Audacious Audio

It was during a visit to my music room by five members of the small Off-Islanders Audio Society that the magic of the dCS Varèse Music System ($267,500 as reviewed; $305,000 with CD/SACD transport) became clear.

One member had requested the 24/192 version of "Splendido Sundance" from Saturday Night in San Francisco (24/192 FLAC, Columbia-Legacy/Qobuz), performed by Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, and Paco de Lucía and recorded live in the Warfield Theatre on December 6, 1980. I'd attended the unveiling of the LP remastering of this recording, presented by the album's co-executive producer, Abey Fon, in the Audio Reference room at High End Munich 2024. The system, which was first class, included a VPI Titan turntable, D'Agostino Relentless preamplifier and Relentless 800 mono amplifiers, a VTL TP-6.5 Series II Signature phono preamplifier, Wilson Audio XVX loudspeakers, Nordost cabling, a Stromtank power generator, and an unheard three-piece dCS Vivaldi APEX music system.

Silver platters and I began divorce proceedings over a decade ago. The separation began when the husband and I contemplated liberating ourselves from crime-ridden East Oakland and moving to placid Port Townsend. There was no way I was going to haul 55 big boxes of CDs 846 miles and have no place to put them.

Within seconds after hitting play on the 2006 remaster of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," played back with the dCS Vivaldi Apex DAC, what I thought would be a lovely opportunity to wax nostalgic morphed into something far deeper. The first few bars of the song grabbed us like nothing else we'd listened to over the past 10 days. Flack's complete calm, unwavering focus, and unapologetic intimacy took our breath away. The soundstage was wide, the silence profound, the presentation pristine. The beauty of Flack's voice and passion, enhanced by John Pizzarelli's guitar, Ron Carter's bass, and Ray Lucas's drums, transformed the music room into a holy sanctuary. Toward the end of the first verse, right before "To the dark and the endless skies," I rose long enough to turn off the lights. We sat together in silence, barely breathing.

I first heard about Devialet and their inaugural product, the D-Premier integrated amplifier, in show reports from the 2009 Salon Haute Fidélité Paris show. Fascinated by its idiosyncratic design and ignorant of the boundaries of my own comprehension, I looked up the patents. Devialet's flag was planted in my consciousness.

Most reviews are straightforward. One preamplifier or power amplifier replaces another. DACs are swapped out. A new pair of speakers takes up residence in the listening room.

But some products demand a complete revision of a system's architecture. Such was the case with Devialet's D-Premier ($15,995). Not only is this French product an integrated amplifier, with phono and line analog inputs; it has digital inputs and an internal D/A section.

Nick Doshi is cautiously reserved when he talks about his amplifiers, preferring to let the products speak for themselves. At every show I've heard them at, from Chicago to DC to Munich, they have done exactly that: Every system I've heard featuring a Doshi amp has delivered great sound. When I pressed him as to why, he just smiled.

In this age of $70,000-plus "flagship" designs, perhaps $25k is no longer an obscene amount to pay for a pair of loudspeakers. Still, it's mucho dinero. What makes a speaker worth this kind of bread? Does the product's intrinsic value really warrant such a lofty cost, or is it merely a matter of pricing at what the market will bear? The answers to these questions requires careful examination of not only the speaker, but also of the buyer's own soul, priorities, and pocketbook.