Adrian Low
New member
- Thread Author
- #1
SoundStage! Ultra | SoundStageUltra.com (UltraAudio.com) | Devialet, SAM, and the Changing of the High-End Guard
High praise
"Because the Devialet 120 with SAM sounded so good with the diminutive S1s, I figured I’d try it with Magico’s enormous Q7s, a pair of which sat in the background in my room. I’ve struggled a bit to find appropriate amplification for the Q7s. I’ve tried numerous amplifiers, and up to this point the best partner for them had easily been Gryphon’s Mephisto -- which costs $57,000. Nothing else I’d tried had been as satisfying.
Until now.
Would you believe that the best match I’ve heard for the $185,000/pair Magico Q7 is the $6495 Devialet 120? I know -- hard to fathom.
I could not believe my ears. The Q7s’ bass was now superior to anything I’d previously heard from those speakers, in my or any other room. It was the most profound bass I’d ever heard, period. Like nothing I’d experienced before, the Q7s were energizing my room and my entire house
And then I did what any audiophile would do: I played album after album, from many artists working in many genres, reveling in this newfound high fidelity. Could it really be sounding this good? This is not a review per se, so I won’t give you a blow-by-blow, track-by-track account. What I can tell you is that I’d never heard music sound this good in a home. As I write this “Opinion,” I’m blown away by the implications of the effects the Devialet 120 will have on my listening and the writing that I will do from now on about other products. The phrase is too often carelessly used, but for once it’s an accurate description: It’s a paradigm shift.
The bottom line: The Devialet 120 -- with its paltry 120Wpc into 6 ohms and its price of $6495 -- was a great match for the Magico Q7s, whose cost matches their size: $185,000/pair.
This article will upset audiophiles who won’t want to believe that something as inexpensive as the Devialet 120 can be this good. I’m kind of upset myself -- I didn’t want to believe it. I’ve had Boulders, Halcros, and all sorts of great amps in my home over the years. The best of these brutes have been extremely good, and I’ve had some profoundly satisfying listening sessions with such products. Maybe I should have left well enough alone.
But the fact of the matter is that the Devialet 120 produced a quality of sound that I’d never before heard. Nor did I have to strain to hear it.
“Is Devialet really, really better than everything else?” I’ve definitively answered my own question -- at least, to my own satisfaction.
My advice: Don’t go near one of these things without being prepared to buy it. It’ll ruin you for anything else. For the folks at Devialet, that’s an extraordinary accomplishment"
High praise
"Because the Devialet 120 with SAM sounded so good with the diminutive S1s, I figured I’d try it with Magico’s enormous Q7s, a pair of which sat in the background in my room. I’ve struggled a bit to find appropriate amplification for the Q7s. I’ve tried numerous amplifiers, and up to this point the best partner for them had easily been Gryphon’s Mephisto -- which costs $57,000. Nothing else I’d tried had been as satisfying.
Until now.
Would you believe that the best match I’ve heard for the $185,000/pair Magico Q7 is the $6495 Devialet 120? I know -- hard to fathom.
I could not believe my ears. The Q7s’ bass was now superior to anything I’d previously heard from those speakers, in my or any other room. It was the most profound bass I’d ever heard, period. Like nothing I’d experienced before, the Q7s were energizing my room and my entire house
And then I did what any audiophile would do: I played album after album, from many artists working in many genres, reveling in this newfound high fidelity. Could it really be sounding this good? This is not a review per se, so I won’t give you a blow-by-blow, track-by-track account. What I can tell you is that I’d never heard music sound this good in a home. As I write this “Opinion,” I’m blown away by the implications of the effects the Devialet 120 will have on my listening and the writing that I will do from now on about other products. The phrase is too often carelessly used, but for once it’s an accurate description: It’s a paradigm shift.
The bottom line: The Devialet 120 -- with its paltry 120Wpc into 6 ohms and its price of $6495 -- was a great match for the Magico Q7s, whose cost matches their size: $185,000/pair.
This article will upset audiophiles who won’t want to believe that something as inexpensive as the Devialet 120 can be this good. I’m kind of upset myself -- I didn’t want to believe it. I’ve had Boulders, Halcros, and all sorts of great amps in my home over the years. The best of these brutes have been extremely good, and I’ve had some profoundly satisfying listening sessions with such products. Maybe I should have left well enough alone.
But the fact of the matter is that the Devialet 120 produced a quality of sound that I’d never before heard. Nor did I have to strain to hear it.
“Is Devialet really, really better than everything else?” I’ve definitively answered my own question -- at least, to my own satisfaction.
My advice: Don’t go near one of these things without being prepared to buy it. It’ll ruin you for anything else. For the folks at Devialet, that’s an extraordinary accomplishment"
