Ayre AX-5, Devialet 200, Lavardin IT etc.

I have been think of changing my amplification lately and have started to think about using an integrated amplifier. At the moment I am running a pair of Classé CAM-350s and a Classé CP-65 Line Level Pre-Amplifier with the Ayre P5xe Phono Pre-Amplifier.

I have got this notion that I seriously want to reduce the number of 'boxes' I have around my place and I wonder if an integrated is the answer? Would I suffer a diminution in the sound quality I have with the Classé 350/CP-65 by opting for one of the integrated amplifiers I have mentioned?

The Ayre AX-5 is attractive because it has 4 sets of XLR inputs and outputs and has been well reviewed all over, it seems. I have read glowing reports everywhere on the French Devialet amplifiers and a friend used a Euro 9K Special Anniversary Edition of the Lavardin IT which gives him seriously good sound. I did consider separate Plinius pre and power amplifiers for a while but I have no dealer here in Ireland. On the other hand I could just get a Classé CP-800 and and CA-2300 for a little more money admittedly

Has anybody any thoughts on my ramblings above?

 

If I were starting all over, and space was a concern, I'd seriously listen to the Devialet. It does everything I want in one box. The reviews seem great but I've not yet heard it myself. My local hi fi shop has one that they'll loan me over a weekend sometime, and I think I'll borrow it just for 'fun.'

(I currently use an integrated -- the Naim Supernait 2 -- but have a separate network player. And of course since it's Naim, separate power supplies for each. So 4 boxes on my hi fi rack, that could be reduced to one very shiny Devialet perhaps.)

 

Yes, the think the Devialet amplifiers have to be auditioned. Everybody who has reviewed them has been glowing with praise for these French amplifiers. It seems to me too that cost wise they are not over the top. If I am not mistaken, the Devialet 200 can be bought for Euro 7k which is well below the Ayre and Lavardin not to mention pre/power combinations from Classé and Plinius. Furthermore, as we all (or some of us at least) age, the Devialet won't break your back or give you a hernia!

 

I don't think that you would experience a diminution of sound quality with the Devialet but you would definitely get a different type of sound quality. An audition is a must.
If lots of analogue XLR inputs and outputs are important to you, forget a Devialet as there are none bar a single digital XLR input.

 

I heard the Devialet at the Guildford Audio hifi exhibition, very clean , very transparent but it didn't make me go wow!!!! A new level in sound. Funny enough I m a little skeptical of reviewers for two reasons . First is they never pay full price for an item, so the true commitment is not there and they are constantly chopping & changing stuff in their equipment.

I would stick with your existing equipment . I would be happy to own it myself. I honestly don't think hifi from a true sonic view has come about in the last 20 years , the only revelations have been decent interconnects, power supplies , racks etc.

 

I heard the Devialet at the Guildford Audio hifi exhibition, very clean , very transparent but it didn't make me go wow!!!! A new level in sound. Funny enough I m a little skeptical of reviewers for two reasons . First is they never pay full price for an item, so the true commitment is not there and they are constantly chopping & changing stuff in their equipment.

I would stick with your existing equipment . I would be happy to own it myself. I honestly don't think hifi from a true sonic view has come about in the last 20 years , the only revelations have been decent interconnects, power supplies , racks etc.

 

Funny enough I spoke to dealers about all three of these amps recently....I know my local dealers well but I felt they were very cagy about the Dev and similarly when discussing the AX-5 with a dealer sown South he really didn't sell the amp to me at all and I love Ayre stuff -I owned an Ayre AX7/CX7 combo for a decade. The Lavardin was raved about by the dealer.
Not that any of that means much as stated above you should try to hear an amp especially when you've spent time building a system like you clearly have.

 

AX-5 hands down.

 

Interesting. I already have the Ayre C5xeMP and the P5xe Phono Pre-Amp so one would think that the AX-5 would be the obvious choice. I suppose dealers have their own individual preference. I think I will 'park' the Devialet because of the absence of XLRs and the fact that the phono signal is converted to digital. I saw the Ayre at Munich but that was it. It was on display but not part of any system. The Lavardin is a superb sounding integrated for sure. A friend has the IT-15 with the red faceplate which I understand is a special anniversary version (not fully sure) and it sounds very nice in his system. I think 'The Good Guy' is spot on too when he mentions choice of interconnects etc. For me, I would like to downsize and get rid of the clutter of separate pre and power amps. The Ayre AX-5 is attractive and it does have 4 sets of XLRs.

 

One box solution?

Devialet.


Demoed it, and was very, very impressed.
The fact that you can also vote to get your speakers SAM compatible, and also have the phono stage programmed to exactly match your cartridge?
They also hold their value extremely well, and have a five-year warranty/upgrade path... that puts a lot of ticks in the plus column for me.
IMHO.

 

As stated I loved my Ayre equipment-there were parallels between what the UK dealer said to me and the reasonably recent AX-5 review in Hi-Fi News-in both cases as much as they were saying positive things they weren't defining the strengths very well nor indeed seemed really excited about the amp.

I think there may be an interesting aspect at this level of equipment though. What I've detected from dealers is surprising honesty recently. The story with my amp purchase is a long complicated one but I was considering a new amp. Now I've no doubt part of the reticence was a lot of dealers don't like to just move boxes around-but at least three talked me out of exchanging/considering a new amp-all were solid state so that might have been part of things but the Lavardin dealer told me stick with the Rega it's an excellent amp. Several said at this level you are talking about shades and trade offs in sound-of course for people really into the game that IS what it is about. I discussed Hegel in length with a dealer as well.

Really it has to be about hearing any consideration in your own room with your other equipment-that's what I would go for.

