Messages to Devialet

[quartz78]

So many posts here, and not a single one (or maybe I missed it?) containing a message to Devialet about the Phantom range. Do Phantom owners have nothing to say? Or maybe, we need another thread for that, because it feels like there are two very distinct groups on DC, with quite different history, expectations and usage patterns.

EDIT: well, let's just do it. Here we go:
https://devialetchat.com/Thread-Messages...pert-range

[Wdw]

Devialet, this is how your rivals do it.  Not so hard, I would have thought?

https://news.naimaudio.com/t/ViewEmail/r...9ED5AF8B9E

Dear Confused One!

Totally loved our D440s and did enjoin in the Devialetchat continual bitch fest in the last number of years but those days are gone...now long gone.  The Expert range is totally finished in my market, North America, not due to the merits of the product (which are great) but ...who knows...many opinions on that one....but you can buy a DXXX for a quarter of list and dealers hardly make much effort to sell out their remaining stock.  On a dusty shelf somewhere.
No use chiding the company....it is clear they are failing under the weight of changing cultural understandings of technical issues (your local, scooter riding,  bearded, millennial is technically illiterate) but more importantly, we live in a generation absent of any passion for music beyond what is offered by the low rez tier on Tidal or Spotify.  
No opportunity to hear great sound, no place to listen...

Colour me cynical.

[Stino]

Devialet, this is how your rivals do it.  Not so hard, I would have thought?

https://news.naimaudio.com/t/ViewEmail/r...9ED5AF8B9E

Dear Confused One!

Totally loved our D440s and did enjoin in the Devialetchat continual bitch fest in the last number of years but those days are gone...now long gone.  The Expert range is totally finished in my market, North America, not due to the merits of the product (which are great) but ...who knows...many opinions on that one....but you can buy a DXXX for a quarter of list and dealers hardly make much effort to sell out their remaining stock.  On a dusty shelf somewhere.
No use chiding the company....it is clear they are failing under the weight of changing cultural understandings of technical issues (your local, scooter riding,  bearded, millennial is technically illiterate) but more importantly, we live in a generation absent of any passion for music beyond what is offered by the low rez tier on Tidal or Spotify.  
No opportunity to hear great sound, no place to listen...

Colour me cynical.

Hmm. When a dealer does not commit anymore to a product then you would expect that they'd like to clear their stock asap. In fact, that's what happened when I bought my first D220: dealer did not want to carry Devialat anymore in their portfolio and I bought mine with 20% discount (if I remember correctly).

About the lack of passion for music in the new generation. I think it is still there but on another layer. We have to admit that us people with > $10.000 amps, > $5.000 speakers and about $3.000 worth of cables in quite large dedicated listening rooms are a minority. Nowadays people live in small(er) apartments and have so many things to spend their money on...

So I think they prefer a bit cheaper electronics and small box counts. You have some great combinations around $5.000 amp + speakers that meet this criteria AND are getting sold quiite well according to me. Think about the small boxes of NAD, Naim and speakers like the new junior Focal, Neat, KEF... And of course the D120!

In a small room, and with a clear mind that puts the right priority between music and other enjoyments in life, I can imagine myself for example being very happy with a smaller system.

[Wdw]

Devialet, this is how your rivals do it.  Not so hard, I would have thought?

https://news.naimaudio.com/t/ViewEmail/r...9ED5AF8B9E

Dear Confused One!

Totally loved our D440s and did enjoin in the Devialetchat continual bitch fest in the last number of years but those days are gone...now long gone.  The Expert range is totally finished in my market, North America, not due to the merits of the product (which are great) but ...who knows...many opinions on that one....but you can buy a DXXX for a quarter of list and dealers hardly make much effort to sell out their remaining stock.  On a dusty shelf somewhere.
No use chiding the company....it is clear they are failing under the weight of changing cultural understandings of technical issues (your local, scooter riding,  bearded, millennial is technically illiterate) but more importantly, we live in a generation absent of any passion for music beyond what is offered by the low rez tier on Tidal or Spotify.  
No opportunity to hear great sound, no place to listen...

Colour me cynical.

Hmm. When a dealer does not commit anymore to a product then you would expect that they'd like to clear their stock asap. In fact, that's what happened when I bought my first D220: dealer did not want to carry Devialat anymore in their portfolio and I bought mine with 20% discount (if I remember correctly).

About the lack of passion for music in the new generation. I think it is still there but on another layer. We have to admit that us people with > $10.000 amps, > $5.000 speakers and about $3.000 worth of cables in quite large dedicated listening rooms are a minority. Nowadays people live in small(er) apartments and have so many things to spend their money on...

So I think they prefer a bit cheaper electronics and small box counts. You have some great combinations around $5.000 amp + speakers that meet this criteria AND are getting sold quiite well according to me. Think about the small boxes of NAD, Naim and speakers like the new junior Focal, Neat, KEF... And of course the D120!

In a small room, and with a clear mind that puts the right priority between music and other enjoyments in life, I can imagine myself for example being very happy with a smaller system.

Agree so completely....but bitching to a company because the market has moved so far away from any opportunity to sell this great product is an exercise of whistling in the wind.   I would welcome an emboldened new Expert series but doubt this is on the table.

