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

[Orb]

Interesting read in this months HifiNews.
Paul Miller comments that he also noticed improvements regarding conditioner-mains related products for the Devialet.
He is pretty laid back about cables,etc in general, so makes it even more interesting that he mentions this in a response to a letter.

So, if one has a Devialet, going by others on here and Paul Miller's comment; definitely seems worth trying primarily a mains conditioner or possibly a well made mains cable (say with the Furutech termination).

Cheers
Orb

 

[KeithR]

I have a friend who just traded in his Soulution stereo amplifier to go Devialet with the latest wifi upgrades after a 2 week stint with one in-home. He runs it with YG Anat IIs...interesting. Believe his preamp and dac are Concert Fidelity, so not cheap either.

 

[KeithR]

A very wise reply Bernard. TOo many audiophile speaks of an equipment with "soul" ... I share your point of view. The quipment should be exactly that neutral with no soul at all. Plays music and be out of the way .. Once it starts having that "soul" .. It can only editorialize... that is apply its "soul" to the reproduction .. I'd rather avoid that. I do not see the point of a messenger who does that...

Frantz- perhaps this is a silly question, but how do you know what is neutral and "correct" in the first place? Especially if every piece of gear, ss or tube, has a sound?

I can hear the difference between your fav Bryston 28SST2s vs. other SS for example. And the 28SSTs don't sound like the 4BSST that I owned one iota. The former was clearly more natural ("soul?")--so is this incorrect? The 4BSST midrange was flat and grainy imo.

 

[MarinJim]

I have a friend who just traded in his Soulution stereo amplifier to go Devialet with the latest wifi upgrades after a 2 week stint with one in-home. He runs it with YG Anat IIs...interesting. Believe his preamp and dac are Concert Fidelity, so not cheap either.

Surprised he did not try Hegel H30 also, as at shows I see them (Concert Fidelity) sometimes together.

 

[FrantzM]

KeithR


Excellent question and one I have pondered myself extensively. Certain gear have a sound of their own that is so strong as to paint everything with he same color or the same perspective. Some people love this , fall for it and their gear sound "great" to them. Differences between recording are diluted in that sea of euphony ... I will not name any gear but several of the tubed variety do subscribe to the above definition. it makes for interesting experiences at times as many things sound good ultimately ne relaizes that the real thing doesn't seem to be so homogeneous ...

Neutrality involves that.. What comes in comes out there is nO perfection thus no absolutely neutral equipment, the famed "straight wire with gain" amplifier or equipment. The better equipment IME are those who try as much as possible to subscribe to that, they remove themselves as much as possible from the reproduction they amplify or whatever they do, adding the least of their own to it. This ability can be heard and often the encounter with a more neutral equipment is described as a "black" background, a "veil" is lifted, less "grime", clearer window on the sound.. All good but insufficient attempts to explain a lack of sonic character or a reduced amount of sonic character.
The notion of "soul" is to me wrong as the darn thing knows what the music should be reproduced .. I think it is a state of mind and some audiophile do a certain bit of anthropomorphism, projecting emotions on something that has none as well as it should be ... I find it a requisite for any performer to inject his views of what he is performing into the performance (not a reproduction) .. It would have been disturbing to me to assign such to a piece of electronics. I want my electronics to impart the least amount of their character to what is being reproduced ... Neutral ...

 

[bernardl]

Interesting read in this months HifiNews.
Paul Miller comments that he also noticed improvements regarding conditioner-mains related products for the Devialet.
He is pretty laid back about cables,etc in general, so makes it even more interesting that he mentions this in a response to a letter.
Orb

He did in fact explicitly mention PS Audio products, he didn't provide details on which of their power re-generators he has been using though.

I have personally started to consider the P10.

By the way, Paul Miller decided to test the latest 250,000 US$ Wilson Audio Alexandra XLF speakers using a devialet to drive them.

Cheers,
Bernard

 

[Steve Williams]

Paul Miller decided to test the latest 250,000 US$ Wilson Audio Alexandra XLF speakers

$198K here in the USA

 

[microstrip]

A very wise reply Bernard. TOo many audiophile speaks of an equipment with "soul" ... I share your point of view. The quipment should be exactly that neutral with no soul at all. Plays music and be out of the way .. Once it starts having that "soul" .. It can only editorialize... that is apply its "soul" to the reproduction .. I'd rather avoid that. I do not see the point of a messenger who does that...

Frantz,

Yes, a common mistake, usually supported by the arguments related to the existence of some poor quality SET amplifiers, that allow an easy confusion between editorializing and "giving soul to the music", because they really change the music in an euphonic way.

IMHO, the correct formulation is speaking about equipment that allows the soul of music to flow through the system reproducing it. Believe it or not, many equipment blocks it, and some people call it neutral all the same.

 

[bernardl]

$198K here in the USA

Almost a bargain.

Still, it remains uncommon to see such a huge gap of price btwn equipments in a coherent system, assuming that they are similarly positioned relative to the very best among available options. Since the Wilson is arguably the best speaker ever produced...