 

I went through a similar thought process about a year ago. I had an Esoteric DAC and SACD player with external atomic clock, and a Audio Research preamp and amp with Sophia III speakers which had Ultra 5s under them. Also had a Mac mini with all bells and whistles for a source . All units had Stillpoints Ultra SSs underneath them on a Stillpoints rack. The speaker cables were TOL Transparent and near TOL inter-connects. Power cords were near TOL Shunyata all plugged into a Shunyata Triton. I really loved this stereo and really connected musically with it, but I had read with great interest about the original Devialet unit. I also wanted to reduce boxes along with the multiple inter-connects and power cords, but I did not want to sacrifice sound quality. When the new line-up of Devialet products came out the bug to experiment bit me hard. I arraigned a 2 week demo of the 170 now the 200. I was totally floored by the improvement in detail, air, and deeper and tighter bass. Most important was the enhanced musical connection. My wife and I found ourselves shook to the core. It was immediately obvious and totally unexpected. My plan was to try to get very close to the sound quality of the previous system and at the same time simplify. What I got was literally beyond my dreams, one box replacing all others. I could go on and on, but I am a very slow typist, just thought I should pass along my experience.

 

I just switched to the D200 because I wanted a one box solution and because I like the sound.

As Raferx mentions, the D200 (all models) is very configurable, you can dial the phono stage for your cartridge if you use a table (I do) and there is an awesome DAC, there are other input options and you can get SAM programming for your speakers (mine have a SAM module and it works).

My only beef, and it is very minor, is that the speaker terminals on the Devialet don't accept the spades on my speaker cables, they prefer bare wire or banana plugs, so I am using wires now that I don't like as much but I'll get that sorted out

 

I've always felt that Ayre components were great when used with other Ayre stuff. I believe they are designed to be run with balanced ic for optimal results. Of course I've only heard Ayre stuff mated with other Ayre stuff...

 

The Devialet is very interesting and has me intrigued. Especially since I read that Jeff Fritz (The World's Best Audio System) has now stopped that yearly saga and feels that the Devialet is the way to go. That recommendation is coming from someone who has had the very best of gear in his home system. Worth reading Jeff's thoughts

http://www.ultraaudio.com/index.php/features-menu/opinion-menu/508-closing-the-curtain-on-twbas

 

Devialet is so ridiculously good it's not funny. SAM processing, specs to die for, highly configurable, slim and sleek etc etc..

 

Ummm... wow.

 

I hear the Devialet 120 and/or 200 pretty much every Saturday at the local hifi shop we hang out at - and there's a 400 on the way. First impression was that they sound quite nice - a lovely warmth to them. After you listen to one for a while though, you start to notice how rolled off they are on the top - that warmth comes at a price unless you are swayed by a tube-type sound ( and many are ). I heard the 120 last Saturday with the speakers you can by them with as a package and it was easy to see the appeal that they would have for a lot of people who would enjoy a more relaxed sound and the asthetic. I would not describe the Devialet as particularly "transparent". Afterwards,we took the 120 over to a friend's place and hooked it up to a pair of Focal Divas which were not supported by SAM ( although I believe they could be ) and frankly it didn't sound all that impressive. As others have said, a home audition would be a really good idea. It's not really my thing but again, it's easy to see how the Devialet would appeal to many.

D.D.

 

Interesting - I thought they would have the opposite sound. Transparent, extended on the top, maybe verging on brightness; solid bass. I saw it at Munich when the original was first released a couple of years ago at the Munich show, but it was a static display and I have never heard it.

 

If people have heard the Devialet then great if they enjoy it-locally I have a couple of dealers who's comments make me doubt it but there's no doubt it's captured the imagination. It's cleverly designed and has great appeal for an ever changing market....maybe I'm wrong but despite seeing the odd one recently 2nd hand I've never been tempted by them.
I think it will be really interesting to see where this amp stands five years down the line.

 

Bass performance is quite good. The thing that really began to stand out to me after spending enough time around them ( at least the lower-powered versions ) was that the clarity ( which is not to say brightness or over-emphasis of higher frequencies ) that I was accustomed to from my own system wasn't there with the Devialets. Their sound is quite listenable and would appeal to a lot of potential customers. They sound fine - it's just not my ideal sonic signature, but so what, really? This is all subjective. That Class A/ Class D trick they pull off is impressive and likely has a lot to do with the overall sound they offer. They look quite sleek as opposed to a rack full of components and cables and that's a big part of their appeal as well. With those cute little white speakers you can get them packaged up with ( Atoms? ) it's an easy-on-the-eyes, space-efficient proposition that has obvious WAF and I've certainly heard worse-sounding stuff. In terms of bang for the buck, they are apparently extremely intolerant of dealer discounting -they are trying very hard to keep prices up on their units so don't be surprised that you are going to be paying list or pretty close to it for these.

D.D.

 

I think you've nailed a lot of what is appealing about the Devialets from what I've heard from dealers-one who claims to be a purist apparently refused a dealership with them-two others imho know this amp has appeal and I got the distinct impression (one wasn't local by the way) that whilst they could see the appeal of the amp after decades of listening to the best gear they weren't screaming "world class".
It's all subjective and relative-when you get up the tree imho it's all about carefully matching and what works for you.

I was really intrigued by these amps originally-to an extent I still am but over time I've started to doubt if these are quite the game changer claimed.....

 

I have an inherent distrust of dealers since the ones that I have known (and call friends) tend to push their product. Reviewers get to listen under the best of conditions so I always take what they say with a grain of salt.

Having said that the hype is rather loud and from a number of reviewers that normally don't agree on much. I would love to have a Devialet in the house for a few weeks. The proof is in the listening.

 

Devialet Ensemble System:
http://www.absolutesounds.com/pdf/main/press/DV-Ensemble_HIFIPLUS_Sept2014.pdf