[Freo-1]

The price to upgrade a D-Premier dropped enough that I decided to upgrade my D-Premier unit.   Had debated at length whether to get this done or not.  Decided in the end to give it a go.


The entire process took 3 weeks from the US to Paris and back.  Devialet did a first rate job with shipping and timely updates.   Unit came back in a new box and associated SD card, manuals, etc. 


The upgrade was extensive.  They basically replace the entire  set of internals , install a new 100% copper bottom plate and rear panel.  Everything in the amp has been re-done, with a new power supply that reduces noise by 6 db, significantly more reserve and on-demand power availability, a revised DAC section that enhances playback, a new amplifier section that has significantly more  resolution, Speaker Active Matching , and extensive streaming support.


I had counted on an improvement in sonic performance.  What I didn't realize until I had auditioned for a period of a few weeks was just how much of an improvement was wrought as a result of the upgrades.  If one goes back and reads the reviews of the D-Premier, you will get an idea of how good that unit sounded.  The D-250 Pro betters the D-Premier in every aspect of playback performance.  The two words that best describe the D-250 Pro are accuracy and clarity.   Never have I heard an audio payback system reproduce music with such stunning clarity.  It's difficult to describe the effect it has on music reproduction, but one you hear it, it's hard to go back.   My speakers have all SEAS Excel drivers and SEAS Millennium tweeters.  Very revealing drivers.  The D-250 Pro brought out the full potential of these drivers.     


The difference is most noticeable when comparing the 250 Pro to another playback setup.   The difference jumps out at you.  The listener will suddenly notice the difference in clarity and resolution with the non D-250 Pro setup. 


The 250 Pro may have cured my upgrade bug with amps/DACs for good.  Don't think this can be improved upon at any reasonable price point.  Will jot down some additional thoughts ad provide a review in the near term.   

[avta]

Well maybe remission. I’m a long time Devialet fan. I’ve had their Phantoms for a few years. Started with the Reactor ll ‘s then upgraded to the Phantom l’s about a year ago. I was amazed when I first got them. All that sound coming out of those 2 bowling balls. No cables, stuff all over my desk. Just plug them in and use my iMac to run Roon over wireless. Terrific sound too.

[Freo-1]

Well maybe remission. I’m a long time Devialet fan. I’ve had their Phantoms for a few years. Started with the Reactor ll ‘s then upgraded to the Phantom l’s about a year ago. I was amazed when I first got them. All that sound coming out of those 2 bowling balls. No cables, stuff all over my desk. Just plug them in and use my iMac to run Roon over wireless. Terrific sound too.

Nice. Those speakers sound great.  Jeff Dunham uses those. 


Devialet has just released a sound bar for HT.  Would like to hear it.

[JLM]

Congrats, a real ground breaking device!  One that fascinates me.

[Freo-1]

Congrats, a real ground breaking device!  One that fascinates me.

Thank you most kindly.  Appreciate it.


The 250 Pro really is an amazing bit of kit.   Listening to Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters Blues and Ballards CD, it sounds like you are in the studio. Very few systems have provided that illusion.  The soundstage has depth, height,  and width, with jaw dropping clarity. 


With most all in one systems,  there is usually some trade offs made.  There are none with the D 250 Pro.   An argument can be made that due to the fact that the entire playback chain is encased in one housing, the DAC and phono section have a extremely short distance between them, with an absolute minimum of components connecting the sections,  and no interconnects to deal with,  the signal is as clean and accurate as possible,  with virtually no loss or degrade.


If your chosen speaker is supported by SAM,  even better.   SAM cleans up the bottom octave while protecting the speaker.  Over one thousand speakers are currently supported,  and more are added each month. 

[Freo-1]

The following is a review of the devialet Expert Pro D-250 integrated amplifier. 

