News

Devialet Event in San Francisco, Thursday

Stereophile Staff  |  Feb 3, 2016

High-End retailer AudioVisionSF (1628 California Street, San Francisco, CA 94109) is having what it calls a "Big Free Event!!" Thursday February, 7:30–9:30pm, featuring the Devialet Limited Edition Reference LE900 Original d'Atelier 900Wpc Integrated Amp/DAC/Phonostage. Only 100 of the LE900 were produced worldwide, and the amplifier features a new 900W D-amp, class-A evolution circuit with updated transistors, a new filter board, and an enhanced power supply, The event will also feature YG Acoustics loudspeakers, Clearaudio turntables, and Nordost cables.

There'll be wine and cheese, and Bring your own music! Seating will be limited so please RSVP to info@audiovisionsf.com.

COMMENTS
spacehound's picture
Submitted by spacehound on February 4, 2016 - 12:22am

However, two problems

1) As it is so 'integrated' it makes upgrading (or just wanting something different) VERY expensive. This of course is not limited to Devaliet - for example, the same applies to 'active' speakers and is in some ways related. If you've got active speakers you are not likely to buy a Devaliet and if you've got a Devaliet you aren't likely to buy active speakers.

And there are ALWAYS better DACs, better streamers, etc. than the ones in ANY 'integrated' box.

2) Why do they make it look EXACTLY like bathroom scales? If I bought one Mrs Spacehound would instantly try and weigh herself on it.

Were it not for my point 1 it is likely I would have bought one some time ago. If they made one WITHOUT the DAC etc at a lower price I probably would.

What is it?
Basically the Devaliet amplifier is just the old Quad 405 'small and accurate class A plus a power amp' current dumping system with the current dumping part done digitally.

music guy's picture
Submitted by music guy on February 4, 2016 - 11:50am

You've taken a product that has been almost universally praised as a breakthrough design and innovation and reduce it to "...just the old Quad..."
Outstanding!
Then to suggest that you could be tempted if the DAC were removed suggests you have no real understanding of the technology. It is the close proximity of the DAC to the gain stages that makes this unit so extraordinary and worthy of the praise given in almost every review I have seen.
Does look like a set of bathroom scales, I'd give you that.
Upgrading is far more serious consideration but begs the question, if they are as good as reported by Harley and Fritz, amongst others, perhaps the serial upgrade game can finally come to a rest...(well, for a few years...we are audiophiles, after all)

spacehound's picture
Submitted by spacehound on February 5, 2016 - 3:49am

The principle is EXACTLY the same. A small Class A amp that 'sits on top' of the 'not particularly accurate' current-supplying amplifier. That's HOW they both work.

"No real understanding"
If YOU had any understanding you would not have been 'taken aback' by my FACTUAL comment above.

"The close proximity"
You have NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER of this as there is no way of separating the two and testing/listening. So in effect you just made it up.
Anyway, it is far from the ONLY integrated amplifier that does this. Offhand I could name at least ten, so there is nothing unique in the Devaliet doing this.

Have I made ANY adverse comments on how it sounds? No I haven't.

But try this.
Because it converts EVERYTHING to 'digital' it MAY be non-optimal for analog inputs such as a CD player with its own inbuilt DAC (causing a conversion from digital to analog and then the Devaliet has to do ANOTHER conversion from analog back to digital), a turntable, or an FM tuner.

And in fact every review I have seen that remembers to think about 'analog' has said the Devaliet is poor on an analog input and the above is the likely reason why.

Do I like it? Yes.
Would I buy one? No, for the totally valid reasons I initially stated, none of which has anything to do with sound quality. Though I MIGHT be disappointed with the sound of my very rarely used turntable and my often used FM tuner (in the UK and several other parts of Europe we still have FM radio of a quality that is greatly superior to 'digital' or internet radio).

misterc59's picture
Submitted by misterc59 on February 4, 2016 - 6:32pm

Great comment by music guy, quick now or someone may miss it. Bathroom scale comment, I can see it, Devialet products , affordable or not, have been experienced by myself, and thoroughly enjoyed. If I could afford it, it would certainly be one of my considerations, despite the "built in obsolescence" :)

drblank's picture
Submitted by drblank on February 5, 2016 - 1:35am

just not keen on the price, but that's because I don't have the funds to spend on it. Bathroom scale? That's the best finished bathroom scale I've ever seen.

I bought a poor man's Devaliet, it's the Nuprime IDA-16 and it's about 1/10th the cost because my budget couldn't afford the Devaliet. And the Nuprime does just fine. It's got plenty of power for a small room, it's clean, handles practically any bit/sample rate PCM and DSD. It won't do MQA until someone like Amarra or Pure Music gets that capability, but for a bedroom/office setup, that's all i need to drive some decent bookshelf speakers from my catalog of 16 and 24 bit uncompressed files. Yeah I wish I had the Devaliet, but it's just a little too expensive for my current budget, but it's a great AIO piece.

spacehound's picture
Submitted by spacehound on February 5, 2016 - 4:00am

Drblank mentions MQA. This is dependent on the DAC not the player (as far as we can tell from the vague MQA specifications) so Amarra etc. WON'T fix it.. And if the DAC is NOT certified for MQA then you won't get it. This applies to the Devaliet too of course should Devaliet choose NOT to support MQA or any other 'new' gizmo. So once again, the Devaliet limits you compared to separate boxes. You would need to BYPASS the Devaliet DAC, which you can't do, or suffer a double d/a - a/d conversion, as In my post above..

music guy's picture
Submitted by music guy on February 5, 2016 - 7:14pm

DOH.!

spacehound's picture
Submitted by spacehound on February 9, 2016 - 12:19am

There is nothing WRONG with the Devaliet. But being such an "All in one" box upgrading, or simply wanting something different after a year or so, can be very expensive if you had decided on a Devaliet at some earlier time.

And as I said, my comments on the possibly non-optimal performance of the analog inputs come from several respected reviewers, they are not MY opinion as I have never heard the Devaliet. From the reviews I gather that on 'digital' inputs it is EXTREMELY accurate and totally 'uncoloured'. Which is EXCELLENT by true 'HiFi' standards as that is what 'High Fidelity' actually means. BUT SO ARE MANY 1000 DOLLAR OR LESS JAPANESE AV RECEIVERS SO WHY BUY THE DEVALIET AT MANY TIMES THE PRICE? And lots of enthusiasts don't actually want 'accuracy', preferring what they call 'character', which is fine - it's their money.

MANY OF US, particularly in Europe (where it is designed and made) simply don't automatically cry "Awesome!" when prompted to do so.

kursten's picture
Submitted by kursten on February 9, 2016 - 11:54am

I wouldn't buy anything today that isn't ready for MQA. I'm in need of a new smartphone, for example, but am dealing with the laggy performance while I wait for HTC (or whomever else) to release the an MQA capable phone. It would be like buying a 1080p TV today. Ill advised.

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