AIR 3 Sound Quality Observations

[PhilP]

I have been using FW 8.1.0 since last summer and am very happy with the excellent SQ that I'm now getting with AIR 3. I had some free time to experiment so I tried upgrading to the latest FW 9 but disappointingly found it too bright in my system. There's a slight treble emphasis that adds a touch of sibilance to female voices and also increases the level of background 'hiss' apparent on some recordings.

I have now gone back to 8.1.0 and am very happy again

[johnsap]

I would much appreciate your feedback on Air via Wife via Air via Ethernet comparison.

Thank you !

[Silvertouran]

I would much appreciate your feedback on Air via Wife via Air via Ethernet comparison.

Thank you !

Wife?  I think you meant wifi. 

[PhilP]

I would much appreciate your feedback on Air via Wife via Air via Ethernet comparison.

Thank you !

I'm running AIR3 on a MacBook Pro and don't currently have an ethernet adaptor so i can't comment at the moment 

Until two weeks ago I ran AIR2 on an iMac and always preferred to run Wi-Fi between my router and the Devialet. It didn't seem to matter much whether I ran wi-fi or cable between the iMac and the router but for some reason when I ran a cable (ordinary Cat 6) from the router to the Devialet the sound had a slight edge to it. I assumed the cable was picking up some noise and tried adding a ferrite choke but it didn't make any difference.

[Cylob]

I have been using FW 8.1.0 since last summer and am very happy with the excellent SQ that I'm now getting with AIR 3. I had some free time to experiment so I tried upgrading to the latest FW 9 but disappointingly found it too bright in my system. There's a slight treble emphasis that adds a touch of sibilance to female voices and also increases the level of background 'hiss' apparent on some recordings.

I have now gone back to 8.1.0 and am very happy again

Did you ever try 7.1.3?
You might love it as many of us do/did.
Not a hint of harshness in the highs and very warm & musical mids.

[Hifi_swlon]

I have been using FW 8.1.0 since last summer and am very happy with the excellent SQ that I'm now getting with AIR 3. I had some free time to experiment so I tried upgrading to the latest FW 9 but disappointingly found it too bright in my system. There's a slight treble emphasis that adds a touch of sibilance to female voices and also increases the level of background 'hiss' apparent on some recordings.

I have now gone back to 8.1.0 and am very happy again

A bit OT I know but your post reminded me I always thought the same about anything above 7.1. I left mine on 9 because I couldn't be bothered to keep changing it, but this has prompted me to try 7.1 again as I often think my system is a touch bright at the best of times, and I've been thinking that a lot this past week - maybe with the better source its highlighted this more....

[PhilP]

I have been using FW 8.1.0 since last summer and am very happy with the excellent SQ that I'm now getting with AIR 3. I had some free time to experiment so I tried upgrading to the latest FW 9 but disappointingly found it too bright in my system. There's a slight treble emphasis that adds a touch of sibilance to female voices and also increases the level of background 'hiss' apparent on some recordings.

I have now gone back to 8.1.0 and am very happy again

Did you ever try 7.1.3?
You might love it as many of us do/did.
Not a hint of harshness in the highs and very warm & musical mids.

Yes I did try 7.1.3 and I agree that it's very good!  The reason I use 8.1 is that my speakers are SAM 8 and above only and I really like what SAM does - particularly the bass extension. I didn't like 8.1.2 or 8.1.3 finding both too bright which is why I'm on 8.1.0

However, now that AIR 3 is so good I think I should go back and try 7.1.3 again.  Who knows it might be so good that the benefits outweigh those of SAM 

[Cylob]

@PhilP

Ah SAM is a good reason to not go back futher then 8.x.x yeah.
But like you said: AIR 3 is magic. Tested it last week at a friends place who uses 7.1.3 as well.
We were both amazed at the quality improvement from AIR 2 vs AIR 3.
Let us know if you do test 7.1.3 / AIR3. Curious to see if you like it as well.
I'm still praying every night for a Win AIR 3 release... ;-)

[PhilP]

I have been using FW 8.1.0 since last summer and am very happy with the excellent SQ that I'm now getting with AIR 3. I had some free time to experiment so I tried upgrading to the latest FW 9 but disappointingly found it too bright in my system. There's a slight treble emphasis that adds a touch of sibilance to female voices and also increases the level of background 'hiss' apparent on some recordings.

I have now gone back to 8.1.0 and am very happy again

A bit OT I know but your post reminded me I always thought the same about anything above 7.1.  I left mine on 9 because I couldn't be bothered to keep changing it, but this has prompted me to try 7.1 again as I often think my system is a touch bright at the best of times, and I've been thinking that a lot this past week - maybe with the better source its highlighted this more....

I pretty much agree. It's quite tricky deciding whether to move to new FW because the impact on SQ can actually be quite significant and if your system is already well-balanced then it can certainly tip it the wrong way.

[sam1000]

Is there a way to get older firmware.. i.e. 7.1.3?
I'm new to Devialet and upgraded the firmware to 9.1 as soon as I got the unit few days ago. I did upgrade to AIR3 and it's fantastic with 9.1 compared to Squeezebox touch with EDO as a transport. I was looking to get Aurender N100H, but not sure how much improvement would I get compared to AIR3. Looks like consensus here it to use 7.1.3 with AIR3