GuillaumeB

Does anyone know if the Aries needs lots of running in to sound good? If anyone could share their experience with this it would be much appreciated. Cheers Guillaume

Great album! Many thanks for the recommendation. Superb sound quality, better than some of the high-res material I might add! Guillaume

Great recommendation - thanks for sharing! Really enjoying that album now (Nocturno).

Great recommendation - thanks for sharing! Really enjoying that album now (Nocturno).

True I also heard this. As an early adopter of UPnP (I got my first Linn streamer in 2008) I would say don't expect things to work too smoothly at first! It took a good few years for things to really settle down particularly from a control point perspective. Even things like gapless playback didn't always work. I've been hugely impressed with the Moon iDevice app, Simaudio have clearly thrown lots of resources at this. It hardly ever crashes and is very functional. There's also a new update in the works which looks very promising. The Moon MiND has a fantastic digital output optimised for AES/EBU, it really does sound fantastic feeding the Devialet units.

There's a pretty good one on HiFi Wigwam: Devialet D-Premier It's called Devialet D-Premier but it's ended up covering all things Devialet! Now 56 pages long.

I actually feel a bit bad about this one... Yes I did compare it to the Devialet 170 and 240 in one listening session and I didn't get on with it at all... it sounded harsh and thin... a few issues: 1) the unit had only had 10-15 hours of burn-in time. I would have preferred to have had at least 100 hours on it to make a fair comparison. My MiND sounded really harsh at first, for e.g. the brass in John Coltrane's Ballads almost made my ears bleed! It took a good week for that to mellow out. 2) there was an issue with the banana plugs - my Sarum speaker cables didn't seem to fit! I think they were very loose. The unit comes with its own banana terminals and it might make sense using them. That's why I haven't really talked about it much. I don't think it was a fair comparison. Also when disassembling it one of the rubber legs came off... also didn't think much of the remote either but that's a personal thing. On the plus side it looks gorgeous! What a display! You can actually read it from the sofa! For those that want it it also supports DSD.

Sorry Mike didn't answer your question... My experience with the Sneaky DS digital output wasn't good to be honest. And I tried all the different Linn Konfig settings. It just sounded like bad hi-fi although some settings were much better than others. The MiND on the other hand is really special. I think you're basically buying a streamer with a high quality digital output. The other thing that really surprises me is how good the control app is. To think it's only been out since the beginning of the year (or thereabouts) and it is so stable. I think in 2-3 weeks it's only crashed once. There's an update expected soon with lots of improved graphics and some new functionality. My feeling is that Simaudio are really investing in UPnP. I can't recommend this enough.

Well I have 3 zones of music which I can easily control via either the Linn or Moon app. My NAS can supply music to either. But the main reason is just that I find it very convenient and I'm used to it. I don't think one is necessarily better than the other. I'm sure your solution is perfect too. The sound quality I'm getting from the Moon/Devialet/Sarum TA AES/EBU combo is absolutely stunning and the best I have achieved so far. Like I said better than the analogue output of my KDS, and that is saying something! I've been experimenting with lots of different methods of feeding the Devialet and this is definitely the best - for me! I'm sure your setup sounds awesome too.

Glad to hear that everyone is enjoying their Devialet units. Unfortunately mine have been delayed again so probably looking at the end of the month, if I'm luck! Leica: excellent write up! I meant to say this a while back. The good news is that my dealer has been happy to let me keep the demo 240. My Moon MiND 180 is now properly run in and the sound from the Devialet (using the internal DAC) is nothing short of spectacular. I tried a number of different cables and have settled for a Sarum Tuned Aray AES/EBU to connect the MiND to the 240. I'm also using a Sarum Tuned Aray mains cable with the 240. The really exciting thing is that I am now enjoying sound that is better than my Klimax system and I have kept my UPnP setup. Better resolution, dynamics and just plain enjoyment factor. I didn't think I'd be able to beat my KDS but I think I've done it now!

Correct! And it sounds a LOT better than streaming via the digital output of my Sneaky DS. I've been experimenting with different S/PDIF and AES/EBU cables (recommended by both Moon and Devialet). Anyway I'm away for a few days but when I get back I'll post some of my findings. The Moon unit is brand new (arrived on Monday afternoon) so I am running it in for a few days. First impressions are VERY positive though.

I'm using the MiND app on both iPhone and iPad. It's actually pretty good considering it's not been out for that long. It's stable and it works! There is a major update in the works which will improve the look and feel of the app plus add some new functionality (for e.g. search). It should be due out in the next couple of weeks. I also experimented with using PlugPlayer and that seemed to work fine although I didn't spend that much time on it. Whilst the Linn Kinsky app will "see" the Moon MiND on the network it can't really do much more than that. I'm guessing that this is due to the Linn-specific UPnP extensions which are implemented in Kinsky.

Congrats! I've still got my demo 240 here, it's a wonderful piece of kit. I'm now streaming to it using a MiND 180 and the sound is fantastic, so much better than AIR. I really liked the sound from the USB connection too but really wanted the convenience of UPnP, especially with all my music sitting on a NAS. Looking forward to reading your post!

How are you getting on?! Did you buy the unit or have you got it on home demo?

Yesterday I compared the single 240 v dual mono (although one was a D-Premier I am assuming I am getting at least 90% of the benefit!) and you are right this is a substantial upgrade. What I would say however is that the 240 on its own sounds superb with the Sophia 3 speakers and I certainly don't have any issues controlling the lower ranges. But the dual mono takes things to a new level. Everything is just much sharper/punchier, and imaging is tighter, soundstage seems improved too. This takes the system to new heights when compared to the Klimax Kontrol and Solos combo. I wanted to ask you what cable are you using to connect the two units in dual mono mode? I see Devialet on their website recommend an S/PDIF to XLR cable which doesn't make much sense to me. I am also going to experiment with another renderer, for example the Simaudio Moon MiND 180 to see if I can improve on the sound that I obtained when using the USB connection (when playing music through my Mac) and retain all the control point convenience of UPnP/DLNA. I expect I will get this on demo in the next couple of weeks.