Optical dropouts

[meeotch]

@xga - no, my Phantoms are connected to the Dialog via wifi. I suppose I could try PLC to see if it makes a difference - although, as mentioned, it seems like the fact that other inputs don't exhibit dropouts indicates that it's an input issue... Unless there's something about the wifi output that disrupts the optical input, or vice-versa.

(The results would be totally academic for me, though... Having a power cord snaking 25' across my space in order to keep everything on the same power circuit is even less viable than having a toslink cable from the source to one of the Phantoms.)

[xga]

I upgraded my PLC and took new 2gigabits PLC item. My dialog is connected on the PLC switch network.

My phantom seems to be in PLC connection, they seems to choose automatically this PLC conection, i no see to force wifi for phantom connection ?

[streamy]

I upgraded my PLC and took new 2gigabits PLC item.  My dialog is connected on the PLC switch network.

My phantom seems to be in PLC connection, they seems to choose automatically this PLC conection, i no see to force wifi for phantom connection ?

When you see in Spark that Phantoms and Dialog use PLC, then they are using their own built-in PLC and not your external PLC. In case you want to use your own PLC plugs you have to connect both the Phantoms and Dialog with Ethernet cables to your PLC plugs and will see in Spark that all devices use Ethernet. However, I'm not sure that an external PLC works better than the built-in. In my case the built-in works trouble free. Since the latest update I have every few weeks (1-2 times a month) a disconnect of the Dialog. A simple unplug/replug of the Dialog fixes the problem.
However, unfortunately this lastest FW update is less stable in my case than previous versions. There I did not have any drop-outs for months playing all kinds of hires (up to 24/192k) from local files via Spark. I have to mention that my power line is not contaminated by neighbors with their PLCs as I live rural in a house.

[meeotch]

One other thing I've noticed, regarding the optical Dialog input, is that it will periodically stop working altogether. So far, it happens about once a week. You can see it in Spark, but it won't send sound to the Phantoms. I've got mine set to "auto-play when sound is detected" (or whatever that setting is called), but once it craps out, neither starting/stopping the source nor clicking on it in Spark results in any sound.

I'm sure it's not a fault on the source side, because I can switch to non-Devialet speakers and everything works fine. Also, playing a different source via Spark works fine. (Though often, it will reset the volume level to the lowest setting, which is irritating.) Power cycling the Dialog is required to get the optical input to work again.

Has anyone else noticed this behavior? I'll open a ticket with Devialet for it, but unless they're willing to cross-ship a replacement, I'm not sure I'll receive it before the end of my eval period.

[Logical]

This happened to me today, but for the Phantom Silver optical input. Suddenly the sound stopped working. I had to cut the power to the Phantom to get it to work again.

[xga]

My plc network is just to conenct the dialog box to my internet router because he is not near the TV/HIFI installation.

The dialog is near tv and the optical is connected to the TV BOX, that is connected to my plc network too to get TV.

[meeotch]

Just wanted to update this thread with recent info, in case it helps anyone else:

1) In my case, switching to the optical input directly on one of my Phantoms solved the problem (or made it so infrequent that I don't notice it anymore).
2) When using the Dialog optical input, the problem was much reduced by switching to PLC instead of WiFi for the Phantom->Dialog connection.
3) When using the Dialog optical input, the problem was much increased when WiFi was connected via the 2.4GHz band instead of 5GHz.
4) Therefore, it feels like the dropouts are due to some interaction between the Dialog optical port and the WiFi hardware.

Also:

5) After something like two months, customer support finally admitted that it was a known problem, and that a fix was coming soon.
6) This was back in January (before my 45 day trial ran out). No fix yet.

[stevec]

After latest firmware I have given the dialog a go for a few days for TV input. No drop outs so far me. This is the best it has been so they might have fixed it.

[timhbf]

Drop out problem still there, few times in a hour.

[meeotch]

My dropout problem has returned - primarily (or only?) in one speaker. I had previously "solved" the dropouts by running the optical input directly into one of the phantoms, rather than the dialog. The new dropouts seem to only affect the non-optically-wired phantom. They also seem to be slightly longer, and sometimes will happen in bunches of 2-4.

I updated to the new firmware in the hopes of a fix, but no love.

I submitted a new ticket. I'm just waiting for them to reply that "your phantoms seem to be having a problem connecting via PLC, are they on the same electrical circuit?" - since this has been the response to every single ticket and Spark log report that I've submitted since I bought them. It's more than a little infuriating that they seem to be implying that using wireless speakers wirelessly isn't a valid option.