Devialet Expert 440 Pro Dual Mono Integrated Amplifier

A Devialet patented technology, ADH delivers all the sophistication of analog amplification together with all the power and compactness of digital amplification. The best of both worlds. For amplification of unparalleled clarity and transparency, whatever the volume. At every turn. Revolutionary, in a word.

Invented by Devialet, ADH® Intelligence is the world’s first hybrid amplification technology. An industry-defining invention, ADH® works by simultaneously harnessing all the linearity and refinement of Analog amplification (Class A) and all the power and compactness of Digital amplification (Class D). Operating in parallel, our patented hybrid amplification system dramatically enhances performance.

ADH® is a new hybrid amplification topology offering a modern and elegant synthesis that addresses the many constraints linked to audio amplification. It is the result of work aimed at, for example, improving the low energy efficiency performance levels of analog amplifiers, still massively adopted in the “high-end audio” industry, but long since abandoned in the professional audio, car audio and portable audio player sectors.

Thanks to our hybrid technology, the analog amplifier determines the load’s output voltage, just as it would in any audio system, without having to provide the associated current. It therefore maintains the same performance levels for both no-load and on load operations, a unique feat. For peak performance, whatever the power level. Amplification in a class of its own.

In the analog amplifier, no passive component is present on the audio signal path. The active components crossed by the audio signal have zero capacity for load storage.

The analog amplifier operates based on constant power dissipation. It is therefore indifferent to past and present changes to the evolution of the musical message. There is no warm-up time and thermal distortion is de facto non-existent.

The analog amplifier is lightning-quick: its natural bandwidth is continuously stretched out to 5 MHz, ensuring optimal transient rendering and no phase shifting whatsoever. The actual bandwidth is therefore that of audio content during playback: 22.050 kHz for a file sampled at 44,100 kHz, 48.000 kHz for a file sampled at 96.000 kHz, etc.

The analog amplifer’s dynamic range is greatly extended, allowing for voltages up to 120V while maintaining inaudibly low residual background noise. For zero speaker hiss, whatever the sound level.

The digital amplifier is based on an innovative multi-phase, multi-level design operating at 1.6 MHz. 4 phases work together over 5 levels per channel, or 8 phases over 25 levels when bridged. Driven by a micro-processor, power transmission is achieved with no latency and extreme accuracy. The digital amplifier does not feature an output condenser, making it possible to attain 90% effective energy efficiency with ultra high power density. Once these conditions have been met, you can create incredibly powerful amplification stages with a minimal footprint.

There are multiple advantages to hybrid amplification. Output impedance remains constantly below the 1 milliohm threshold across the entire bandwidth. The resulting damping factor guarantees total control of any speaker on the market. Exceptional audio performance is achieved without special selection or peering of components. Performance is replicable from one device to another, sustainable and guaranteed by engineering.

In addition, microprocessor control of each amplification channel ensures their constant auto-calibration, as well as limitless protection against all of the following potential hazards: overvoltages, overloads, power pulses, thermal events

SAM – Speaker Active Matching

SAM® Speaker Active Matching works by recognizing the exact specs of your speakers. So Expert Pro can tailor the sound signal to fit their precise requirements. In real time. A major audio breakthrough, SAM lets your system achieve perfect temporal alignment between the recorded signal and the acoustic pressure generated by your loudspeakers. Pure emotion. Extreme fidelity. All your music, just as the artist intended.

SAM® is an electro-acoustic revolution. For the first time ever, Devialet SAM technology guarantees a seamless match between your amplifier and connected speakers. Almost all multi-way loudspeakers generate delay caused by the bass diaphragm reacting slower to the audio signal than the tweeter does. Mechanical and technical measures help to minimize delay that would otherwise disrupt the evenness and spatial quality of sound.

Playback is radically enhanced, with considerable gain in spatial coherence and transparency (each transducer delivers optimal performance). Your speaker model’s unique specs and character remain intact. By recognizing the functional limits of each speaker, SAM also allows for further extension into low-range frequencies.

Your speakers are now performing at their very best. Click here to browse the database of over 1000 SAM-Ready speakers.

