All the comments on the forum were helpful in convincing me to take the plunge on a Devialet 110. Glad to have done so and here.s some initial remarks.
Setup: Stock 802.11n router from DSL company, Xycel VSG1432 placed underneath Devialet. Signal -13 dBm. Mid 2010 MacBook Pro 15’ away, -52 dBm signal and -90 dBm noise. Speakers are a homebrew two way stand mounted design with Audax drivers.
First impressions: solid packaging, triple boxed. They took a cue from Apple with the packaging: there is a sense of drama unfolding as you cut through the seals. Comes with a Devialet shopping bag sporting their ‘Live and Lossless Sound’ logo. The black and orange bag turned out to be very useful trekking across town. Speaking of which, it.s amazing to be able to trek through town carrying a 110 watt amplifier. Some amps are a workout to carry from one end of the room to the other!
Setup: the unit comes from factory with the latest firmware, 6.0.9 or something like that so there was no need to update. Downladed the Devialet Air 2.1 app to the MacBook Pro, set up was easy. The only hitch is that the security settings did not allow the package to automatically open because it did not recognize the developer. No problem, hitting control open overrode security. Once installed, the app sits in the toolbar. Five minutes in, so far so good. Next step was to configure the Devialet to log into my home network. This was done through Devialet.s ‘My Maison Online’ and it generates a text file with all the settings. The .txt file is saved to the provided SD card and the Devialet automatically updates itself when the card is inserted. Fifteen minutes in, so far so good. Once everything was set up, Devialet Air took over iTunes and the Devialet logged onto the home network without a hitch. Music started streaming right away. This was a pleasant surprise as the setup is one of the non-recommended setups on their website. One of the nice things with the Devialet is that no third party software is required (ie Amarra, Pure Music, etc.,). It just works.
Impressions first day: this is one quiet amplifier. The lack of noise has to be heard to be believed. The closest description that comes to mind is this. If the musical signal is a flame or a candle and the amp is like a pane between the candle and the listener, tube amps have a tendency to act as a lens putting distance between candle and listener and often add an attractive halo of light around the light. Transistor amps have a tendency to concentrate the beam of light so that it is intensely focused. What the Devialet does is that it places the viewer closer to the candle, so close that you can see all the subtle flickerings and their effect on the light and shadows in the soundstage. It really doesn.t sound like any tube or transistor amp, type A or AB. Take the Cowbow Junkies’ Trinity Sessions. There.s always been a low, almost subsonic buzz that I.ve taken for granted as being part of the recording. Well, it.s simply not there with the Devialet. Or Leonard Cohen’s voice. It.s definitely less ‘chesty’ and has less of the ‘scotch and cigars’ edge than I remember. The upshot is the voices and instruments sound better defined. The clean sound, however, seems to make instruments smaller. It may be that noise adds a ‘bloom’ around instruments giving them an artificial heft. At this point I am not sure. Compared with what I have been listening to, the soundstage width and depth seems shallower. But no, maybe not. Channel separation is very good. I have to think about the soundstage in the coming days. To be sure, the Devialet does everything that has been mentioned on these pages. But to actually listen to it is absolutely fascinating. And from an aesthetic perspective, it was absolutely liberating to replace a multiple box system with all its jumble of cords and interconnects with one wireless unit.
Wifi: started getting dropouts every ten or so minutes with the initial setup. In the initial setup, the router was about 10’ away from the Devialet and 25’ away from the laptop. Moving the router underneath the Devialet and closer to the laptop solved the issue for most part. Still getting dropouts every couple of hours streaming 44.1 kHz music, but this doesn.t bother me very much for now. Over next couple of days will try moving the router around some more, little moves produce big changes. Anyone try adding a Wifi booster?
