Devialet will always engender controversy. Their products are unique and some people will be drawn to their sound while others will not.
As I mentioned earlier we had the 440 on display, and in some ways they were spectacular: no noise, great dynamics, nearly unlimited power, so yes they would sound good on most speakers.
The real question for $19k a pair can you get something which is better?
So KW6 unless you had a comparable set of electronics how would you know if you could get something better?
That is exactly what happened to us, we tried the Devialet mono blocks on both the Kef Blades with mixed results and our Polymer MKX-s terrible match.
The Blades sounded pretty good on the 440s, but failed miserably to replicate the sound of our original reference rig with the Blades which were a set of Chord electronics with a EMM Labs Dac 2Xse, and of course the Chord rig was much more expensive but remember the Devialet Hype that due to their technology they could build products which were better than any competitive setup all for less money with one or two little boxes.
We ultimately parted ways with Devialet as the D130 was too expensive for many people to be considered a starter piece compared with the brilliant Naim Uniti products or the new Micromega M100 and the D 440 monos were more mechanical sounding then magical.
At that same price point you can get a T+A HV 3000 integrated with similar power 300 watts vs 400 and that amplifier is magical, and yes it will cost more as you will still need a digital source, but at the end of the day, there have been many dealers who have tried to live long term with Devialet and just couldn't ameliorate their one biggest flaw, sound lacks passion and a musicality, that draws you in and makes you want to listen longer.
In the end we found the Devialet product to be a frustrating experiment that bore little fruit, we so wanted to love their sleek shiny superbly featured sexy boxes that were so good in certain areas and failed miserably in others.
As with any audio product the end user must decide for themselves if product x y or z will work for them, what we are saying is compare and contrast to see if adding this or any product will create the synergy you are looking for.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ
