Has anyone heard the Devialet D-Premier Integrated Amp/DAC

[andromedaaudio]

Yes in my opinion the vinyl replay was flawless and very quit , surely enjoyable from the 2 or 3 records i heard , without fault is the way i would describe the devialets overall sound , not the absolute very best or most involving , but a very good all round device , surely worth hearing and as a package not that expensive .
And no more gain or loading problems from what i understood , all fullscale adjustability into very fine steps

greetings H-J

 

[docvale]

Thanks!
This is one of the things that puzzle me: as an "audiophile" (I use the brackets as I'm not that sure I am) I'd lean for purist approaches in system design, as a music lover (surely I am) instead I think that a pleasant result in music reproduction performance should accept a not-orthodox approach.

 

[microstrip]

Sorry to disapoint, but IMHO the phono input sounds lousy - at less it was my experience when it statyed in my system. Curiously an owner who has two Devialets in dual mono and states that they are the best amplifiers in the world bought an Audio Reseach Phono Reference 2 to use with it! If you really enjoy vinyl you should get a decent phono unit.

 

[docvale]

Micro,

Thanks for your input.
I'm aware that there's people around who sold 5-figure amplifications to be substituted by the Devialet. Notwithstanding, in a practical world it would be interesting to check how does it compare with separates that cost, altogether, $16k. Then, I know (well, I imagine...) that its performance could be below the one of a full reference level from Burmester or Spectral, but if the Devialet phono stage competed or bettered products such as from Ayre, Sutherland, BMC or whatever might be reasonable to fit in a $16k system, it would mean the Devialet is a winner product even for a music lover who prefers to use vinyls.

Anyway, the story of your friend is interesting. He has to be a very demanding vinyl lover (his phonostage alone is above $10k!) but he's not concerned to let his pure analog signal undergoing a double AD/DA conversion. This should make me think that this double conversion is really painless. This is a good point for the Devialet.

 

[flez007]

I did like the Devialet this time at RMAF, as well as the hybrid amps that BruceB showed at his room there, digital amplification is getting there pretty fast!

 

[andromedaaudio]

I also like the kharma digital amps , especially the pre amps .
One of the best sounds i heard was the exquisite driven by the lower range pre amp and the exquisite poweramp , there was just something about it , very nice
Definetively on the try list if i see a nice opportunity

 

[clab]

I have heard for first time two Devialets in dual mono driving the Focal monsters, Stella Utopia EM, in a huge room making approximatively 80 sq meters

impressive ! huge power (it was sometimes too loud! ), perfect control, very fast, dead silent ...

are these also a kind of class D ?

 

[LL21]

I have heard for first time two Devialets in dual mono driving the Focal monsters, Stella Utopia EM, in a huge room making approximatively 80 sq meters

impressive ! huge power (it was sometimes too loud! ), perfect control, very fast, dead silent ...

are these also a kind of class D ?

dual mono devialet is very impressive. i heard them with the MaxxIIs...exceptionally good sound and much more to my liking than the already good single devialet (which really got quite gritty when the volume was turned up with the Maxx IIs).

 

[Kingsrule]

I've tried mono Devialet's twice on Sasha's
Played louder, not as detailed or refined as a single by a significant degree.

IMO pass on the mono set-up....

 

[FrantzM]

Hi

I still haven't heard a DeVialet but the positives about it haven't stopped. I like the concept of integrated everything. One entire Audio system in a convenient, small and attractive package. The DeVialet reduces an Audio system to cables for the spakers since it seems to be Wi-Fi and has an Ethernet port. Thus, connectivity is simple ... The monos changes the equation and add I would imagine substantially to the cost and places it in the province of a full blown system including DAC and powerful amps ... Unless the second amp is stripped from the DAC, preamp, thus costing substantially less .. It seems to defeat the purpose IMO.

Still itching to audition it.

 

[microstrip]

(...) The monos changes the equation and add I would imagine substantially to the cost and places it in the province of a full blown system including DAC and powerful amps ... Unless the second amp is stripped from the DAC, preamp, thus costing substantially less .. It seems to defeat the purpose IMO. (...)

It is as you say - the monos change a lot the equation! Specially as the improvement using them seems to be large, even at levels much bellow the full power. How can we accept the idea that perfection can become more perfect?

Some people consider that the beauty of the concept is just in using similar units for multi-amp systems - all the system is built around just one block, and some software configuration carried in a PC fitted with SD card reader using a very user friendly software. Apparently the ADC is not a large cost in these systems, and the analog preamp section is very simple. Probably the economy they get selling just a single unit will compensate for the extra costs. I have heard that the Thesonusfaber was demoed with six Devialets with great success.