[ogs]

I tend to be a bit cynical too. It used to be possible to hold several thoughts in the head at the same time. Devialet does this differently. It's 100% energy in one direction at the time, for a long time. Forget every thing else! No communication on what is going on.
How about keeping the whole customer base reasonably happy. Take care of Expert users and at the same time deal with Phantom owners. Should be fairly easy to do.
Instead Devialet alienates their customers AND dealers with the result of getting a very bad reputation. Devialet products are extremely good, but good products is not enough when customers are dissatisfied with how they are handled.

[Confused]

What's going on here! The moaning about Devialet thread is filling up positive comments, and the messages to Devialet thread has drifted into I do not quite know what! Oh well.

Anyway, @Wdw 's comment (post #52) reminds me of conversation at an Oxford Audio Devialet event. There were a few of us in the main showroom area, looking at the various amps on display. There was some impressive looking kit there, big Audio Research amps, fancy stuff from darTZeel, big powerful looking stuff. The Devialet guy commented that they sometimes wondered if they would have done better in the USA if they had made the D-Premier with a big impressive looking case, rather than the slimline design chosen. I am not sure if this translates into the Canadian market.

The point is, that in the UK, the Expert does appear to be alive and well. There are a number of Devialet dealers within a 50 / 100 mile radius of my home. (admittedly the UK is rather more population dense than either the US or Canada) Two of these dealers I have seen running one / two page adverts recently featuring Devialet in the UK hifi magazines.

So I am wondering if our overall views re Devialet are maybes somewhat geographically influenced? Just a thought.

Anyway, this is supposed to be the messages to Devialet thread, so I will aim to nudge this thread back on topic.

Devialet: Why were you not at the Bristol Sound and Vision show this weekend? Hegel were there with the H590, very impressive sounding it was too. In fact, there were a number of companies demonstrating systems in both the Phantom and Expert Pro price brackets. I am not sure what it costs to exhibit? Not cheap I guess, but it was very busy, a very long queue outside even before the 10am opening time, so might well have been worth it?

[Wdw]

What's going on here!  The moaning about Devialet thread is filling up positive comments, and the messages to Devialet thread has drifted into I do not quite know what!  Oh well.

Anyway, @Wdw 's comment (post #52) reminds me of conversation at an Oxford Audio Devialet event.  There were a few of us in the main showroom area, looking at the various amps on display.  There was some impressive looking kit there, big Audio Research amps,  fancy stuff from darTZeel, big powerful looking stuff.  The Devialet guy commented that they sometimes wondered if they would have done better in the USA if they had made the D-Premier with a big impressive looking case, rather than the slimline design chosen.  I am not sure if this translates into the Canadian market. 

The point is, that in the UK, the Expert does appear to be alive and well.  There are a number of Devialet dealers within a 50 / 100 mile radius of my home.  (admittedly the UK is rather more population dense than either the US or Canada)  Two of these dealers I have seen running one / two page adverts recently featuring Devialet in the UK hifi magazines. 

So I am wondering if our overall views re Devialet are maybes somewhat geographically influenced?  Just a thought.

Anyway, this is supposed to be the messages to Devialet thread, so I will aim to nudge this thread back on topic.

Devialet:  Why were you not at the Bristol Sound and Vision show this weekend?  Hegel were there with the H590, very impressive sounding it was too.  In fact, there were a number of companies demonstrating systems in both the Phantom and Expert Pro price brackets.  I am not sure what it costs to exhibit?  Not cheap I guess, but it was very busy, a very long queue outside even before the 10am opening time, so might well have been worth it?

Apologies for the OT and of course I agree with your comments concerning the North American taste for large, gruesome, electronics...am guilty of now using a 100 pound, very hot to the touch, energy burning, class A Pass Lab amplifier which now sits in the spot which had held my D440s.

glad to hear the market is stronger on your side of the Atlantic...the Expert line is one of the most significant and musical audio product of the last decade....we do remember ours with very fond memories.

[mdconnelly]

I swapped out a lot of hot & heavy iron for the Expert (later Expert Pro) and never missed it. My 440 Pro still sounds far better than equipment I once had that cost (and weighed ;-) a good bit more. But sadly, I do miss the Devialet I got so excited about 4+ years ago. I've gone from hoping, thru agonizing to acceptance that the company I once thought of as so creative and innovative has somehow moved on. I'm sure there are many reasons - good and poor - for that, management & finances not being the least. All things must pass.

[David A]

I didn't swap out a lot of heavy iron, maybe a bit of it, but I did metaphorically flatten it into a box around one sixth of the height. In fact Devialet's are so low in height that you'd have to say that they didn't grow up, they grew out, to steal a description from Randy Newman.

I think the company is still creative and innovative but. like many creative and innovative people, I don't think Devialet likes developing and maintaining what they did last time, they keep shifting their focus to the next thing and then eventually go back and deliver on the "must do's" such as undelivered promises and bug fixes that they've ignored while they've been playing at something new. What they really need to do is to have enough people to deliver on the promises and fixing the problems with existing products while letting the creatives play in their sandbox and come up with their next idea. It seems that, apart from physical repair, product maintenance is an afterthought with them and that's a failing which detracts from their reputation. If they could fix that and hire a PR person who actually thinks the public should be related to and wanted to do just that rather than believing that PR would work better if there were no public so the best strategy is to act as if there is no public, they might be unstoppable and even capable of delivering on that old promise that one day everyone will own a Devialet. As it is, they just keep alienating their best brand ambassadors, the people who have bought their products.

[PeppaPig]

Last year Devialet announced Roon support for Expert. Hope there is something more for 2020.

Perhaps Frenchs people are doing thing a bit differently, they don’t like communication with customers a lot?