Devialet 170: comparison to Naim

Well, a good reason not so switch might be that the D200 costs £6.4k whereas the Naim set-up you list (including the obligatory Hi-Line and Fraim) would cost around £30k... plus the Naim power supplies will buzz annoyingly and you will still have the urge to buy the 555PS that you should have bought in the first place and what about the phono stage - a Superline surely and that will really need a PS, then, of course, there are the Powerlines and on top of all that the Hugovangelists will tell you that you wasted your money on the NDS...  

Maybe sticking with the D200 is a better idea...

Too bad the devialet didnt come in one naimbox

If / when I move and have more limited space, a OneBox solution may be right for me.  I'll listen to the Devialet.  But I agree -- the Naim black box is much better looking!

Originally Posted by Venga19:

Too bad the devialet didnt come in one naimbox

If / when I move and have more limited space, a OneBox solution may be right for me.  I'll listen to the Devialet.  But I agree -- the Naim black box is much better looking!

Agree. I think Naims black box is hard to beat visually, and the sound gets me. Even heard a couple of Naim systems that doubles the cost of my education. Liked them all. If I had the space and the money I would stack up. Unfortunately, I belong to the poor and can only afford a one box solution.

Well, thanks to all you happy folks for jumping back onto this topic. I would not have bothered myself, except that based on my modest listening time, I feel that the Diavalet is really something to take notice of. And, even at the entry level, I'm very dedicated to Naim; I haven't heard anything that distracted me from Naim until this experience. So in a way, I'm commenting on my own level of surprise at the sound I heard. 

I don't know at what price point, or system price difference, the two systems really do become too dissimilar to compare, but at $7K, I think there is a real challenge here. I'd love to be able to listen to both, in the same room, one after the other. 

Damon,

as I'm sure you know there are Devialet and Naim dealers in Vancouver. if they really want your business then I'm sure they will oblige with home demos. FWIW I compared a Devialet 200 to NDX/XPS2/282/HiCAP/200 at home and I have absolutely no regrets about the decision I made.

Good luck!

Philip

I find it vdery interesting that this thread picked up momentum after being dormant for months!

Over the weekend a friend asked me to join for his cable shopping.  I was willingly a participant despite protests from my wife - who thought I'd spend money again.  The guy bought few cables and coughed up ~2000 Euros.  And these are entry level cables (from vovox).  

The good thing was I couldn't find anything I wanted to buy.  One box and I'm done.  

Side note:  Maybe I have low expectations.  A friend dropped by few weeks ago with his new goodies. An ethernet isolator, a high-end (read $1000) ethernet cable, and cable fluids.  We mounted all of them on my system and I had hart time to tell the difference.  I am a happy camper.  I felt I earned $1000

So if I want to buy another piece it'll be another Devialet to use as dual-mono.

I agree. With Devialet you don't need to worry about what equipment support to choose - just go with whatever looks good and speaker cables don't seem to make much difference either.  As with all high-end audio there are plenty of reports of power cables, expensive ethernet cables and grounding boxes making a difference and they may well do but I've yet to try them.  

The only really tricky decision is what source to go for - PC/Mac or a streamer... The Devialet is extremely transparent and revealing of poor sources but I'm now mainly using Qobuz and iTunes streaming wirelessly using AIR which works extremely well.

Originally Posted by Venga19:

Too bad the devialet didnt come in one naimbox

If / when I move and have more limited space, a OneBox solution may be right for me.  I'll listen to the Devialet.  But I agree -- the Naim black box is much better looking!

Devialet comes in black boxes too

Hi Stefan,

Devialet is not a streamer in the sense that an NDS or NDX is.  Instead Devialet developed their own streaming technology called AIR which is used instead of UPnP.  Basically you install their AIR software client on whatever type of PC, Mac, IOS or Android device you have and it takes control of the sound card so output from whichever music player you choose (iTunes, Audirvana+, Amarra etc) is transported by AIR direct to the Devialet.  AIR works over wired ethernet or Wi-Fi.  As far as internet radio is concerned - just choose whichever tuner you like best and it should, in theory anyway, work with AIR.

I'm currently using Qobuz and iTunes (bitperfect) with AIR on an iMac and can happily stream 24/96 files over wi-fi with no dropouts and it sounds great

There have been some interesting recent comparisons between iTunes/AIR and Audirvana+/AIR and streamers like the Simaudio Moon MiND, Auralic Aries and the Totaldac D1 Server and the only source that the reviewers preferred to AIR (which is free) was the Totaldac (about 5,000 euros).

The NDX with XPS2 is a good but expensive S/PDIF source (less good without the XPS2 IMHO) and I quite like n-Stream but (even though I did not want to get into computer audio) I find that I'm using my iMac/AIR more and more because I want to stream from Qobuz and that's the easiest way to do it.  

Manufacturers like NAD and Auralic offer Qobuz integration in their streamers and are committed to adding other services as they emerge.  It's a shame that Naim are lagging in this respect.

Best regards,

Philip

Many thanks, Phil,

very informative! I guess my MacMini with Playback software to NDS provides a similar functionality (but no Qobuz etc.) as the Devialet AIR then.

Stefan

Indeed, I do know there are dealers, which is where I've heard the products. If I were in a position for an immediate purchase, I might ask for a home demo. I have no doubt that Philip (for Diavalet here) would happily come by with a unit. The Naim dealers I'm a little less sure of, but it is not an issue at the moment. 

RE your comparison, I'm certainly glad you have no regrets; I would not want any of us to feel they've made the wrong decision. But I think your system is three-times the price of the D. 200; purely on that basis I would expect 'better' sound. 

Even with my UQ1 I have no regrets! I absolutely love the way Naim brings the music to me, and I have for about 10 years. 

But thinking about 'accessories' and add-ons, when I was at one of our two Naim dealers, I was encouraged to buy a $300.00 etherenet cable, a $1,000.00 power line and a $3,000.00 power conditioner. I did not get a 'with and without' demo there, but sheesh, that is a lot of money for things that I'm not sure a system should need. And calm yourselves, I fully accept that these things can make a difference, so I'm not starting that argument again. I did, however, appreciate that when the Diavialet was played, the position was that 'normal' good quality speaker cables would be fine, and that I did not need to run exotic ethernet to the unit. 

That was a bit refreshing. 

Hi Damon,

Maybe I was being too subtle - a common problem with the English. I bought the Devialet 200 and have had no regrets at all about selling my Naim system which cost three times as much.  The Devialet was better in almost every way    

Good luck!

Philip

Hi

The Devialets look pretty cool, however can't help thinking that having all those good things in one thin box it could get pretty hot In there...may not be good for stable performance or longevity...

BR

The cases are made of polished aluminium and act as a heat sink.  The display provides information on the temperatures of the main components - power supply etc - and mine rarely goes above 42-43 degrees Celsius which isn't particularly high. The casework isn't any warmer than that of my wifi router. They come with a five year warranty.

As I'm sure you're aware, even if an amp is rated at 200 wpc its really only putting out a few wpc typical use.

Philip,

Thanks for the follow up; I love the subtlety.  I think I lost the thread a bit so I suspect the gap is due more to my comprehension than your composition. 

Interesting (now that I understand) that you went from the multi-box Naim system to the D200. And if the D200 is up to that level of musical playback, then that is very high praise indeed. 

Thanks PP