Devialet D-Premier and B & W PM1 at Cloney Audio

[Ciaran]

I called into Cloney's yesterday and Ivan showed me some new arrivals: the Devialet D-Premier 2 × 240W integrated amp and DAC and Bowers and Wilkins PM1 standmount speakers.

The Devialet looks unlike any amplifier I ever saw: quite like a very posh bathroom scales, shiny silver with a single display. It combines (in a new configfuration I don't understand) a Class A amplifier with a Class D amplifier (hence huge power in small case) and is highly configurable: you can tell it to be 50W or 120W, you can tell an input to be a phono input, choose MM or MC, adjust the capacitance, even change to a non-RIAA curve (if you're interested in all that vinyl stuff). It also contains a 192/32 capable DAC and DSP boards. It has digital inputs of several kinds including HDMI.

It looks really cool, and so do the new B&Ws: very small standmounts, very elegant, more Sonus Faber than B&W, with elegant matching stands available (a la SF). The sound was also more SF than B&W, very much to my taste! Ivan played some classical tracks for me (I'd been sent to do shopping in Blackrock and took the opportunity to drop in (purchase in mind!) so I had no CDs of my own with me). The combination sounded really great: very transparent, loads of detail and fast punchy controlled power where required, very clean and uncoloured. Then Ivan played BBC Radio 3 streamed over the internet via a Sonos box to the Devialet: I couldn't believe how good it sounded. Fantastic!

It sounds so great, it's so neat, it looks so cool, the Devialet can even be wall-mounted. You've got to see it! You've got to hear it!!

[Ken Moreland]

Hi Ciaran, I was in Cloney's two weeks ago on a mission to listen another object of desire and Noel showed me the amp briefly. It's a beautiful piece of equipment, it can be laid out flat or wall mounted to match your style. Great sound too but didn't have enough time what with parking meter running out and rebellious teenager in tow. Next time maybe.
KM

[dubber]

Beyond the means of my wallet, but the Devialet looks very interesting.

[james]

Any idea of price ?

[dubber]

Any idea of price ?

Not sure what Cloney are charging, but a quick Google search reveals prices around €11-12K :(

[james]

Thanks

[Fran]

We'll all be down to Cloneys for a listen so!

I'm sure we'll be welcomed!

[Ivor]

I'm just back from Blackrock, picked up a Funk Acromat and had a grand sit on the rocks by the Dart station. I was lucky enough to hear the very system Ciaran mentioned above with a Meridian CD player as a source. Absolutely lovely sound. Again as Ciaran says the B&W speakers sounded warm, detailed and very much bigger than the ought to! (i.e not like small B&Ws at all). The amp is a work of art, it could be dismissed as a lifestyle product but that would be unfair. I suspected some digital circuitry but it wasn't the cold sterile sound I usually hear from Class D or 'digital' amps, it was precise, detailed, warm and full range. My criteria for all systems is simple - could I live with it? Oh yes. I'm told it even has a damn fine phono stage.

[mcq]

It's worth mentioning that the first review of the Devialet in Hi-Fi News (which was a rave, by the way, and I think the editor, Paul Miller, still uses it as his reference amp) referred to the superiority of the digital inputs to the analogue outputs. Apparently, Devialet have addressed this in recent versions but it's worthwhile keeping it in mind for any prospective buyers.

I suspect, though, that if the Meridian CD player used was the 808.3, then that might account for much of the warm, smooth sound that many of you heard. It really is an exceptional CD player.

The new B&W does look very nice, however. The 805 Diamond sounds fantastic but €5K is a lot of money for many people in the current economic climate right now and B&W badly needed a sensibly priced replacement for the old 805S.