Devialet D-PREMIER, The French revolution

Even in a world as apparently stable as that of stereo audio, in which, to look no further, many people remain loyal to components whose technology dates back almost a century, every so often someone comes along with an original idea which, in the best cases, results in a revolutionary product. Well, this month I have the honor of bringing you the Lab review of one of those components: the Devialet D-Premier amplifier, which combines in a single unit the functions of a DAC, phono preamplifier, line preamplifier and power amplifier, and does so inside a compact, elegant chrome-plated metal case whose futuristic appearance, as we will see, fully matches what it hides inside.

This is the only product from a completely new brand which, despite its lack of track record (or perhaps precisely because of it), has caused quite a stir in international audiophile circles in recent months, although few publications have yet been able to test it properly. I would like to put in a good word here for the importer -Sarte Audio Elite- and very particularly for the exclusive distributor for the central region, Clave Audio, because thanks to them I had the opportunity not only to test the amplifier at their premises with some notable loudspeakers but, above all, they gave me the exclusive -and, in my opinion, essential- opportunity to test it at leisure in my own system for a few days.

CONSTRUCTION

Many of you, dear CEC readers, are well aware of my passion for electronics and mechanics, and of how much I appreciate it when I see that a component has been well thought out and well made. So let me say right away that never in my life had I had anything like this in front of me. If I were told that this unit came from a crashed alien spacecraft, I would almost believe it, because it looks like nothing we have seen before. Ladies and gentlemen, this really is a 21st-century amplifier, and any other component (read me carefully: any, at whatever price) is, by comparison, like a horse-drawn cart next to a Formula 1 car.

Only in certain military or space applications have I seen this level of manufacturing, of attention to detail, of design optimized to the extreme. A glance inside may vaguely remind you of a computer motherboard. To keep things brief, I will give you one of the most striking details: there is not a single wire inside; yes, you read that correctly, not a centimeter of wire; the signals always travel along the circuit boards from the input connectors to the speaker outputs. All the electronics are mounted inside the case, which is not really a case but a one-piece block with a mirror-chrome finish, which opens from underneath via a thick metal cover that closes hermetically. And I'll tell you something else: inside I saw a chip that is not being used right now! I won't reveal the secret, but it is clear that the Devialet offers certain features today but will be able to provide something more tomorrow, simply by changing its internal configuration. The hardware is designed so that new functions can be activated via software. The most obvious example is the HDMI input: it is there but does not work at the moment; it will do so shortly, to allow high-resolution audio to be received from DVD or BD, since a catalog of concert releases already exists, and a pretty good one.

But perhaps I am getting ahead of myself. Let's continue with the obligatory description: we are dealing with an integrated amplifier that also includes a DAC and a phono preamplifier. It has two RCA digital inputs, one analog line input (RCA), another analog input for an MM cartridge (configurable for MC), another balanced AES/EBU digital input with an XLR connector, two optical digital inputs and an HDMI input plus output (not yet active, as I have just mentioned). Bear all these possibilities in mind when judging the Devialet's price, since it can replace four or five boxes, but we will come back to this at the end. Then there are the speaker outputs (WBT connectors for bananas, spades or bare wire) and the IEC power inlet, all very close together on the rear of the unit, which is very slim (barely 4 cm high), and this can cause problems when wiring it.

There is also an SD card slot used to configure it. Yes, all these connections can be configured, for example, to have only digital inputs plus one or two digital recording outputs, or to use one of the RCA connectors for an external subwoofer, or to have an analog preamp output for an external power amplifier. The possibilities are almost unlimited, and everything is done with a configuration program that is not yet available, although some alternatives can be downloaded from the manufacturer's website (for example, to switch the phono stage from MM with 45 dB of gain to MC with 65 dB): the configuration file is saved to an SD card, the card is inserted into the Devialet, and that's it; without the card, it starts up as I have described above. It is even possible to specify the maximum power, from 160 W (by default) up to 240 W per channel into 8 ohms, somewhat like remapping a car's engine control unit. However, it is at 160 W that the power is guaranteed to double each time the loudspeakers' impedance halves, thus reaching 320 W into 4 ohms and a spectacular 640 W into 2 ohms (that is the limit of the internal power supply, which is, of course, switch-mode).

I discuss the inner workings of the unit and how it operates in a separate sidebar; suffice it to say that internally the D-Premier always works in the digital domain. The analog inputs, phono included, are converted to digital, and here I have one of my few criticisms, since the chip used does so at a sampling frequency of 48 kHz, and a component like this deserves higher-resolution conversion, at 24bit/96kHz at least.

