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Devialet Expert 200 Amplifier, DAC and Streamer Review

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amirm

amirm

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Amir, are you using the AUX-0025 filter?

I don't understand the "Class A with a Class D current source". How much of this amp operates in Class A? I'm guessing not much.

Tom
I am. Really AUX-0040.
 

Tks

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Oof, this is perhaps the worst thing, I've ever seen in one of the most beautiful packages. The only thing that could make this device worse is if it was paired with a Totaldac.

So a few things to say about this one.
  • First off, thank you whoever bought it and sent it in to amir. We don't usually get to test these hiding-in-the-bushes manufacturers.

  • Second, bossman, a display on remotes? Just no, please, not now, not ever, I have enough things that need battery swaps and chargers. I'll live the rest of my life if I never have to see an actively backlit display on my remotes. E-Ink is basically the only sort of concession I'd make for that. Or displays that could be completely deactivated. As for the remote on this thing, I'm assuming you're talking about the rotary knob accessory that comes with it? Yeah that thing's design perhaps should have included a screen toggle at the top to pair with the round display found on the amp unit itself. Big missed chance for something clean.

  • Third, at virtually $10,000 .. No balanced is simply out of the question. This is lunacy even if this thing was attempting to be paper thin.

  • Fourth, $10,000.. whoa there buddy.. I can get a Matrix Element M, or Sabre-X Pro, and TWO ABH2 Benchmark amps... What sense does this thing make at MSRP?

  • Fifth, what's up with the failure to properly test this thing? This confirms without much doubt that they themselves did no such thing, otherwise they would have caught this issue...

  • Finally they better not screw the owner under idiotic pretense I sometimes see companies try to get out of warranty servicing a device.. "not used in a manner in concordance with our Terms of Usage" or something like that.
Another big name high end name bites the dust it seems. Oh and it looks like many more will be biting the dust if John's efforts in materializing a power amp for the market ever comes to fruition. But then again, the price bracket this thing appeals to, is so far removed from mainstream available parts I doubt companies like this care all that much. And the people advising consumers of these products about what would be a good audio system for them, keeping owners ignorant and blind to the actual rest of the world's offerings in the same manner they get shafted with respect to art advisors bullshitting them on what would be a good next art piece purchase for their collections..

SO all in all.. A great show piece, but a spit in the face insult of a performance offering to consumers.
 
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garbulky

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Great review. There's very few measurements of Devialet products out there. Did you try the phono input? Also did you listen to it?
 
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amirm

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Great review. There's very few measurements of Devialet products out there. Did you try the phono input? Also did you listen to it?
No, didn't get to either one of those before it failed. Planned to do both.
 
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amirm

amirm

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Second, bossman, a display on remotes?
Wouldn't need it normally. But because one can't see the display on this unit, you have to have something on the remote so you can tell what is going on.
 

wwenze

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Another big name bites the dust it seems.

Did I miss something in history lesson? The first time I heard of the name Devialet is due to their Phantom, and I probably feel the same as anyone whose first time hearing of Devialet is their Phantom.
 

phoenixdogfan

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JA's conclusion reads like someone asking Mrs Lincoln how she, other than the bit of John Wilkes Booth nastiness, enjoyed the performance of "My Ameerican Cousin." And,yeah, I was able to read the fine print on his review. Put me off Devialet forever.
 

Tks

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Did I miss something in history lesson? The first time I heard of the name Devialet is due to their Phantom, and I probably feel the same as anyone whose first time hearing of Devialet is their Phantom.

Fair enough, I mean't high end manufacturer. I don't know why I said "big name" at all tbh.

JA's conclusion reads like someone asking Mrs Lincoln how she, other than the bit of John Wilkes Booth nastiness, enjoyed the performance of "My Ameerican Cousin." And,yeah, I was able to read the fine print on his review. Put me off Devialet forever.

Lol what an interesting way of putting it.
 

stunta

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Can someone please explain in layman's terms why an amplifier would drop its power output so drastically at higher frequencies? Aren't higher frequencies easier to drive? I understand its bad design, but want to understand what it is.

I can only assume Devialet knew about this issue and decided to release the unit anyway which seems rather odd, so would this have been hard to fix?
 

direstraitsfan98

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I always thought Devialet was French version of Bose with a touch of B&O design aesthetics and upscale marketing style. The owners of Devialet seem like very clever fellows to raise so much money so many times. I read the wikipedia article and it seems like their last round of funding in 2015 valued their company at several hundred million dollars. Impressive!
 

tomchr

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I am. Really AUX-0040.
So the schizotypal behaviour starting at 10 kHz isn't caused by ultrasonic noise then. Once you get the amp to power on again it would be interesting to enable the 40 kHz AES filter on the AP and measure again just to double-check.

I've never had an amp behave like the Devialet did in your hands. It looks like it lost its mind. When measuring Class D amps I have had poor THD from ultrasonic noise. That will go away with filtering (hence, my question about the AUX-00xx).

Weird. I'm at a loss for words. It'll be interesting to see what Devialet says.