Preliminary laboratory work carried out via SAM® Lab enables us to identify sixty or more different parameters per speaker model. SAM® analyzes transducer characteristics using laser technology. These include displacement, deformation, maximum displacement, speed and acceleration. By measuring passive filters, we can determine resonance (event bass-reflex and passive radiators) while factoring in the overall impact of casing and damping. Once this data is compiled, SAM® is able to produce a full physical behavioral model. The collected data also allows us to calculate the transducer SOA (Safe Operating Area). By doing so, SAM® offers permanent protection from overload, letting users reach higher volumes than ever before.

Similar to transfer function, this physical model is inverted in real time using digital signal processing technology before digital-analog conversion occurs. The result: acoustic pressure in the air perfectly matches the signal registered by microphones during the recording process.

A temporal process, SAM® runs on an open loop and without sensors. No changes to set-up are required. The process is strictly causal and generates no pre-echo.

RAM – Record Active Matching

The most advanced phono stage ever created. With next-generation RAM® technology, your Expert Pro phono stage becomes instantly and endlessly configurable, working in real time to custom fit the exact characteristics of your turntable or vinyl records. Experience high-precision tailoring, serving the musical heritage of your recordings.

With countless settings and full MM/MC, stereo and mono compatibility, Expert Pro phono inputs feature custom input impedance and a range of capacitors. Expert 220 Pro, 250 Pro, 440 Pro and 1000 Pro models offer over 256 combinations for your MM or MC cartridge and 13 RIAA equalization curves. These options are available via our online configuration tool. RAM® technology allows you to adjust EQ dynamically and with unrivalled accuracy. The most precise phono stage in the world lets you achieve absolute synergy between Expert Pro and any album from your vinyl library, whatever the provenance or date of the recording.

Expert Pro also features an intelligent vinyl digitizing system thanks to adjustable digital sampling rate output (up to 192 kHz/24 bits).

DAC – Magic Wire™

By inventing Magic Wire® technology, Devialet was able to achieve the shortest signal path ever reached between DAC and connected speakers: just 5cm. A world record. Magic Wire® works by avoiding potential audio signal imperfections, providing seamless impedance matching and keeping unwanted noise to an absolute minimum.

To reach extreme new levels of performance, Devialet completely reworked the finest digital-analog converter, driving noise and distortion as close to zero as technically possible.

Upstream from digital-analog conversion, bit-perfect processing of audio samples makes it possible for playback to remain 100% faithful to the original recording. Post digital-analog conversion, the signal is inevitably altered to some degree. However good your audio system, the track will never be 100% identical. That’s why digital-analog conversion needs to happen as late as possible.

By bringing DAC closer to speaker output than ever before – right to the very heart of each phase in ADH® amplification – Magic Wire® technology keeps the analog signal path to a strict minimum. Just 5cm lie between the start of the analog signal and amplification, compared to distances spanning several meters and hurdles in conventional systems.

Standard systems typically operate on a cascaded circuit: current output convertor, Op Amp current-to-voltage conversion (transconductance), pre-amplification, and then amplification. Each stage in sound reproduction inevitably damages the integrity of the original sound signal. Magic Wire® does the exact opposite: transconductance, anti-aliasing filtering and system total gain all occur synchronically.

Magic Wire® works according to a feedforward model with zero load storage capacity, automatically keeping power at a constant while self-calibrating and compensating for converter dispersion. Magic Wire® massively overshoots manufacturer specifications.

The outcome is nothing short of spectacular: The straight wire with gain.

Switch-mode power supply

Expert Pro uses a revolutionary switch-mode power supply to take you from absolute silence to explosive dynamics. At lightning speed. This ultra high-performance power supply method feeds the rest of the system, achieving energy efficiency rates of 90%.

Power supply is unaffected by the mains and runs silently with remarkably low electromagnetic disturbance. It is universal and compliant with all power grid supplies: 90-240Vac – 50/60Hz. Driven by a microprocessor, power supply is automatically protected from anomalies including surges, dips and overloads. On a practical level, functional range is stretched out even further to 50 – 270Vac ~ 40/70 Hz, making your Expert Pro available for use anywhere in the world.