The system that was used to evaluate the Expert Pro 250 was as follows:

   Chord M/Scaler
  Tyler Acoustics Linbrook Signature Floor standing speakers.  The crossover and internal wiring have been upgraded with an addition 1000.00 worth over stock. (Clarity caps, Dueland wiring, Upgraded coils and resistors)
   SVS Subwoofer PC4000 subwoofer


Most of the listening was conducted with the M-Scaler set to the third upscale level (176/192 KHz).  The sub was set up to integrate with the Linbrook speakers as sealed, low pass set to 50 Hz, 24db/octave.
For comparison, a 100 watt 8552 monoblock tube amp was substituted to evaluate deltas from the D-250 Pro.  Also used a Devialet Expert 220 Pro for comparison.
I have owned the Devialet D-Premier for some years now, and thought that the D-Premier was at the top of the integrated amp chain.  When it came out, it opened a whole new avenue of integrated amplifier, as the Digital to Analog conversion was built in.  The fact that it sounded better than the majority of high-end separate DACs was a bonus.  Here are some links to reviews of the D-Premier:
·       https://www.tonepublications.com/review/devialet-d-premier/
·       https://www.stereophile.com/content/devialet-d-premier-da-integrated-amplifier
·       https://positive-feedback.com/Issue67/devialet_dpremier.htm

The Devialet is not a typical class D amp.  The topology is unique, as the voltage is generated in class A, while the current demand is handled in class D.  It’s been speculated that it is similar in concept to the feed forward current dumping design developed by Peter Walker from Quad.  Prior to Devialet, owned gear from Audio Research, Pass Labs, Mcintosh, Primare, Electrocompainet, along with custom made tube amps and preamps.  To me, the D-Premier was more to my liking than anything else I have owned.
Devialet has offered the upgrade path for their Expert line as improvements were made.  When the D-250 came out, didn’t think the cost to upgrade was worth the expense.  The improvement in sonic character from the D-Premier was not significant to me.  The D-Premier already had the wi-fi board.  However, when the Expert Pro 250 came out, the upgrades to the amplifier stage, power supply, and DAC were sufficient enough to investigate.  The unit also had significant upgrades to the wi-fi and streaming availability.  The price for the upgrade, while not cheap, was reduced to the point where it was worth the investment.  Even if I didn’t like it, I could flip the unit for more than I had into it.  Contacted Devialet, and shipped the unit off to Paris.  Turn around time was three weeks.  Devialet was excellent to deal with, first class treatment all the way.
The upgrade is very extensive, as they put in all new electronics throughout.  The unit came back in all new packaging, new manuals, new SD card.  The description of the upgrade is pretty extensive, so a link is provided that outlines the major items
·       https://positive-feedback.com/audio-discourse/devialet-d-premier-upgrade-to-expert-250-pro/

The back and the bottom of the unit has a pure copper plate, which isn’t cheap. So, was the upgrade worth it?  Absolutely!  Read on to find out.

For evaluation purposes, primarily used symphonic music, with some acoustic jazz and occasional big band.  The reason for using this kind of music is twofold:
1.       I have some idea of what those types of music should sound like.  While no stereo can sound exactly like a live event, the idea here is to get as close as possible to create the illusion of the event.
2.       I really don’t have a point of reference for rock and electronica music as to what is supposed to sound like.  Too many variables.

I used the same evaluation tools that was used to evaluate a Peachtree Audio Gan400 amp, several DVD’s of symphonic music from the Berlin Philharmonic 25^th anniversary.  The recordings on these DVD’s are first rate.  Dvorak’s 8^th and 9^th symphonies both sounded outstanding.  The differences between the Chord/Peachtree setup vs. the D-250 Pro were stark, much more so than I would have thought.  The D-250 Pro clearly outshined the other setup in every way imaginable.  The instruments took on an air of realism that was outright spooky.  The listener was transported to the center of the hall, slightly forward of the middle seating.  The attack and decay of strings, horns, and percussion was VERY natural sounding.  The Tyler speakers now sounded like they could have easily sold for far more money.  They sounded like an ideal match for the D-250 Pro.  One can clearly all the sections of the orchestra, and the body of the violins and cellos are reproduced with absolute timbre that I have not heard from any stereo at this level to date.  Piano is reproduced with stunning clarity and realism.  If one is standing in an adjoining room, the illusion of someone playing a live piano in the next room is there.
This setup also does an amazing job with studio recordings.  Vocals, both male and female, are simply the best I’ve ever heard to date.  It’s a noticeable jump up in natural sounding realism from the D-Premier, or any other setup I’ve heard with vocals and instruments.  With most excellent setups, one can get the illusion that you are listening to a original master tape of the studio session.  With the D-250 Expert Pro, one gets the illusion of actually sitting in the studio session live as it’s occurring. 

