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Devialet in a state of chaos
#41
I like the way NickB comes on here to complain about people coming on here to moan!  Well I'm going to moan about NickB coming on here just to complain about people moaning.  In the same way, I am going to complain about myself coming on here just to moan about NickB.  In fact, due to the fact that I'm an original moaner and I've moaned about NickB, and then complained about myself for moaning about NickB, that makes me the worst offender on this forum.  This has to stop!  (Only kidding Nick, I'll order myself a pint of cider tonight and raise a toast to the fine people of the West Country, with whom I share 50% of my DNA)

On a more serious note, there are some interesting points being raised.  You can crudely put posters in three categories.  1) Those who love their Devialet's and are fed up with all the carping about AIR, Dialog etc.  2) Those are sympathetic with Devialet, trying to get complex hardware and software working in the minefield the ever evolving PC and Mac ecosystems.  3) those who occasionally want to post on here to vent their frustration with many issues.

Funnily enough, I can see myself in all three of these categories.  I might have sympathy with a moaning post, I agree with points raised about how hard it must be keeping something working robustly with every individuals PC / Mac / network, plus I love my Devialet dearly.  If I knew everything I new today before buying my first D240, I would still make that same purchasing decision, and yes I do get a bit fed up with all the negative stuff on here.  I'd much rather be reading about ways to optimise, comparisons of possible peripherals etc., or just reading about tips for great music to listen to.

I think what leads me to drift into moaning mode is the appalling communication from Devialet.  They request feedback, screenshots etc. from beta testers of AIR, and then offer zero feedback in return.  This annoys me.  I am utterly convinced that if they shared just a little bit of information, this this could be invaluable in helping individuals resolving particular issues.  AIR is pretty good for me now, but not perfect.  I suspect with a few more tweaks on my PC I could get it to work perfectly.  Things like turning off auto updates, windows defender etc.  Devialet must have a wealth of information from users now.  Would a page of tips on their website, aimed at getting robust AIR performance, be that much of a problem or climb-down for Devialet?

As to communication with Devialet, last time I entered into correspondence with them regarding what they are doing regarding instabilities with AIR, their response was "our team of engineers is still looking into it."

Other correspondence regarding Dialog compatibility with Expert yielded the following "I truly understand and wish that I could give you a time range. Unfortunately there is no such time frame for now."  When asking Devialet "Is Dialog with Expert still planned at all? Or is this possibly cancelled?"  the response was "It is still planned as no contrary information were delivered. The evolution of our Expert range suggest that it should be through 2016. We are still perfecting Dialog to a hundred percent sure there will not be any issue on the Expert range, and that unfortunately takes time."

I surmise from this that Devialet corporate policy is one of providing zero information to customers with respect to anything that might show them in a less than perfect light.  There is interesting use of language too, why is something running 9 months late and may not be completed within a year, well the reason is obvious "we are perfecting it and making sure it is 100% free of issues".  Ummmmmm.....     Whilst I understand this approach from them, the fact is that this causes frustration, and this frustration manifests itself in the moaners on this forum, people interested in Devialet read this forum. So despite Devialet's best efforts to pretend there issues don't exist and pretend they are perfect, the issues then actually get grossly  exaggerated by the very nature of a forum like this.  This can't be good for Devialet or Devialet owners.  In fact, if I were a rival manufacturer or a dealer of rival products, I would seize on all this, telling potential customers, "oh don't look at Devialet, have you seen all the problems people are having, just look at Devialet chat, it's terrible, a mess"

I note there is a new thread promoting the idea of petitioning Devialet.  An interesting idea, and one I think might be worth some effort getting right.  Could it make a difference?  Worth a shot I would say, I can't see that it would do any harm.
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#42
An excellent post, as always.  I also see myself in all three "camps", often all at the same time.

Picking up on the point about consistently missing promised delivery dates, and the company line "we are perfecting it and making sure it is 100% free of issues": I might be prepared to buy that if Devialet had established a record of bug-free delivery.  Since they clearly have not, it takes no more than the smallest grain of cynicism to interpret this as a smoke screen for a bad internal planning and software development process.  Indeed, I would say it takes a healthy dose of naivety to take it at face value.  And what really galls me is the arrogance Devialet display in expecting customers to swallow it.  Sadly now I feel I'm firmly in category 3 territory...

... but as I write this I'm listening to a great album on my 400, which is sounding wonderful.  Back in category 1!

ETA: Maybe Devialet really /are/ perfecting Dialog/Expert integration and are determined to make it bug-free on release. That would be great. Let's be positive, it could happen.
Roon (Mac Mini), Wilson Benesch Full Circle, Expert 1000 Pro CI, Kaiser Chiara
Warwickshire, UK
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#43
Bad internal planning? I did try Devialet's new on-line chat service a while back, I was asking about when Dialog compatibility with the Expert range was planned for implementation, I was advised that they could not provide a date for this. OK, fair enough. I then asked "do Devialet have a planning department", it think the response was along the lines of "we are not able to provide details regarding our internal operating structure". Made me chuckle at the time. I presume that they do employ a planner or two? Surely?
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#44
(31-Oct-2015, 10:28)Confused Wrote: On a more serious note, there are some interesting points being raised.  You can crudely put posters in three categories.  1) Those who love their Devialet's and are fed up with all the carping about AIR, Dialog etc.  2) Those are sympathetic with Devialet, trying to get complex hardware and software working in the minefield the ever evolving PC and Mac ecosystems.  3) those who occasionally want to post on here to vent their frustration with many issues.