Tom
 

fredoamigo

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I always thought Devialet was French version of Bose with a touch of B&O design aesthetics and upscale marketing style. The owners of Devialet seem like very clever fellows to raise so much money so many times. I read the wikipedia article and it seems like their last round of funding in 2015 valued their company at several hundred million dollars. Impressive!

a lot of people in France like me don't have any sympathy for this brand ....their marketing, their very high opinion of themselves, their patent policy (most of the time buy back or royalty free) they pretend to reinvent the wheel every month ....


https://www.lesechos.fr/thema/articles/devialet-un-mix-entre-brevets-et-secrets-133348
"To protect his technology, there are four aspects: patent, secret, speed and brand," introduces Quentin Sannié, co-founder of Devialet. His company, created in 2007 with Pierre-Emmanuel Calmel, Mathias Moronvalle and Emmanuel Nardin, has established itself as one of the world leaders in high-end sound systems. With nearly 108 patents registered in ten years for all its technologies and a new registration every month, Devialet has set up a well-functioning intellectual property strategy. "It is necessary to develop quickly and deliver the technology to the market as quickly as possible. It's an ongoing race," summarizes Quentin Sannié.
Culture of secrecy

To do so, the company benefits from the sound advice of Lavoix, a firm specializing in intellectual property, but also from in-house expertise. Electronics, acoustics, signal processing, mechanics, each element can be protected. "We tend to patent major functional principles," summarizes Quentin Sannié.

For the rest, the company imposes secrecy on itself, particularly in terms of execution. The important thing is to find the right balance. "Instead of revealing, we hide, we don't explain. It's the black box, and the majority of what we do," explains the entrepreneur. The company plays a subtle double game, with a few areas of transparency to reassure investors and not leave customers completely in the dark.

As far as the patent is concerned, Quentin Sannié readily admits that it is above all "a deterrent device". Even if the competition is almost nil and Devialet has thus, more or less, never had to assert its rights.
A technology impossible to copy

The Phantom loudspeaker alone has 80 patents. The integrated computer embeds algorithms that will adapt the signal to the characteristics of the loudspeaker according to the music. To secure these algorithms, Devialet first protects the device. There is software everywhere and it is always linked to other patentable aspects," explains the entrepreneur. Our software drives a mechanical device, there's no point in using it alone. »

"The person who applies our patent is not going to be able to apply our technology," says Quentin Sannié. Clearly, a patent alone is useless without Devialet's know-how. "The complexity of what we do lies in the fact that software is linked to mechanical devices," says the co-founder. But paradoxically, Quentin Sannié says that his company may well not patent anything because the technology he claims is almost impossible to copy.
 
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amirm

amirm

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So the schizotypal behaviour starting at 10 kHz isn't caused by ultrasonic noise then. Once you get the amp to power on again it would be interesting to enable the 40 kHz AES filter on the AP and measure again just to double-check.
Oh, I spent a few hours working on that. Nothing fixes the issue. I limited bandwidth to 22.4 kHz and it still did the same thing. I tried digital and analog input. Same. The only cure was to lower power output. As I showed, JA at stereophile ran into the same thing with power limiting:

index.php


What was fascinating was the dynamic nature of it. It would jump down in power then back up in one channel. It is some kind of feedback loop.
 

Tks

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The Phantom loudspeaker alone has 80 patents. The integrated computer embeds algorithms that will adapt the signal to the characteristics of the loudspeaker according to the music. To secure these algorithms, Devialet first protects the device. There is software everywhere and it is always linked to other patentable aspects," explains the entrepreneur. Our software drives a mechanical device, there's no point in using it alone. »

"The person who applies our patent is not going to be able to apply our technology," says Quentin Sannié. Clearly, a patent alone is useless without Devialet's know-how. "The complexity of what we do lies in the fact that software is linked to mechanical devices," says the co-founder. But paradoxically, Quentin Sannié says that his company may well not patent anything because the technology he claims is almost impossible to copy.

First off, this guy is hilarious. Thinking we're computer illiterates from the 1980's or something...

"Software is linked to mechanical devices"

"Our software drives a mechanical device, there's no point in using it alone."

I must say, bravo Columbus.. Software that runs on hardware, or that initiates functional operation of hardware. How innovative.


"But paradoxically hypocritically, Quentin Sannié says that his company may well not patent anything because the technology he claims is almost impossible to copy."

Thought I'd help the article with that small correction there.

I had no idea this company was run by the apex stereotypical snobbery we joke about with respect to high-end companies around here in jest. This guy actually is full of himself to the same degree we joke about...
 

Tks

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I spent a lot of time reading reviews on JonnyGuru.com back in the day, and his reviews of what he called "Gutless Wonders", ie. PSU's that were so horrendous you wondered they even powered up, were some of my absolute favourites.

The modern day equivalent of this is when you see kilobuck products somehow with the audacity not to get compliance certifications. Or even sub kilobuck ones as well... And also end up being bad performers on top of it. How shameful really.
 

TimF

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So like sawing the magician's assistant in half, there really wasn't any magic. The old elixirs utilized alcohol or cocaine or some such tomfoolery and snappy marketing. Still, I found the magician's assistant comely.
 
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