Devialet D-Premier D/A integrated amplifier Page 2

As much as I loved using the remote's volume control—the only other remote with a "real" volume control was the one Hafler provided for the Iris preamplifier from the late 1980s—I used the iPhone app most of the time, as I appreciated being able to see the volume setting, the amplifier's display not being visible from my listening chair.

Sound quality
For the first couple of weeks of my auditioning, I used the AIR app running on my Mac mini to send WiFi data to the D-Premier. The sound was never less than excellent. But over time I felt that the upper midrange was a little glassy and the soundstage depth a little restricted compared with my references. A/B comparisons of the same data via the AIR streamer and WiFi and played from my Ayre C-5xeMP player via AES/EBU revealed the hardwired connection to sound more spacious, and in no way glassy or bright. This was with both a high-energy track like "Fit Song," from DJ Cornelius's Sensuous: la musique de 21° siècle (CD, Warner Japan EVE016), or an audiophile classic like the title track of Shelby Lynne's Just a Little Lovin' (CD, Lost Highway B0009789-2), both of which had more of a sense of ease to the sound.

So as convenient as using AIR had been, I reverted to Pure Music, upsampling CDs to 88.2kHz and sending them to the Devialet via Halide or Empirical Audio USB-S/PDIF converters.

I used the Devialet with the speakers I reviewed this past summer—Sony SS-AR2, DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/96, KEF LS50—as well as with one still to be reviewed, Vandersteen's Treo. The words I kept jotting down in my auditioning of the D-Premier with all these speakers were clean and clear. Not clean in the sense of sterile or clear in the sense of cold, but "clean and clear" in that a wealth of recorded detail was apparent without in any way being spotlit or flung forward at the listener. For example, I have been a fan of blues singer Howling Wolf since I was exposed to his music by British blues bands a half century ago. But in all those years, only the Devialet driving the Sonys has made me aware of the slight increase in the reverb around the Wolf's voice in the "woo-hoo" chorus of "Smokestack Lightning." And with the KEF LS50s, the music stand being knocked over that brackets Lowell George's "20 Million Things to Do," from Little Feat's Hotcakes & Outtakes: 30 Years of Little Feat (CD, Warner Archives/Rhino R2 79912), was there in my listening room, virtual reality courtesy the D-Premier.

This combination of clarity and authority was evident with well-recorded classical music—tenor Wilfred Brown's definitive 1964 performance of Gerald Finzi's Dies Natalis, with the ECO conducted by the composer's son, Christopher Finzi (CD, EMI Studio 63372) spent a lot of time being played through the Devialet. And a chance visit to a Live at Daryl's House episode, recorded at Todd Rundgren's studio in Hawaii, featuring a superb performance of Daryl Hall's "Every Time You Go Away," reminded me that I hadn't played Paul Young's hit version from his The Secret of Association (CD, Columbia CK 39957), with Pino Palladino's authoritative fretless bass playing, for many a year. It sounded magnificent, whether through the little KEFs or the big Sonys.

One recording leading to another was an enduring aspect of my time with the Devialet D-Premier. One evening, with the amplifier driving the Sony SS-AR2s and the data fed to the Devialet via the Empirical Audio Off-Ramp 4 USB converter, I followed the hi-rez recording of Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, with Eiji Oue conducing the Minnesota Orchestra (24/176.4 WAV file, Reference HRx HR-96), with Graham Nash's "I Used to Be a King," from his 1970 album Songs for Beginners (24/48 ALAC file ripped from DVD-A, Atlantic/Rhino R2 35257-2). Both recordings were reproduced without coloration, without grain or strain, and with apparently unlimited dynamics across the audioband. The D-Premier may be small in size, but its sound quality is large. It's a magnificent amplifier!