 

[ferenc_k]

There is a new firmware, the 5.7 is available and there is a new Air sw, the 1.5 is available too. According to my friends using them it is a significant step forward, regarding music flow, and dynamics and natural detail. Sounds now extremely nice even from playing uncompressed files from an iPad or iPhone through wifi, actually exactly the same or at least extremely similar as from a Mac Mini or a PC. It is not using Airplay, so not audio streaming as I understood (may be wrong however).

By the way I had (and having) the luxury to try the single stereo, dual mono and quad mono config with a Focal Grande Utopia. All the steps getting the number of units doubled, shows significant benefits regarding music flow and dynamics and the overal liveliness, confidence and truthfullness. I really can not imagine anybody does not hear the benefits of the dual or quad modes or judging the single stereo mode better. Sorry, no way, in this case there is a problem with the connections, or system wise generally.

 

[TBone]

How did the vinyl "sound"? Was it a believable real analog experience? I'd be really curious to listen to the Devialet and, being a vinyl lover, this detail makes my curiosity even higher.

The Devialet based system demo I attended two years ago was inherently "digital" to my ears.

Very lean & transparent, dare I say ... "neutral".

From this analog lovers perspective, that demo/experience very much reminded me of playing a well mastered digital LP on a very good turntable; although I'm hearing an "analog" front end ... it did not represent ... "a believable real analog experience" to my ears.

tb1

 

[holik]

How Devialet could be compare sonically to Tact/Lyngdorf Millenium?
How could be compare to other D-class amps: TAD M-2500, Merrill Audio Verity?

holik

 

[Kingsrule]

There is a new firmware, the 5.7 is available and there is a new Air sw, the 1.5 is available too. According to my friends using them it is a significant step forward, regarding music flow, and dynamics and natural detail. Sounds now extremely nice even from playing uncompressed files from an iPad or iPhone through wifi, actually exactly the same or at least extremely similar as from a Mac Mini or a PC. It is not using Airplay, so not audio streaming as I understood (may be wrong however).

By the way I had (and having) the luxury to try the single stereo, dual mono and quad mono config with a Focal Grande Utopia. All the steps getting the number of units doubled, shows significant benefits regarding music flow and dynamics and the overal liveliness, confidence and truthfullness. I really can not imagine anybody does not hear the benefits of the dual or quad modes or judging the single stereo mode better. Sorry, no way, in this case there is a problem with the connections, or system wise generally.

In my experience, mono Devaliet's do not sound as good as the stereo setup. Do you actually own a Devialet powered system or just listening to a demo somewhere. Mono's lose micro detail and nuance. Monos do play louder and many are fooled by this into thinking it's better. This all might have changed with the 5.7 firmware, but with 5.6 it wasn't close.

 

[Ekmanc]

I am listening to one right now that I am considering buying, it seems to be quite a lot better than the Krell rig which I normally use.

 

[NorthStar]

I am listening to one right now that I am considering buying, it seems to be quite a lot better than the Krell rig which I normally use.

---- Hi Ekmanc, and Welcome! :b

* And same to the other 'new' members from this thread. :b

** I am a huge Devialet design's fan. ...In&Out. :b

 

[Ekmanc]

---- Hi Ekmanc, and Welcome! :b

* And same to the other 'new' members from this thread. :b

** I am a huge Devialet design's fan. ...In&Out. :b

Thank you thank you I am becoming more and more of a fan by the minute...

Sold my Krell preamp earlier tonight as well so I guess the decision has been made now, the Devialet gets to stay.

 

[bmichels]

Headphone DIRECTLY connected to the Pré-Out of the Devialet. Did Someone tried this ?

has someone tried to connect an Headphone DIRECTLY to the Line-Out of the Devialet ?

I know that It is possible and this was today again recommended to me by a Devialet technician. He said that we just need to configure the line-out in variable mode and get an adaptor cable RCA-Jack , and the power will be way enough since up to 4 volts are available on the line-out (default configuration is 2 volts and should be enough according to him)

but the real question remain... How does this connection sound compared to a high-end headphone amp ?

very interested to hear your comments.... because this will save me the cost of purchasing an external expensive headphone amp.


FROM Devialet FAQ site at " http://www.devialet.com/support-faqs.php " "You can use the PreOut output to connect headphones either directly - via a hybrid RCA-to-Jack cable - or through an external headphone-amplifier (for high voltage headphones for example). You need to activate this output using the online configuration tool and define the correct output level depending on the type of headphones you use. If you connect the headphones straight to the D-Premier, leave the volume control field ticked on "Variable". If you plan to use an external headphone-amplifier then opt for the "Fixed" volume control. Remember to assign a remote control key to turn the PreOut output "On" or "Off". It is also possible to connect headphones if you have a multi-amplifier configuration. In this case, you need to daisy chain the amplifiers using the DOUT on the master and the AES/EBU input on the slave in order to free the PreOut connectors on the slave for the headphones. Should you be interested in such a configuration, please send us a mail through our website. We will gladly create a matching configuration file for you."

 

[NorthStar]

-- Hi bmichels, and Welcome! :b