This just highlights once more how amazingly good the Devialet value prop is.

Cheers,
Bernard

 

[IanG-UK]

He did in fact explicitly mention PS Audio products, he didn't provide details on which of their power re-generators he has been using though.

I have personally started to consider the P10.

By the way, Paul Miller decided to test the latest 250,000 US$ Wilson Audio Alexandra XLF speakers using a devialet to drive them.

Cheers,
Bernard

Looking at the HFN website you can see that it is a PS Audio PPP rather than the later P5 or P10:

http://www.hifinews.co.uk/news/article/meet-the-team;-paul-miller/9952

I run two PPPs in the UK and they are fine, although there have been some problems with PPPs in the UK caused, I think, by the mains voltage running as high as 252V AC and the PPP being unable to regenerate from that. A replacement regenerator board seemingly fixes this however.

Apparently the P5 and the P10 are more robust designs and less prone to the UK issue (but not immune) but also more complex including internet connectivity - something I do not want.

There is an interesting bit here about the PPP in terms of its capabilities:

http://hifi-unlimited.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/power-of-silence-more-adventures-with.html

Unfortunately neither the P5 nor the P10 are in the test since it predates their introduction.

 

[bernardl]

Looking at the HFN website you can see that it is a PS Audio PPP rather than the later P5 or P10:

http://www.hifinews.co.uk/news/article/meet-the-team;-paul-miller/9952

Thanks. If everything goes as planned I should be able on the value of the P10 in a few weeks.

Cheers,
Bernard

 

[bernardl]

Thanks. If everything goes as planned I should be able on the value of the P10 in a few weeks.

Cheers,
Bernard

Have been using the PS Audio P10 for a week and am very happy so far.

The inconsistency I used to hear between sessions is gone and the sound does seem even cleaner, faster and more transparent. The combo with the Wilson Benesch Vector is simply unbelievably good. I was listening to track 14 of Music Nuda Live at Fip CD last night at -25db... the bass is just out of this world.

Nice bonus, together with the SSD equipped Mac mini used as source, the Devialet only draws 40W out of the P10 at those high volumes, similar to a darkish light bulb... yet a live concert is happening in the living room.

Speaking of which... I attended a live jazz concert yesterday in large venue where amplification was used... I couldn't help thinking a few times that I'd be much better at home listening to the Devialet.

Cheers,
Bernard

 

[robje24b]

Hi,

I'm planning on buying the devialet d-premier but am not too keen on using itunes. Do some of you have experience in adding an external streamer to the devialet like:

linn ds (i.e. majik ds using it's digital output)
widealab aurender

and how does it compare soundquality wise to the air streaming of the devialet?

thanks in advance

 

[andromedaaudio]

I heard the devialet both from an i phone , external cd player and with a bergmann turntable , i thought it sounded excellent the phono as well , its like the apple brand of high end audio very versatile/programmable /a lot of gadgets

 

[robje24b]

I'm sorry, i meant that i do want to use a NAS or other hard drive to stream music from but don't want to use Itunes as an interface. With Linn i can use Kinsky/ChorusDS, etc. With the Aurender you can use a native Ipad app. I was wondering if there are more options and what your opinions are regarding sound quality of using an external streamer/server vs using the devialet air streaming option.

 

[andromedaaudio]

I dont really know
I thought the CD player sounded a bit better than the wireless streaming , but it might be my imagination i must recall from memory
The demonstrator from devialet brought also some very high res recordings , these might have sounded the same as the cd player replay .
Overall the wire less streaming didnt sound bad at all .

I am more a turntable guy , i like the programmable gain and loading settings on the devialet , a " stepless" adjustment as i can remember

 

[NorthStar]

---"A turntable gay"; this is the first time that I've heard that expression.
"A stepless adjustment"; sounds like a topless stripper.

* Some audio components are best described using sexy derivative terms. :b

EDIT: No sweat!

 

[andromedaaudio]

Oeps corrected that , thank you NS

Stepless attenuator ????

 

[bernardl]

Possible!

I'm sorry, i meant that i do want to use a NAS or other hard drive to stream music from but don't want to use Itunes as an interface. With Linn i can use Kinsky/ChorusDS, etc. With the Aurender you can use a native Ipad app. I was wondering if there are more options and what your opinions are regarding sound quality of using an external streamer/server vs using the devialet air streaming option.

Yes, you can of course do that.

Depending on the type of output of your preferred source you will either use the DAC of the source or that of the devialet. The dac of the devialet is very well integrated with the amp so it is probably the better option.

I have personally compared in depth the excellent Weiss Int202 connected through Aes/ebu and the Devialet Air app and the Air app is IMHO significantly better. More transparent/pure sound with deeper/cleaner bass and better defined highs.

I agree that controlling iTunes through Remote is not really optimal, but I still keep using it on the ipad.

Cheers,
Bernard

 

[docvale]

I heard the devialet both from an i phone , external cd player and with a bergmann turntable , i thought it sounded excellent the phono as well , its like the apple brand of high end audio very versatile/programmable /a lot of gadgets

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.