Special mention must go to the remote control, which uses radio frequency (it works even when not pointed at the amplifier), with the same chrome design as the amplifier (unfortunately a magnet for smudges and fingerprints) and a pleasant rotary volume control, and which also lets us select the source, bass management (when configured with a subwoofer output) and absolute phase. You had better not lose it, because the amplifier has no controls: the button with the brand's logo is used only to switch it on and off (long press) and to change source (short press).

Thanks to its design and relative lightness (barely 7 kg), the Devialet is intended to be wall-hung, not placed horizontally as we are used to. Its display orients itself automatically depending on how we position it, but horizontally it is impossible to read from the listening position and, I ask myself, why not duplicate it on the remote?

TESTING

With all the anticipation the Devialet has generated, I was eagerly awaiting my first encounter with it, but it was not a first date to remember; quite the opposite. During the event the importer organized last October in Madrid, I spent some time in the room featuring this component, combined with a pair of Wilson Sophia 3s, and what almost always happens at these events happened: the room worked very much against it and, in this case, even more so, since a huge piece of furniture had been placed between the loudspeakers so that the D-Premier could be displayed vertically. The result... well, let's just say that something from that experience encouraged me not to give up until I had managed to test it properly.

Part of that testing took place at Clave Audio's own premises, and there things were very different, even when we combined the Devialet with a pair of Wilson Audio Sasha loudspeakers fresh out of their boxes (and therefore far from their optimal point due to lack of running-in). With the Wilson Duets, the French amplifier had displayed impressive clarity and transparency combined with superb control of the low frequencies (even better than the Krell Evolution 302 power amplifier present in the room, and that is saying a lot). With the Sashas, at no time did I feel that control or authority was lacking. Once again, I had in front of me that surprising transparency and precision, which it was becoming clear is the Devialet's most obvious trait as soon as you start listening to it, but without any trace of aggressiveness or stridency, even at less than moderate volumes.

And then came the moment of truth, when, once it was installed, I switched on the Devialet driving my B&W 802Ds in my own room. It takes just a few seconds to appreciate once again, now on familiar ground (known room and loudspeakers), the traits I mentioned earlier. Without needing to warm up (the Devialet becomes lukewarm after a while, but its sound is the same from the first moment), and although warm is not the word that defines it, I do want to stress that its tremendous transparency and cleanness are not accompanied by any aggressiveness, as we have so often heard in other components, which force us to choose whether we want detail at the expense of smoothness. Here details appear just as they are, smooth if the recording is smooth and harsh if the disc is aggressive, without any veil. We hear the reverberation in recordings with surprising clarity, the small noises (violin bows coming to rest, pages of scores being turned...), and all of this makes the experience more real, as if the orchestra or group were in front of us. Impressive.

At the other end, where we might think a component weighing less than seven kilos would fall short, the surprise is no smaller. In "Planet New Orleans" by Dire Straits (from the album On Every Street), the presence of the deep bass is overwhelming, but even more so are the drum hits: I have felt that impact many times before, but never with the Devialet's speed, and feeling it as deeply in my chest, in my bones, as with the most capable power amplifiers in this respect (Krell). With other loudspeakers, the possible "2.1" configuration with a subwoofer may have some use, but with loudspeakers capable of good bass, such as the 802D, it is certainly not needed at all.

Music lovers do not live by big loudspeakers and wild levels alone. With the 802Ds at moderate and even very moderate volume, the Devialet's virtues immediately come to the fore, allowing us to continue appreciating the subtleties of our favorite music even at unsociable hours and very low levels; here, how tremendously quiet this component is also works in its favor. And a brief test with monitors also showed that the D-Premier is capable of getting surprisingly good results from any loudspeaker, even giving them more weight than their physical size seems to allow. Don't make the mistake of ruling it out for certain loudspeakers, because its very compactness and its ability to make monitors sing so well could be another very interesting side of it.

Up to this point I had always fed it digitally: I also tried the analog input, but not the phono input, because the turntable is in the other room and the tonearm cables are soldered to the dedicated preamplifier. I was surprised that the character of the source was preserved so well and that the warmth of the sound increased, although something was lost in detail and airiness. The sensation is as if we had turned the treble down a notch, and I suspect the cause is the digitization of the analog inputs at only 48 kHz. It is a shame, because it prevents users, particularly owners of fairly high-end turntables, from enjoying all the possibilities of the component. If the conversion were at 96 kHz, not only could we make better use of our vinyl but, with the digital output, even I (and I admit I am very lazy about this) would be tempted to have a computer next to it to record my own masters of my favorite LPs.