Times two
With music having a very wide dynamic range, such as my 1984 recording of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, performed in England's Ely Cathedral and excerpted on Stereophile's Test CD 2 (Stereophile STPH004-2), the D-Premier didn't go quite as loud as I wished with the low-sensitivity Vandersteen speakers. However, when Audio Plus shipped me a second sample, I could try the two D-Premiers as bridged monoblocks. I burned the appropriate configuration files on SD cards, designating one amplifier as the Master and the other as the Slave, and swapped these cards with the standard ones. Digital input 1 on the Master now became an S/PDIF digital output and sent the other channel's data to the Slave amplifier. Each amplifier's output was now taken from the two hot speaker terminals, to give a maximum power rating of 400W.

I had one glitch with this setup, which did seem sensitive to the quality of the S/PDIF cable used to join the amplifiers. After playing some 48kHz files, I switched to a 96kHz file. Pure Music correctly adjusted the sample rate of the data sent to the Master amp via the Empirical Off-Ramp 4, but the Slave amp remained set at 48kHz. (You can check the sample rate being handled by the D-Premier by holding down the remote's Input Select button; a single remote now controls both amplifiers.) I rebooted both amplifiers and tried again. This time, both Master and Slave correctly followed the sample rate of the data fed to the Master, and the glitch hasn't happened again. But if you have dual-mono D-Premiers and often play files with many different sample rates, a routine sample-rate check would be a good idea.

That aside, I had no feelings of restricted loudness using a pair of D-Premiers as monoblocks. The climaxes in Gerontius soared appropriately, and the organ-pedal notes emerging from the unassuming-looking Vandersteen Treos shook my room. And with Queen's Live at Wembley Stadium (DVD, Hollywood 2061-62400-9), the mono D-Premiers turned the laid-back Sony SS-AR2 speakers into ultimate rock'n'roll speakers

To describe my auditioning of a single D-Premier, I used the word magnificent—twice. Ending my formal auditioning of the Devialet with the heavily compressed "Bullet with Butterfly Wings," from Rotten Apples: The Smashing Pumpkins Greatest Hits (256kbps MP3 download), which I played at my AES presentation on "The Loudness Wars" last October, magnificent was again the most appropriate word to describe what I was hearing from the Vandersteens: clarity, power, and punch, coupled with sweet-sounding highs. Really. With the Smashing Pumpkins! Who knew?

Summing up
Yes, at $15,995, the Devialet D-Premier seems expensive. But when you consider that in my system it replaced a combination of a D/A preamp and similarly rated power amplifier costing a smidgen short of $29,000 without cables, and in some ways sounded better, that price starts to look more competitive. And that's without considering the additional cost of a high-quality D/A converter for those with a conventional preamplifier. Then there's the fact that the D-Premier's hardware platform has been designed for easy upgradeability via firmware upgrades. The D-Premier you'll be using next year will be able to do more than the D-Premier you bought this year, without you having to spend a single dollar more.

Devialet's D-Premier amplifier is the most extraordinary product I have reviewed for Stereophile. Superb sound quality, future-proof design, everything you need in one box—it is the epitome of what a high-end audio product should be. Wow!

COMPANY INFO
Devialet SAS
US distributor: Audio Plus Services
156 Lawrence Paquette Industrial Drive
Champlain, NY 12919
(800) 663-9352
ARTICLE CONTENTS

COMMENTS
mphatic1's picture

John,

 

In your opinion, how does the Devialet's pre-amp/DAC section stack up against the Classe CP-800?  I ask this because they both appear to be cut from the same cloth so to speak; beautifully styled, apparent 18 bit resolution, switching amp/power supply, highly configurable, and relatively future proof.  And, when you start to add power amps to the CP-800, you get up around Devialet money anyway.

 

Regards,

Brad

JadenKrosis's picture

"the most extraordinary product I have reviewed for Stereophile."

Considering the very long list of other very extraordinary products you`ve had your hands on, this says alot!

rumnyc's picture

but in the end went with a slightly more conventional setup.

for exactly the same price as a D-Premier, I went with a Linn Akurate DSM and Mcintosh MC452 amp. I couldn't compare them back to back but I like the below features from the Linn:

4 HDMI input instead of 1 (yes I could have used an outboard HDMI switcher).

Ethernet input and DLNA server compatible (AIR feature was not yet released)

And the Mcintosh had way more headroom than the D Premier's amp.

