet, which objectively is supposed to provide superior control and grip over speakers.
I guess if you do own a Devialet and wish it was a touch warmer with your speakers of choice, you could perhaps turn the treble down a bit. This might seem like a flippant comment, but my last amplifiers did not have tone controls, and I do occasionally come across a recording that is a little thin or hot, which may sound a touch "clinical" (or just plain annoying) with my system. Take 3dB or so off the treble, it sounds great again. A nice feature for lovers of warmth, or lovers of music which is very often poorly recorded, perhaps. There is a lot of music that I love that is not the best in terms of recording quality. Having being spoilt by the Devialet's flexibility in this regard, I actually think I would find it hard to swap to an amp that didn't have the option of the occasional tweak on the tone controls.
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
