DeVote Fidelity O/96 versus Wilson Audio Sabrina/Yvette


I’ve now completed multi-hour demos in 5 hi-fi shops. I don’t think it was recency bias that my last demo day resulted in my top tier contenders. In the morning, we listened (in order) to the Sabrinas, then Paradigm’s Personas, then the Yvette. We really enjoyed the Sabrinas. I would say we respected the Personas, but preferred the "Wilson sound". Really were blown away when listening to the Yvette, but did not get a chance to A/B them with the Sabrinas. In the afternoon at the second shop, we listed to the smaller DeVore Gibbons, which we could not fault, but did not give that emotional connection like we heard with the Sabrinas/Yvettes. Afterwards, we listened to Orangutan O/96s, which were a solid improvement, but again did not deliver the "wow" factor despite the fact we had nothing negative to say. I’d like to go again and listen to the DeVore/Wilson products in reverse order as by the end of the day we were quite tired and might not have had the energy to be "wowed".

Long intro to get to the question - any thoughts on comparison of the speakers in the title? How much do you think fatigue played a factor?

We listened to the DeVore’s with a $4000 Line Magnetic integrated tube amp - I love the look of the tubes and really am almost rooting for the DeVore/tube amp combo to win. The Wilsons were driven by an $8000 Ayre integrated. Obviously the Wilson/Ayre combo is significantly more expensive, but the DeVore/LM combo really seemed to keep up.

Thanks in advance for the feedback!
128x128bruxesq

Showing 1 response by bruxesq

Thanks!  I definitely will revisit.  As I mentioned, I could really find no fault with the DeVore's, and I really thought they had a somewhat similar sound as the Wilson's.  I don't think it was the sound itself that was fatiguing, more that I couldn't stand to make comparisons of the same demo material for the 5th or 6th time that day.  The Personas, on the other hand, did have a borderline bright characteristic to them that I think I would have found grating over time.  The Wilson's had me hungry to play different music, and I think I may have had the same feeling about the DeVore's had I not driven 2 hours to the prior shop, demoed there for 3 hours, had lunch, and then further demoed at the new shop for another 2 hours.

I'd be interested in anyone's thoughts/comments on the comparison between these speakers, and if anyone had these short-listed, which way they decided to go.