My speakers are B&W 802 Diamond.

stgomes's picture

 

After some very good 1st impressions on sound quality driving "conventional" speakers (impedance curve not bellow 2-3 Ohm) I was curious to audition the D-Premier with my Martin Logan Summit X speakers. Sound quality is very good, until I pumped up the volume. At about 85db, the protection LED on the front panel starts blinking and the amp starts to mute.

I have reported this problem to Devialet and they say it should not happen, but my dealer had the same experience with other D-Premier units driving other Martin Logan models (Montis, Spire, CLX).

My guess is that this amp technology is simply not designed to drive impedance loads like the ones present in Martin Logan speakers, which drop bellow 1 Ohm in the high frequencies.

Looking forward to your comments.

John Atkinson's picture

Quote:
My guess is that this amp technology is simply not designed to drive impedance loads like the ones present in Martin Logan speakers, which drop bellow 1 Ohm in the high frequencies.

That's what I expect, too.

John Atkinson

Editor, Stereophile

BradleyP's picture

Notice that with the new SAM technology, two Martin Logan speakers have been matched to the Devialet--the Theos and the Electromotion. Now, I am wondering about Maggies. If Devialet can both drive and tame those big bass panels, then that would be even more amazing.

jlesnick's picture

Hey John.

Thanks for this great review. How do you feel the Devialet (and its new iteration) would stack up to a Pass X250.5/Classe Cp-800 combo?

Cheers,

Jon

John Atkinson's picture
jlesnicj wrote:
Thanks for this great review.

You're welcome.

jlesnicj wrote:
How do you feel the Devialet (and its new iteration) would stack up to a Pass X250.5/Classe Cp-800 combo?

I haven't heard the XA20.5 but the Pass XA60.5s have been my go-to amplifiers for the past year. The beauty of the Devialet is that it is just one box, with a digital section up there with the Classe. A review of one of the less-expensive Devialets is in progress.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

bapcha's picture

JA/Other reviewers:

You guys are a prime example of promoters of peddlers of snake oil. If an Airport (Mac) or a Ayre CD player feeds data to a D/A you claim to hear a difference. How can you - when the data is exactly the same?

Let's take Boulder - I like the look of their products, but how would a volume knob - polished seven times and clear-coated - improve sound quality? It is a bloody waste of money.

Cheers,
Bapcha (yes, I am a marketer who can see through your ____)

John Atkinson's picture
bapcha wrote:
You guys are a prime example of promoters of peddlers of snake oil.

Good morning to you, too.

bapcha wrote:
If an Airport (Mac) or a Ayre CD player feeds data to a D/A you claim to hear a difference. How can you - when the data is exactly the same?

Yes, the data may be the same, but the timing of when those data are presented to the D/A chip is also important. Variations in that timing are called "jitter" and result in distortion in the reconstructed analog signal. The right data at the wrong time is equivalent to the wrong data. There are several articles on this subject reprinted in our free on-line archives.

bapcha wrote:
Let's take Boulder - I like the look of their products, but how would a volume knob - polished seven times and clear-coated - improve sound quality?

No-one has said that it does.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

bapcha's picture

I will keep the conversation very respectful. I am a chip designer with ten plus years designing analog and digital chips and, and ten more marketing them and SSDs. Four issued patents (primary author). Most chips now have PLLs. After it locks, it does not matter if the jitter is 5 pico seconds or 50 pico seconds, the data can be PERFECTLY reconstructed (or the designer will lose his job, and chip cannot be sold).

You claim to hear differences in jitter between 5ps and 50ps - when the data is PERFECTLY reconstructed post-jitter.

