Tonepub's Devialet Review

Musical is a short cut for saying that a component has the natrual tonality, attack, decay of a real instrument.

 

Giving your review and the one in Stereo another deep look I found that you got more to the point of the matter with the superb value of this amp. This could easily be the heart of a superb High End sounding set fir under 30 K. Way less than any other pairing anyone could think off.
Adding a VPI Classic with a Sumiko Palos Santos or equivalent and hooking up a pair os NAIM OVATOR S 600, a B&W 804D equivalent would cost about the same as the D-PREMIER add cables and decent power supply and you are in audiophile heaven. If you want to take it one step further later on add some MAFICO 5, Lumen White or Sonus Faber Stradivari and a CD Transport..

 

I soon will have a chance to try the Devialet with a naim Ovator S-600, hope to get a very good combination.

 

I'm looking forward to auditioning the Devialet; the "one box" solution would work beautifully for me.

 

I had the pleasure of hearing the Devialet with my Magicos recently. Superby piece of equipment.
However, the Air software is limiting. No way to stream without having your computer on - which seems to mitigate against one of the main advantages of a NAS drive to me. Until they sort tat out I'm sticking to my Naim set-up.

 

I heard the Devialet with YG Acoustics' Carmel towers last year at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. I thought it was one of the better sounding rooms. There were no digital nasties rearing their ugly heads, so Devialet's hybrid class A/D system works as advertised. I wish Devialet would make a pair of mono blocks based on this technology.

 

I do high end residential photography. I run into lots of large, high end systems ( lots of mcintoshes and Bryson's in my neck of the woods). Easily $16,000 on amps, dacs, preamps, cables, etc. Many of these people ( baby boomers) are downsizing from their 8000 + sq feet homes to smaller luxury patio or condos. I think downsizing is the trend for the next few years. Many large boxes with lots of cords and wires will be a thing of the past due to space requirements. I can see a component like this being very attractive to this group of audio enthusiast.

 

True.
But then again. people with the money to spend on a great seperate phono stage, A DAC or a Streamer plus a Pre + power amp (Mono blocks) on a good rack will find it hard to be satisfied with a one box set - no matter how good it sounds - I know what i am talking about-owning a PRIMARE CD_Receiver was nice for a year anda half but then there is that itch to get anoter hot amp , a new CD Player etc.
Plus once one of the three items inside the Devialet stops functioning the whole set up must go to the repair shop.
I bt those who bought the Devialet 2 years ago have it on a second set-up now and are back to seperates in their main stereo again..
If there is a trend for downsizing then it is the half size combo with a CD-T a DAC or a Music Player with a PRE-Amp section plus a Phono Pre a Headphone Amp and finally 2 Mono blocks in Class D the size of one regular vomponent combined like Pro-Ject and Musical fidelity offer plus Gold Note from Italy - others follow Thorens even T+A is offering a seperate Poer amp for the DAc 0, NAIM with the V-DAC V-100 etc.
Now they aim at the entry level audiophiles but soon we will find these half size combos from other companies Burmester maybe even MBL. With Class D and DAC's Streamers etc nd a basic Pre-amp we will see superb sounding gear in smaller packages..,

 

Good point. I think smaller boxes will always be welcome. One day, we'll start seeing true wireless systems.

 

We already have them to some degree, it's the connection between the amp and speakers that is the problem. To my understanding, it's companies putting out product in the AV receiver sector that are producing the more interesting stuff and have been for some time.

Marantz, Denon, Yamaha and Onkyo to name just four are all players in this space now. Onkyo has produced network capable receivers since around 2009 I think, with the then TX-NR905, however their current offerings are much improved and more comprehensive with onboard Spotify, Last.fm, Simfy, Pandora, and so on. Performance with music is now up there with integrated amps in the current crop.

For £1000, or less, Onkyo (and their ilk) are turning out stuff that really is interesting and a very viable and cost effective solution.

Andrew Everard, who is the Audio Editor that handles Gramophone's reviews and is a long standing contributor at What Hi-Fi has Onkyo's TX-NR818 in his own home now as a second system.

Rather like the Denon DVD-3930 before it (which was greatly admitted and owned by veteran reviewer Jimmy Hughes), we are seeing 'non-traditional' HiFi solutions appearing and gaining acceptance by the more progressive reviewers out there.

The days of the dyed-in-the-wool hairshirt audio purist/snob that looks down with disdain on anything that hasn't been breathed on by virgins are somewhat numbered. That sector will become an even greater niche than it already is as people will have access to the quality as well as the functionality that simpler solutions offer.

 

I'm not a baby boomer, I live in a condo, and I have a full high end system. Just sayin'