Hiroaki Kitano

I just did a quick A/B test on D-Premier and 240 as I configure D-Premier and 240 to form dual-mono. Comparison between solo D-Premier and 240 in both analog and digital input. 240 is better than D-Premier with clearly audible margin. at the moment the sound came out, it was clear. 240 is more transparent and have better control of bass. The margin narrows when you use digital input meaning improvement of front end DSP of 240 over D-Premier is very effective. If you like tonal characteristics of Devialet over other gears, that I assume to be the case, 240 obviously the way to go. it has more openness and transparency, and bright and cheerful characteristics than D-Premier. after switching from 240, D-Premier I noticed a slightly darker/gray characteristics in mid-high. obviously, D-Premier is much transparent than most of gears on the market, but 240 goes beyond. this is comparison between SOLO D-Premier and SOLO 240, and I do not know how such different expands when move into Dual-Mono. if you use analog input, up-grade is a MUST. even with digital it is favored as the difference is audible. now Devialet is trying to decide where up-grade should take place. in France, or dispatch engineers to Japan and do it locally at Stella's workshop. I told then that they should do it in Japan, so users do not have to send out Devialet for many days or weeks. more user's voice would help them decide.

I visited mid September and talked with Clement. but, we did not discuss in the context of AIR vs. MiND. but he mentioned for AIR to be good, there must be strong signal for a very stable connection. implicit to the statement is he seems to prefer wired connection. I also met with Thierry and others, but only discussed on integral up-date from D-Premier to 240.

I am using RCA Coax for bridging two Devialet and using Analog from KDS and BNC->AES/EBU (XLR) from ADS. Currently, I am using TechDAS cable that is local Japanese one from importer of Devialet, and trying to find out better one if any. I am curious to know outcome with Simaudio Moon MiND. this is the one Devialet recommended when I visited their lounge in Paris.

when I bought G3, I compared against B&W 802 Diamond, and G3 was a clear winner. recently, compared with Magico Q3. Magico Q3 is a great speaker, but I did not like its bass characteristics. I am curious to see how single and dual-mono difference plays out with Sophia 3. I original plan before auditioning Devialet was to go with LINN KK and Solo from Accuphase gear, so that I can go all LINN electronics. so, I am curious to see how LINN Klimax line vs. Devialet dual mono plays out as well. as far as Klimax DS is concerned, we had a serious discussions with local dealers and Devialet importer and agreed that I should simply start with LINN KDS as a source, and see how it goes until digital feed get more established with Devialet software. It is OK for USB, AES/EBU, and RCA digital, but ethernet base streamer function is not there yet. also, KDS is pretty good already with attractive tonal characteristics. It would be interesting to see how NAS-router-Devialet connection comes out when they up-date their firmware in future.

I fully agree with your observation of tonal characteristics of KDS/1 over direct digital. LINN's silky sound in very attractive. Fortunately, I own both KDS and ADS (I decided to keep ADS when I up-graded to KDS), so I can switch between them to see which I end up using more often. Interestingly, KDS and ADS should have identical main board, but different box and minor details. Majik and Sneaky are different main board, that makes difference I guess. Devialet 240 single use and Dual-Mono is totally different. I originally configured single use, but could not control bass end of G3 and get too loose on bass side. driving G3 with dual-mono totally eliminated this problem and got better spatial representation, solid mid-range, and tighter bass. difference is astonishing. compare with single vs. dual mono difference, ADS digital vs KDS analog is nothing.

Sampling is 88/96kHz. unless I tuned for special contents, I use 96kHz as default as most studio digital equipment run on 96kHz. just expanding on number may not always gain quality. I have not tried PC/Mac USB route yet. I will try it out soon, but now wondering what would be the configuration worth trying on USB route. may be miniMac with Audinivana? would Mac Pro better over MacMini? I do not wish to use bulky set up here as one of beauty of Devialet is minimalist set up. Akurate digital out is transparent but Klimax analog is may be preferred if you want LINN's tonal characteristics or may be a bit "tube"-like sound. which one to use as a normal use requires longer auditioning, though. this is too close to call. This demonstrates extreme quality of Klimax DAC and Devialet ADC.

Tried A/B test between Klimax DS/1 analog to Devialet analog input vs. Akurate DS/1 Digital output (BCN) to Devialet AES/EBU digital input. Devialet is 240 Dual Mono (500) driving G3. Generally, it is a close call. Digital feed from Akurate sounded slightly more transparent and slightly tighter bass. but, analog from Klimax was somewhat bit more silky tonality which, I guess, is the sound tendency intended by LINN. Both are very high-level anyway. Surely, analog input is not losing much although it has to go through A/D conversion. however, digital feed from Akurate is more transparent. I would do longer run A/B test over next few days. cheers