YES - you can hear a difference in ANALOG products. If a DAC has a DIFFERENT analog output, it will sound different from a cheaper one with a not so well designed output.

Also, FYI, it is easier to match currents on chips without trying too hard (it is called a common-centroid layout where transistors are laid our perfectly symmetrically (x and y axes). It is not too hard to make chip-based output stages that sound better than discrete (but it is cost-prohibitive). I own Bryston/Ayre stuff with properly designed circuits, and sincerely believe it is impossible to do better (note the word impossible).

I have collected serial data from a $10K Boulder DAC and a $1000 Bryston Dac. I gave up after 10 GigaBytes. The data was exactly the same. So, 24x oversampling = 4x oversampling = 2x oversampling (I know that you know the Nyquist-Shannon theorem). It is a fool's game after one gets past the Bryston/Ayre A* (not the K*) price point.

Word length matters. Sampling rate does not. If it does, then I have a TV that shows pictures in X-ray.

Even James Tanner of Bryston has admitted that the differences between their BP10/17/26/SP3/SP2 analog stages are identical or have minuscule (inaudible) differences.

Bottom-line: Looks like I am half way agreeing with you and half-way disagreeing with you.

Sincerely yours,
Bapcha

John Atkinson's picture
bapcha wrote:
I am a chip designer with ten plus years designing analog and digital chips and, and ten more marketing them and SSDs. Four issued patents (primary author). Most chips now have PLLs. After it locks, it does not matter if the jitter is 5 pico seconds or 50 pico seconds, the data can be PERFECTLY reconstructed (or the designer will lose his job, and chip cannot be sold).

An impressive resume. So with respect, I am puzzled that when you refer to phase-locked loops (PLLs), you don't seem aware that a PLL circuit has a corner frequency, below which it increasingly fails to eliminate jitter in the incoming datastream. You can see the effects of this problem in the various digital products that I test for for Stereophile. Some are very effective at eliminating the effects of datastream jitter; others are wide-open to timing variations in the data presented to the DAC.

bapcha wrote:
You claim to hear differences in jitter between 5ps and 50ps . . .

We have made no such claim, any more than we have claimed, as you accused us in your earlier comment, that the finish of the volume control on a Boulder preamplifier affects sound quality.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

bapcha's picture

Thanks for your kind and timely responses.

Bottom-line: JA - we all have our biases. Bottom-line is the you run the best publication for reviews of music reproduction electronics. Today, a Cisco router can transmit ALL of the data from the Library of Congress from point to point - in about four seconds. Yet - there is room for endless back and forth for a trivial range of frequencies. Let's call it 0 Hz to 100KHz. When we have mastered 10s of gigahertz, we should be able to do this trivial range in frequencies easily, cheaply, perfectly, every single time - and yet we don't. My take is that it is due to the EMOTIONAL component of this trivial data "band" if you may.

I wish you and your magazine the best. (I know Robert Greene rather well. He is a colleague of my uncle's at UCLA math)

John Atkinson's picture
bapcha wrote:
Bottom-line is the you run the best publication for reviews of music reproduction electronics.

Thank you.

bapcha wrote:
Today, a Cisco router can transmit ALL of the data from the Library of Congress from point to point - in about four seconds. Yet - there is room for endless back and forth for a trivial range of frequencies. Let's call it 0 Hz to 100KHz. When we have mastered 10s of gigahertz, we should be able to do this trivial range in frequencies easily, cheaply, perfectly, every single time - and yet we don't.

That the transmission of digital data without errors is a given. But it is when those data are used to reconstruct an analog signal that problems in implementation arise.

bapcha wrote:
I wish you and your magazine the best. (I know Robert Greene rather well. He is a colleague of my uncle's at UCLA math)

Thank you. But I am wondering if you are confusing Stereophile with The Absolute Sound. Robert Greene writes for TAS, and has never contributed to Stereophile.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

bapcha's picture

Nice guy anyway. Took him a long time to switch to digital, and solid state.....

Sincerely,
Bapcha

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