New Dione owner - Not impressed so far

[Amica77]

Good morning  I got my Dione for Christmas and have had a few problems with it since setting it up. First problem was after 30 mins or so the source would change automatically from HDMI to Optical so effectively muting the sound. I would then have to go in to the app and change the source back to HDMI. It doesnt do it as often now but is still happens from time to time. As well doing this it also mutes the sound itself while staying on HDMI. I have to go in to the app again and unmute.

The more worrying issue I have is when I first turn my TV on the sound that comes out of the bar sounds like interference!! You know when we used to have CRT TVs and the channel wasnt tuned in, a bit like that!

This isnt a very good experience for a nearly £2k sound bar that Ive only had for 2 weeks or so.

I've contacted Devialet support who took a week to phone back. They asked me to email them a video of this happening which I did on Tuesday but still waiting for a reply. 

When it does work I'm not really that impressed with the sound quality. Yes its loud but other than that its nothing special. Took me a bit of fiddly with the TV settings to get the vocal to sync with the picture but when watching the program you can tell the sound is coming from somewhere other than the picture.

[om_the_best_]

Hi,

Have you done the updates?

On the Devialet app >> Settings >> Update

(normally, when you go to the 3 small lines on the right on the volume page >> information, you should be on Firmware 2.16.1).

Also, the speaker calibration? (It can help improve the sound) >> when you are on the volume setting of the Dione >> The 3 small lines at the top right >> Acoustic Calibration.

[eniriop]

Good morning  I got my Dione for Christmas and have had a few problems with it since setting it up. First problem was after 30 mins or so the source would change automatically from HDMI to Optical so effectively muting the sound. I would then have to go in to the app and change the source back to HDMI. It doesnt do it as often now but is still happens from time to time. As well doing this it also mutes the sound itself while staying on HDMI. I have to go in to the app again and unmute.

The more worrying issue I have is when I first turn my TV on the sound that comes out of the bar sounds like interference!! You know when we used to have CRT TVs and the channel wasnt tuned in, a bit like that!

This isnt a very good experience for a nearly £2k sound bar that Ive only had for 2 weeks or so.

I've contacted Devialet support who took a week to phone back. They asked me to email them a video of this happening which I did on Tuesday but still waiting for a reply. 

When it does work I'm not really that impressed with the sound quality. Yes its loud but other than that its nothing special. Took me a bit of fiddly with the TV settings to get the vocal to sync with the picture but when watching the program you can tell the sound is coming from somewhere other than the picture.

It sounds like you have both the  hdmi and optical cables plugged in at the same time from the TV to the Dione.  If this is the case unplug the optical cable.
If you have hooked up an optical cable to your TV but not plugged the other end to the Dione, your TV might be searching  the optical device by default when you turn it on. 
In that case unplug the optical cable from the TV, and set the audio TV settings to HDMI instead of auto.

[Gerronwithit]

I got a Dione pretty well as soon as it came out and had quite a few teething problems similar to your own post. There was the issue between HDMI and optical as mentioned above, but it should work satisfactorily and only with HDMI; updates have arrived and been implemented, usually automatically but sometimes requiring a manual restart which annoys my wife more than myself. My remaining interesting feature is using my Virgin TV remote controller which for some bizarre reason has me pointing it almost anywhere but the Dione itself to turn the volume up and down.

As usual with all HIFI, the input production quality of the sound is reproduced with all its faults so there is plenty of muffled dialogue out there being delivered to us in order to create an alleged atmosphere. Obviously a Dione is not as good as a full scale AV system for which I use my Expert as front speakers in my AV room. Nevertheless, for all day to day purposes for television and music I find it very good. Plenty of bass, detail and balance.

[Amica77]

Thank you for your replies I can be a bit absent minded but not enough to leave the optical cable plugged in as well as the HDMI cable lol. The sound bar is up to date so that’s not an issue. Also the room calibration option makes no difference at all. This has been mentioned in a few reviews I’ve read.

I’ll chase Devialet again next week to see if they have an update for me. If they can’t sort it it’s going back as a £2k product should work better than this. The £600 sound bar it replaced worked a lot better.

Almost forgot to say while typing this my Dione has muted itself again 🙄

[JLB]

Hi,

I agree with you about your impression regarding the sound quality, actually I returned it because of the poor sound. The room calibration did nothing and the bass was just too much and the treble sounded muffled. I used a third party equalizer and got it to sound real good so the quality exists in the package it is just poorly tuned. I contacted Devialet about the option of including an equalizer in the app but they had no such plans which is a pity. I’m still interested in the speaker if they fix the tonal balance or include a way so I can tune it myself. It has no competition in looks and performance if they fix the tone curve.

After I had returned it, I started to research if I was alone in my conclusion and found a year old test on YouTube through this forum and found their review spot on. They also present measurements which confirms what I heard and it’s a shame that Devialet won’t listen to the feedback they’ve got.

//JLB

[Amica77]

Hi,

I agree with you about your impression regarding the sound quality, actually I returned it because of the poor sound. The room calibration did nothing and the bass was just too much and the treble sounded muffled. I used a third party equalizer and got it to sound real good so the quality exists in the package it is just poorly tuned. I contacted Devialet about the option of including an equalizer in the app but they had no such plans which is a pity. I’m still interested in the speaker if they fix the tonal balance or include a way so I can tune it myself. It has no competition in looks and performance if they fix the tone curve.

