Devialet Predictions for 2020

[Gerronwithit]

As my wife is happily working away on her 2019 photo album, I thought I would indulge myself with a little music while perusing all sorts of things on my iPad. From Tidal, I played the latest Pet shop offering, Ceieste and currently Lewis Capaldi. None of them are obvious favourites of my own but the recordings are so very good that they let the Devialet Pro express itself fully and the music shine right through. Lovely! Now what was I whinging about?

[Stino]

Interesting post Confused and interesting that lots of people here keep referring to the NAD M33 as somewhat of the holy grail of hifi because of its features. May I remind everyone of @Flashman selling his Devialet to buy a Lyngdorf TDAI-3400 only to come back to Devialet later on?

https://devialetchat.com/Thread-Lyngdorf...t=lyngdorf

I'm sure the NAD M33 will be a fine product but it's also quite possible that it will be just as full of OS bugs as the Experts were/are. The Purify module might be as good or even better than Devialet's ADH but it won't be implemented in the same way (Magic Wire) as it is in the Expert. There are so many variables that in my opinion, if I were running Devialet and was reading this thread, I wouldn't be one bit concerned about losing potential customers to NAD. There are sub $1000.- integrated amplifiers that have the same or more features than the NAD M33. Why don't we talk about them as potential competition to the Expert? Because we've heard them and they just don't sound as good.

Until someone has actually heard an M33, to me, it's still just another cheaper product that has lots of features to make up for its lack of sound quality.

My predictions for 2020 are the same as they were for 2019. It's just moved up a year.

Fair points. We just started to discuss on the NAD since it is like a Swiss army knife. Something our Devialets were marketed to be, but not there (yet).

I guess we all know that the much cheaper NAD will not sound as great as the Expert range. It is just that you see other companies moving forward and for many the question then pops up whether your expensive gear will still be worth a lot in the next years.

Personally, I'm still really happy with the 440 and do not need more. In case I would be unhappy, then of course it will not be due to the sound qualilty. It will be due to lacking features. When that happens, I'll not complain and will just sell for a 'better' amp.

I'm not really agreeing on some points in the post of Confused talking about amplifiers. In my opinion there are already amplifiers that sound as good as the Expert Pro range, but often they are a bit more expensive. With all these great products (like Gamut, the new McIntosh combo, Burmester) it is just a matter of 'taste'.

Anyways, it's just fun to see what is out there and to experience it at shows / dealers. I like these information sharing posts a lot, as long as it stays positive. So thanks for your contributions!

[David A]

I'm pretty much with @Confused on where Devialet are with the Expert Pro range. Devialet seem capable of selling 2 ranges of product at the same time, they're just incapable of working on the development of both ranges at the same time and of keeping both sets of customers happy so they swap from development of one range to the other and back again, and each swap makes one group of customers happy and alienates the other. I don't think they've abandoned the Expert Pro range, as @Confused noted they're still advertising it strongly and they're providing samples for review. If they were abandoning the range they wouldn't be drumming up sales for it. They've just shifted their development focus for a period which makes the Phantom owners happy after a couple of years of minimal development for them, and makes us Expert Pro owners unhappy because we're still waiting for bug fixes and the last few things we were promised for the CI board introduction and it looks like we won't see those things fixed until Devialet shift their development attention back to the Expert Pro range again.

There's a problem with that strategy and it has implications for Devialet's reputation. That problem is a management problem and current management show no sign of wanting to change that strategy so we either stick with alternating periods of boom or bust on the development front, regardless of which product line we're interested in, or we can jump ship to a competing product. I'm not in the mood for jumping ship so it seems I'm stuck with the current bust cycle for my Expert Pro until the next boom cycle starts to fix the lingering problems and deliver on the last of the still unfulfilled promises.

Perhaps what we really need is 2 prediction threads, one for the Expert Pro range and one for the Phantom/Reactor range, and they could be conducted as polls based on the question of whether or not we will see any real action for that line in the coming year. That single question would seem to cover most of what we're interested in each year.

[Finn]

You guess you guess. Have we heard from Devialet about expert Line ? Nooo we hear nothing , and that is What i say before , i feel like they give us the Finger. It could be so easy they just say something too expert ovners , it was anyway expertline who start Devialet ,and the Question is Why they forget us , even if they Are bisy With phanthom , and another things , somebody say a lot about time focus , i hear 2021, 2022, 2023 , before expert ovners get updates , Do you now that ? Or you guess.

[David A]

Do we know that? No, it's a guess. In case you haven't noticed, Devialet don't really communicate meaningfully with their customers so any statement from anyone here is going to be in large part a guess because we're all customers and Devialet aren't talking meaningfully to us. That's as true for Phantom/Reactor owners as it is for us Expert Pro owners. 2 years ago it was the Expert Pro owners who were getting the attention and the Phantom owners complaining about being forgotten.

If you want definitive, guaranteed answers then asking here won't get them for you because everyone here is in the same boat as you when it comes to knowing what Devialet are planning. You could try asking Devialet but that approach usually has not been productive for others in the past so based on past experience it probably won't be productive for you. Don't take that personally, Devialet seem to treat everyone the same. The third option if you want to know what Devialet is up to is to wait and see what they do. That's usually the way we find out.

Possibly, definitely not guaranteed for certain, someone from the Expert Pro team might make an appearance on the sidelines at the Munich show or a little later in one of what seems to be a regular visit to a couple of UK dealers, and there will be a session at which Devialet owners can ask some questions and get some answers but those answers are often fairly non-committal. If we're going to hear anything out of Devialet it seems that that's the way we hear it so sometime around May-July we just might be thrown a little bit of news but don't bet on it.