Funnily enough, I can see myself in all three of these categories.  I might have sympathy with a moaning post, I agree with points raised about how hard it must be keeping something working robustly with every individuals PC / Mac / network, plus I love my Devialet dearly.  If I knew everything I new today before buying my first D240, I would still make that same purchasing decision, and yes I do get a bit fed up with all the negative stuff on here.  I'd much rather be reading about ways to optimise, comparisons of possible peripherals etc., or just reading about tips for great music to listen to.

#Confused: thanks for your response. Indeed, I still have the impression that the problem posts are in a vast majority, which creates an impression that does not do justice to the D products' quality in SQ. But then, of course people search for information when something isn't working. That's legit. Having said that, as an example, I would not expect that AIR wireless will work flawlessly in a highly WiFi polluted environment and a bad S/N ratio from the beginning. That was my situation that I solved (without referring to any forum) by getting a run of ethernet from my Mac to the D under the floor. For this little insight I don't need any technical expertise. There is still the SQ premium option to run a line of AES/EBU cable between Mac and D, wjich is sonically even a tick better than ethernet. In this forum, however, were hundreds of posts complaining about ridiculous issues that could be solved by a bit of common sense. But the posters preferred to flatly accuse D for not having foreseen their desolate WiFi situation. OK, I am exaggerating a bit, forgive me.

I know the Linn forum that also flooded with flaw reports and problems. But I know that Linn networking is even more fragile than any D network. So, perhaps it's D's fault of setting up a forum of their own where technicians respond from time to time.

From an economic point of view I am a bit pessimistic about D's future development when I read their absurd projections. Companies mostly fail when they are too optimistic at the beginning of their existence and when they expand too quickly and too much. Let's hope this is not the case here.
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#45
The website did not accept my corrections. The second paragraph should read:

I know the Linn forum is also flooded with flaw reports and problems. But I know that Linn networking is even more fragile than any D network and their WIN only software ridiculous. So, perhaps it's D's fault of NOT setting up a forum of their own where technicians respond from time to time.
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#46
1. Most people run AIR on Ethernet cabling. The problem has nothing to do with wifi.
2. Even today, Devialet recommends AIR as the best option.
3. AIR has the advantage of having almost no distance limitations. It was marketed as such.

This has nothing to,do,with common sense but everything with common decency towards customers. As a company, you don't lie knowingly to your customers.
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#47
@NickB

I think you will hardly find a complaint from me on this website anywhere about Devialet. You will find tons of enthusiasm. But the AIR thing has soured me, even though I have an Antipodes server. I think it should work. I'm trying the Grimm LS1, I'll see how that goes. They seem to wholly deliver from what I can tell, and I have found nary a complaint anywhere.
SYSTEM 1:Grimm MU-1 running Roon Server & Ready//Grimm TPM//GRIMM LS1be
SYSTEM 2: Antipodes DX Roon Server// MiniDSP// Grimm TPM// Dutch & Dutch 8C

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#48
(31-Oct-2015, 18:02)Georgethesixth Wrote: 1. Most people run AIR on Ethernet cabling.  The problem has nothing to do with wifi.  
2. Even today, Devialet recommends AIR as the best option.
3. AIR has the advantage of having almost no distance limitations.  It was marketed as such.

This has nothing to,do,with common sense but everything with common decency towards customers.  As a company, you don't lie knowingly to your customers.

My sentiments exactly. Fantastic product, but misleading promotion of it
Devialet 200 -- Roon Nucleus-- Sonus Faber Olympica 2 -- Tellurium Q Black Speaker Cables --
Chord Qutest -- Niimbus US5 Pro Headphone amp —HifiMan HEK, Abyss 1266TC
Newcastle upon Tyne, England
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#49
(31-Oct-2015, 18:27)AaronG Wrote: @NickB

I think you will hardly find a complaint from me on this website anywhere about Devialet. You will find tons of enthusiasm. But the AIR thing has soured me, even though I have an Antipodes server. I think it should work. I'm trying the Grimm LS1, I'll see how that goes. They seem to wholly deliver from what I can tell, and I have found nary a complaint anywhere.

Nary a complaint, i should hope not. Looking them up, i see they are $40,000usd.
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#50
(31-Oct-2015, 17:59)Mohmm Wrote: The website did not accept my corrections. The second paragraph should read:

I know the Linn forum is also flooded with flaw reports and problems. But I know that Linn networking is even more fragile than any D network and their WIN only software ridiculous. So, perhaps it's D's fault of NOT setting up a forum of their own where technicians respond from time to time.

I've been running Linn DS gear since 2007 and apart from control point issues many years ago - for e.g. apps freezing or not working properly - I have never experienced dropouts or white noise. Not once! At present I own a Linn Majik DSM and a Sneaky DS alongside my 800. 

The latest generation of control points - for e.g. Linn's Kazoo - are utterly flawless. A real joy to use.

Linn networking is based on open UPnP standards and these generally work well. I am not sure I would agree with your analysis that they are even more fragile than the AIR protocol. I think you are also making a big assumption that the problem with AIR lies in the network. Yes it's multifactorial but with AIR a large number of problems seem to exist within the OSX and Windows environments and not the wider LAN per se.

I think turning this into a Linn v Devialet thing is somewhat missing the point. Both do things rather well and no one is perfect.

Guillaume
Industry disclosure: UK distributor for Shunyata Research

220 PRO, totaldac d1 server with additional external power supply, totaldac d1-seven, Echole PSU for Totaldac, Wilson Audio Sasha 2, Shunyata Research cables, Shunyata Hydra Alpha A10 + DPC-6 v3, Various Entreq ground boxes and cables, Entreq Athena level 3 rack, 2 X SOtM sNH-10G with sCLK-EX + 10MHz Master Clock input + sPS-500 PSU, i5 sonicTransporter w/ 1TB SSD

UK
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