Is the Devialet Expert now valueless?

[tom539]

The on-going sale of 440 Pro-CI currently in the Forum is testament that our Experts are almost valueless.
No offences to the seller & wish him best of luck with his sale.

I have switched back to the Expert 440 - after removing the WLAN-Card…

Compared to the Accustic Arts Power III, the modified Devialet was the “winner” in my room and loudspeakers, especially because of SweetRoom.

Before removing the WLAN, the Power III sounds clearly better than the 440.

atb, Tom

[mdconnelly]

What/where is the WLAN-Card that you removed? What's involved?

[Vivialet]

There is a thread here on the forum about this topic. You need to open the Devialet and remove the small card from the CI board. It is easy but you should not have 2 left hands…

[tom539]

What/where is the WLAN-Card that you removed?  What's involved?

https://devialetchat.com/Thread-Reduced-...#pid109090

atb, Tom

[VvM72]

Newby here with a second-hand 220 PRO. Prices are STRONG. I got very lucky with my purchase, but Devialet non-pro's are in trouble imho.

[chrisd]

Newby here with a second-hand 220 PRO. Prices are STRONG. I got very lucky with my purchase, but Devialet non-pro's are in trouble imho.

The expert line is dead, last update for the Pro was 4.5 yrs ago and there won't be any more.

I see little advantage of paying more for a Pro model over the non Pro

[Vivialet]

Pro models have better sq

[Gerronwithit]

I wasn’t too happy with the sound coming out of my Devialet and was not sure about the reason. For no good reason I was using Amazon Music ver Airplay. So, I thought that a change to Tidal might do the trick and got a test subscription. I was then able to do a one for one comparison and was amazed to find in every circumstance Amazon was better.

I then thought that I should take a look at Streamers but was not about to cough up thousands of pounds for what might have been a failed experiment. Initially I thought a Cambridge CXN100 might be a reasonable choice but it does not handle Amazon. In the end I decided on the WIIM Ultra connected Optically to the Devialet.

The results, I have to say, have been superb, with the output much clearer, soundstage deeper and lyrics clearer. With Airplay I had the volume at about -23 to -24, but with the WIIM -27 is more than enough.I use the WiiM Home App which manages the hardware satisfactorily but the interface to the music could be better. Still, what to you expect for £400?

[chrisd]

Pro models have better sq

In your opinion.

Better is subjective and down to the owner/buyer to decide rather than you stating that something sounds better.

[Vivialet]

I know several owners who did the pro upgrade, they all clearly prefer the pro. Have not heard of anyone who prefers the old models...
If it's worth the update price is another question and that is of course subjective. For me it was worth it!