After I had returned it, I started to research if I was alone in my conclusion and found a year old test on YouTube through this forum and found their review spot on. They also present measurements which confirms what I heard and it’s a shame that Devialet won’t listen to the feedback they’ve got.

//JLB

Interesting post. What did you replace it with?

[hulster]

Thank you for your replies I can be a bit absent minded but not enough to leave the optical cable plugged in as well as the HDMI cable lol. The sound bar is up to date so that’s not an issue. Also the room calibration option makes no difference at all. This has been mentioned in a few reviews I’ve read.

I’ll chase Devialet again next week to see if they have an update for me. If they can’t sort it it’s going back as a £2k product should work better than this. The £600 sound bar it replaced worked a lot better.

Almost forgot to say while typing this my Dione has muted itself again 🙄

Often the issue is the communication to the TV and the devices behind passing through. For the Dione is just not stable for that, so agreeing/detecting sound format.
I do not know who the issue is. But at least TV vendor usually have all there own soundbar and not keen to connect anything else.
I have a lot of issues connecting with my Samsung.
I ended up with buying a HDMI matrix switch with sound extractor. It makes it better but finally does not solve everything as I need still to connect 1 source to the TV as there are not enough on the switch.
 One little thing does help often. If you connect to the Dione via a browser the last tab does offer a reboot button.
No idea why they do not allow this in the app.
But there is still a lot to complain and a missing upgrade both for app and Dione itself for more then a year. Especially EQ and soundformat detection.
Real hibernate mode with no signal, etc.
Still I love my Dione for the sound, but do not recommend it to anybody as it could be a pain in the ass.

[JLB]

Hi,

I agree with you about your impression regarding the sound quality, actually I returned it because of the poor sound. The room calibration did nothing and the bass was just too much and the treble sounded muffled. I used a third party equalizer and got it to sound real good so the quality exists in the package it is just poorly tuned. I contacted Devialet about the option of including an equalizer in the app but they had no such plans which is a pity. I’m still interested in the speaker if they fix the tonal balance or include a way so I can tune it myself. It has no competition in looks and performance if they fix the tone curve.

After I had returned it, I started to research if I was alone in my conclusion and found a year old test on YouTube through this forum and found their review spot on. They also present measurements which confirms what I heard and it’s a shame that Devialet won’t listen to the feedback they’ve got.

//JLB

Interesting post. What did you replace it with?

I have an old Libratone Lounge that are going to be replaced. My use may be a little bit odd for this kind of speaker as it’s situated in a large kitchen/social room and playback is only about music. It gets a lot of use though and it has to be able to provide some volume and sound reasonably good, it has to look ok, be wall mounted and of course I’m not interested in a lot of speaker boxes, cables and electronics in this room. We stream with different sources so the third party equalizer that I used on my computer doesn’t solve the sound for all sources since it’s only active when using the computer. I have a dedicated room for serious listening and are used to good sound reproduction. I didn’t expect hi-fi reproduction from the Dione but absolutely better tonal balance and not just bass for the money it costs.

The Dione ticks all other boxes and I haven’t found anything else usable yet. It’s almost that I have come to the the conclusion to force everyone in my house to accept that we only can use the computer for music in this room. It feels stupid that Devialet has chosen to exclude the possibility to manage the output, then it would have been a no brainer.

//JLB

[Gerronwithit]

Hi,

I agree with you about your impression regarding the sound quality, actually I returned it because of the poor sound. The room calibration did nothing and the bass was just too much and the treble sounded muffled. I used a third party equalizer and got it to sound real good so the quality exists in the package it is just poorly tuned. I contacted Devialet about the option of including an equalizer in the app but they had no such plans which is a pity. I’m still interested in the speaker if they fix the tonal balance or include a way so I can tune it myself. It has no competition in looks and performance if they fix the tone curve.

After I had returned it, I started to research if I was alone in my conclusion and found a year old test on YouTube through this forum and found their review spot on. They also present measurements which confirms what I heard and it’s a shame that Devialet won’t listen to the feedback they’ve got.

//JLB

Interesting post. What did you replace it with?

I have an old Libratone Lounge that are going to be replaced. My use may be a little bit odd for this kind of speaker as it’s situated in a large kitchen/social room and playback is only about music. It gets a lot of use though and it has to be able to provide some volume and sound reasonably good, it has to look ok, be wall mounted and of course I’m not interested in a lot of speaker boxes, cables and electronics in this room. We stream with different sources so the third party equalizer that I used on my computer doesn’t solve the sound for all sources since it’s only active when using the computer. I have a dedicated room for serious listening and are used to good sound reproduction. I didn’t expect hi-fi reproduction from the Dione but absolutely better tonal balance and not just bass for the money it costs.

The Dione ticks all other boxes and I haven’t found anything else usable yet. It’s almost that I have come to the the conclusion to force everyone in my house to accept that we only can use the computer for music in this room. It feels stupid that Devialet has chosen to exclude the possibility to manage the output, then it would have been a no brainer.

//JLB

Am no apologist for Devialet but when I read your critique of the Dione I thought I would give my own a shakedown. If a production is poor the Dione will undoubtedly reproduce its failings but I have to say that most of my random choices from the 60s to Peter Gabtriel’s latest wonderful I/O album were pretty well balanced with excellent vocal clarity. As a soundbar it obviously has to compromise on a number of levels but I am quite happy to sit in my living room and use it for television or music.