My system had been good to me but ever since I moved into my house with lower ceilings, the sounds has been muffled and not getting the staging I wanted. I thought time for whole new system, new speakers, new amp, new TT, new pre-amp, new wiring, new everything. Fortunately I started with replacing my 18 year old Krell 500i amp with Devialet Expert 220 pro. The speaker matching breathed new life into my B&W 802 N speakers with clearer separation and crisper highs and mids. Also the warmth and clarity with my phono was amazing (after fine tuning phono stage configuration). I connected my Wadia 830 CD player and the a/d is impressively clean. And I was ready to dump everything. Wow was I lucky.
The visual gravitas of ML or others is undeniably luring. The Devialet is sleek, chrome, laptop-size - diametric opposite stylistically. I wondered how this thin sculptor was going to drive power hungry 802s, but the Devialet is amazing. Devialet integrates old school equipment with 21st century precision, extending new life.