All in all, with some tracks the Devialet seemed to me so revealing, so moving... I think those reading this deserve to have one of my secret weapons revealed to them: the first aria of the first scene of Handel's La Resurrezione, in the Archiv recording with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre (it is track 2 of the first CD). After the introduction (sonata), that aria, Disserratevi o porte d'Averno, is sung by the soprano Annick Massis as I have not heard it in any other performance. In any case, this piece combines the voice with string and wind instruments in a way that causes many systems, a great many, to fail spectacularly when reproducing it (and not long ago it made none other than Ken Ishiwata wrinkle his nose). None of that with the Devialet; quite the contrary, as I said, the little Frenchman is capable of passing this tough test with the highest marks. Never, on any system, has this aria sounded as it did with this innocent-looking amplifier, and believe me, there have been many systems tested, with many variations. As I said, this is my secret weapon, and on many occasions it is the decisive blow that determines whether the component or system in question passes or not. If I had to pass judgment on the basis of this alone, the only conclusion would be this: until you have, or try, the Devialet in your system, you will not really know how your loudspeakers can sound.

CONCLUSION

Perhaps that last paragraph is the key that sums up my impression of the Devialet, from the first minute, which had not changed by the end of the test: this amplifier not only lives up perfectly to the cliché of letting us rediscover our favorite records; it goes beyond that and lets us discover the true potential of our loudspeakers. And I don't say of our system because, in reality, the D-Premier can literally replace almost the entire system, the only exception being the source, whether purely digital or analog.

This is where it is worth going back to the sums we were doing in the introduction, because by now I hope I have infected you with the enthusiasm with which I experienced this test and wrote this Lab review. You see, if we put together a DAC, a preamplifier and a power amplifier of a similar level (I don't say equivalent, because in some cases it may not exist!), we are easily talking about between five and ten thousand euros apiece; in other words, even buying very shrewdly we are still above the price of the Devialet (and we still need the cables), and buying a little less shrewdly we double it... or more. I feel uncomfortable applying the word bargain to a component costing two million of the old pesetas, but you understand me, don't you?

This amplifier is a component I can recommend wholeheartedly and that deserves my highest rating.

WE LIKE

Impressive sound in terms of cleanness, transparency, dynamics and smoothness.

Configuration versatility and "all-in-one" design (DAC, preamplifier, phono and amplification).

Exceptional design and construction.

COULD BE IMPROVED

24bit/96kHz conversion of the analog inputs.

Volume and source indication on the remote itself.

More space between the rear connectors.

Availability of the configuration program and activation of the HDMI input.

Specialists' rating: 6

Devialet is, as I said, a new French company based in Paris, and although its first product only appeared on the market this year, its founders have been working on this since 2004, when Pierre-Emmanuel Calmel, its driving force, left the technology multinational Nortel (of American origin and devoted to telecommunications) and set to work on a new amplification technology for audio. He was joined by his former Nortel colleague Mathias Moronvalle, and together they developed the amplification that the Devialet D-Premier is introducing to the market. The rest of Devialet's leadership team (the company was founded in 2006) is made up of Emmanuel Nardin, Quentin Sannié and Manuel de la Fuente, all great enthusiasts of high-end audio systems with close ties to music.

Devialet D-PREMIER, The French revolution

Specifications

CONNECTIVITY Digital inputs (all up to 24 bit and 192 kHz): 1 HDMI 1.3 input and 1 output (for high-resolution PCM audio), 2 Toslink optical inputs, 1 AES/EBU XLR input, 2 RCA coaxial inputs. Analog inputs: 1 stereo RCA line input and 1 stereo RCA phono input (configurable MM or MC), both digitized internally at 24bit/48kHz. Wire or 4 mm banana outputs for main loudspeakers. MAXIMUM OUTPUT POWER: 240W per channel into 8 ohms (with less than 0.001% THD+N). OUTPUT IMPEDANCE 0.001 Ohm. MAXIMUM POWER CONSUMPTION 600W, 5W in standby. SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO 130dB. DIMENSIONS 400 x 45 x 400 mm. WEIGHT 7 kg.

DISTRIBUTOR Sarte Audio Elite (963510798).