[Finn]

David A . I know that devialet Don,t talk With us . But What if they sent a status out In there web side , just too tell us a little bit about expert Line, How difficult could that be ? If devialet Read about people frustration about Why they Don,t say anything , it is Strange that they nothing say , and people who spekulate Why they say nothing grow, it is One year they have Said something about expert Line , i Think if they Read all What we Said , WHY THEY say nothing?? It was a compagny who build there brand about updates , ( One Day everybody Will ovn a devialet ) that was What they say , and for some years we feel they give us What they promised , ( updates) but after upgrade too Pro and get a lot of euros from us , after ,devialet say almost nothing , What it say about the french compagny, i know , but it is for many too Think .

[G51]

Confused wrote (#29) that 'so as a general prediction, in five years time there will not be any products that offer definitively better sound quality performance than a Pro, but there will be a number of products that get very close, at a lower price, with better features. Time will tell. (I look forward to reading this back in 2025)

Getting back on topic, now for my Devialet predictions for 2020. For the Expert Pro range, I predict that nothing whatsoever will happen. The main action in 2020 will be iterative improvements with the Phantom operating system.

In 2021, we should see that the Phantom operating system is starting to get more mature, more features, more stable, better functionality. Later in 2021, we will see the new operating system rolled out into the Pro range.

By 2022, Devialet's in car systems will be getting more mature. Due to the nature of car audio, these systems will rely heavily on room correction (car correction?) type DSP, we have already seen this demonstrated with Devialet's partnership with Faurecia Clarion, Devialet's "3D Premium Sound". This technology will trickle down into the Phantom / Pro single operating system ecosystem, offering room correction and a range of other DSP products.

In the period 2020 to 2022, Devialet will keep selling the Pro, and keep advertising the Pro, it will remain the premium audio "halo product" that will be used to help sell the in car stuff to long suffering motorists.'

I also think that new OS would be implemented just after the development of Phantom series becomes more mature. However I really don't think room correction would ever be rolled out - the R&D cost is just too expensive for the company. IMHO, the customers would lose interest in Expert/Expert PRO and the selling of new Expert PRO would drop to a new low - you know, only the old-day owners know how capable their Expert/Expert PRO are.

I predict Devialet would sell in 2020 or 2021 Phantoms/Reactors in colors on its National flag - one in blue, one in white( the white a bit different from the current white color) and one in red. Maybe also a super super Od'A Phantom/Reactor painted in blue,white & red just like the National flag.

[Confused]

@Stino  - You state that you don't really agree with some of my points in post #29.  Fair enough of course, and I did state that it was just my opinion, but the curious thing is that I absolutely agree with your point that there are already amplifiers that sound as good as the Expert Pro range, but often they are a bit more expensive.  It would be silly if I stated that I disagreed with you disagreeing with me, but I suspect we are saying much the same thing, there was just a different perspective in my post in terms of someone trying different solutions to get the "flavour" (or lack of it) to suit what I was looking for, I don't think there is much in the post that contradicts your view.  Yes, there is lots of good kit out there, and choosing between the better stuff can be case of selecting flavours to suit taste.  (and wallet!)  As an example, a couple of years ago I was lucky enough to sit down for an hour and listen to a the full dCS rig with D'Agostino amplifiers.  Not much wrong with the electronics there, but the value for money proposition was poor!  It is interesting though, that even listening to something like the a full dCS rig, the ultimate observations of the electronics versus the Devialet in my own system were pretty much impossible because different speakers were used.  The demo used Wilson Audio speakers.  Nothing wrong with Wilson Audio speakers, but the difference in the "flavour" between the Wilsons and the Blades made judging the absolute performance of dCS rig to be very difficult, the difference the speakers were making to the overall sound was greater than that from the electronics.  No doubt it was good though.

Much waffle there, but writing yesterday's later post reminded me of one constant when searching for amp DAC combinations versus the Devialet.  The remote.  I might be trying a Chord based system, it might sound pretty good, but there was always the case that I'd think "this remote is nowhere near as nice as the Devialet".  This is true even of dCS kit.  Although I am taking about ergonomics here, not functionality, but nevertheless, if I do ever move away from Devialet I would very much miss the remote.  A small thing perhaps, but it does make a difference.

As a thought re the competition.  In general, competition is good and provides the catalyst for improvement.  I am not sure if Devialet are listening to us, and I have no idea how closely they are watching the competition, but I presume they are and this might just provide the incentive required for them to invest a little into developing the Expert.  If Devialet do not, then hopefully the competition will provide something high performance, fully featured and low cost (or good value at least) and those that want to can simply move on.  Meanwhile, the remaining Experts will still be sounding just as good as they do now.  I very much doubt that I will be remotely interested in the NAD M33, but its successor, or the one after that, or something else one day, who knows.  We should all welcome innovation from the competition.  (except perhaps those concerned about resale value)

So as a final prediction, whatever does or does not happen in 2020, at the end of it I will still be enjoying the nice feel of the Devialet remote as I blast out some new year's eve tunes.

[sfdude]

If the Sonos fiasco on not supporting older products has taught consumers, do not count on companies supporting products which are getting “old in the tooth”. There is no profit to be made in doing so and they would rather focus on future products and lines which they can sell new. This is the reality of for-profit companies and NO product is future-proof.

[daniel.avasilichioaei]

Devialet release note web page: apparently the Expert range does not exist...
https://help.devialet.com/hc/en-us/secti...lease-Note

The latest DOS version for Expert: 2.2.4 (1 year old).
The latest DOS version for Phantom: 2.9.0 (1 day old).

Is it still necessary to consume our energy for predictions?...