The Deviliad

The walls were tall - very tall - and at least a few metres thick.  Even if soldiers managed to climb them, they'd be vastly too tired to continue the fight when they got to the top.  This was the kind of construction often lazily ascribed to supernatural forces; built by giants, or angels, or gods.  The truth was much simpler; these walls were built by men and women, probably slaves, and paid for by the immensely profitable tin trade coming through the straights the city overlooked.  They were a statement of wealth, of strength and, ultimately, of pride.

As I looked up at the walls, the faces of the heroes immortalised by their role here took shape in the clouds - Hektor, Paris, Priam, even Aeneas - and I thought how incredible it was that we remembered them, the defeated rulers, even now.  Down the hill, upon the plain, beside the shore, there were the camps of Agamemnon, Achilles, Menelaus, Ajax and the hero of the story, Odysseus.  For ten long years, the Helenes looked up at the city upon the hill, hating its walls... though no less in awe of them.

I walked inside the city of Troy led by Mustafa, our guide, as he explained the ruin which lay before us; a ruin encased by impenetrable walls.  Time, rebuilding, the drifting sands had eroded much of the original city, but the message this defeated kingdom sent was still clear these three and a half thousand years later; a great idea can change the course of history.  Odysseus putting a few good men inside a big wooden horse is something we look to, even now, as being the kind of idea which defines the greatest minds.

I know what you're thinking - what does this have to do with hifi?  It's tangentially related, I grant you, but I don't like writing dry, factual descriptions of gear if I can help it.  But this is special, really special, and I feel the comparison is warranted.

We've been witness to an Odysseus moment.  A wooden horse has been wheeled through the gates and the course of history has changed.

I'm speaking of Devialet, the most incredible new product we've had in the store for some time.  The idea is simple - it's an integrated amplifier with a customisable set of inputs and outputs, it's own platform-ambivalent music streaming system and the cleanest, most precise sound courtesy of a minimum of analogue circuitry.  These are ideas that have been tried before with mixed success, but the Devialet engineers are from a telecommunications background rather than being the usual audio and electrical engineers.  The end result is nothing short of stunning.

I cannot stress enough how important it is that you come and see the Devialet and hear the difference it makes.  We've all been blown away by just how good it is and we're sure you will be too.

28 February, 2014 by Angus Perry
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