Comparing the Chord/tube setup to the D-250 Pro, the former is warmer sounding, more like sitting in a small nigh club listening to a live band.  The sound is quite pleasant, but lacks the timbre and complete natural clarity of the D-250 Pro.  If one is listening to small scaled music, it’s much less noticeable than listening to a full-blown symphony, such as Saint-Saens 3^rd symphony.  Some may prefer the added warmth of the Chord/tube setup, but my observation would be that most would prefer the D-250 Pro.
The Devialet Expert Pro 220 is very close sonically to the D-250 Pro.  The difference sonically is that the D-250 Pro is better across the board, be it timbre, low level detail, dynamics, etc.  This is primarily due to the differences in the power supply, along with a slight difference in the amp stage.  One can add a second 220 Pro, configured to mono, to get 440 watts output.  A second 250 Pro gets one up to 1000 watts.  I can report that the single 250 Pro was more than sufficient to power the Tylers.

One major point to keep in mind:  The D-250 Pro is an all-in-one solution, including a DAC, phono, and streaming inputs.  The amp can be configured to each individual user’s needs.  There is a strong argument to be made that one of the major reasons for the 250’s outstanding performance is the design is optimized to work together.  No need for extra interconnects, extremely short paths between the various sections of the unit.  You don’t have to worry if your DAC, phono preamp, preamp, power amp, or interconnects are compromising performance.  The integrated solution eliminates any of those concerns.  This product (and ones like it) prove that separate components are not necessciairly the best option for reference quality sound.  By the time you pay for all the separates, along with cables, the D-220 Pro or D-250 Pro suddenly don’t seem so expensive.  One item I did not mention but works very well is Speaker Active Matching (SAM).  I have a pair of Dynaudio Focus 360 speakers, and I can report that SAM does indeed improve the performance of the 360’s.  SAM does the following:
·      Extends the lower frequency response
·       Gets rid of distortion in the lower registers
·       Ensures the speaker is not over-driven

In summary, can’t praise this product enough.  This all-in-one solution sounds better to me than many high-end systems I’ve heard or auditioned that cost a lot more.  I’ll be off the equipment merry go round for quite some time.  The fact it’s not a 100 lb behemoth is even better.

[Norman Tracy]

Freo-1 and avta thanks for sharing your Devialet experiences. I am considering the new Devialet Dione soundbar as a solution for a client + friend. Have your Devialet amps and speakers been reliable and solid in day to day use? Once set up are they simple to use by the non-technical user?

Thanks

[Freo-1]

Freo-1 and avta thanks for sharing your Devialet experiences. I am considering the new Devialet Dione soundbar as a solution for a client + friend. Have your Devialet amps and speakers been reliable and solid in day to day use? Once set up are they simple to use by the non-technical user?

Thanks

No worries.  I've owned Devialet products for about six years, and have found them to be uber reliable.   Once set up, very easy to use.  Setup can be a bit tricky if not technically inclined.


The technology is well ahead of most other audio products. 

[avta]

Same here. Never had a problem. In addition Devialet offers an optional extended warranty of 5 yrs on the products I’ve had which I have purchased. They have recently offered a repair program as well. I’ve not really had any occasions to use their Support Services over all the years I’ve owned their equipment.