D440 or D1000 for Sopra 2

[pvanosta]

@pvanosta - A little off topic, but I am curious.  You mentioned that you did not like the DAC in the Hegel H390, may I ask why?  I was luck enough to hear a demo of the Hegel H190 versus the H590 earlier this year.  I actually really liked the H590, but found the H190 a little dull and closed in by comparison, hence I was wondering why you did not like the H390 DAC.

So I was in a position to listen to 3 configs in my system
Roon directly to Hegel H390 via a high-end USB cable

Roon via ethernet to Auralic Vega G1 and from there via XLR to Hegel H390 balanced analog

Roon via ethernet to the Devialet (Roon Ready)

The best sound (to my ears) was setup 2. The Vega G1 is really good, together with the Hegel.

The least appealing sound was option 1 (direct to Hegel via USB). The sound was flatter, lacking soundstage, lacking vibrancy or colour. It just sounded that little bit dull.

The Devialet was pleasantly in the middle and offered all the other benefits (SAM, Phono, single box)

[burgundy]

Any idea when the Pro will be replaced? It’s been 4-5 years.
It would suck if i do the upgrade now and a version is released shortly after

I have no idea when (or even if) the Pro will be replaced, as far as I am aware nobody does.  Furthermore, Devialet are one of the most unpredictable companies on the planet, so it really is anyone guess.  One point I would make is that the Pro upgrade came about almost by accident.  Devialet had the Expert series, and decided to make a 100 off batch of limited edition items, the Original D'Atelier.  The Development of the Original D'Atelier was was so successful that it naturally lead to the development of the Pro.  So it would be a little misleading to look at the time between the Expert and Pro as an indication as to when a new model will be announced.  This is just my thoughts on the matter, as I mentioned before, I really have no idea what Devialet may or may not be planning. 

This does beg a question, you mentioned you could obtain a set of D-Premiers, are you not tempted just to run these?  I very much enjoyed my time with my "old" Expert D250  / D800.  (which sound much the same as the D-Premier)  You could try running the integrated Roon AIR, which should be stable.  Just (another) thought.

@pvanosta - A little off topic, but I am curious.  You mentioned that you did not like the DAC in the Hegel H390, may I ask why?  I was luck enough to hear a demo of the Hegel H190 versus the H590 earlier this year.  I actually really liked the H590, but found the H190 a little dull and closed in by comparison, hence I was wondering why you did not like the H390 DAC.

Can the original D-Premiers run Roon Air now?  if that's the case, i can just run the premier for a bit and see if i like it. For me it's lifestyle more than anything. I need a 1 box (or 2 Premier in this case) solution that is Roon ready.

[ogs]

If it has the wifi board installed it should work with AIR (Roon/AIR that is), but you need to try it out. The wifi board for the D-Premier is old now and might have trouble with higher than 16/44, but you may also be lucky and get up to 24/96 working. 16/44.1 is lossless CD resolution and AIR easily betters Apples AirPplay (which the D-Premier don't have anyway)
Another cheap solution would be a Allo DigiOne on top of a raspberry pi 3 or 4. With RoPieee you'd be RoonReady and could play all the way up to 24/192 to one of the SPDIF inputs of the D-Premier.