(25-Jun-2016, 18:40)GuillaumeB Wrote: So my feeling is that Devialet have effectively devalued the O d'A with the imminent launch of the 1000 Pro. And all this conjecture over the past few weeks and the lack of communication from Devialet has been quite unpleasant from an ownership perspective. And I'm not sure I really understand why Devialet feel the need to launch a better model quite so soon after the launch of the O d'A.
Guillaume
Guillaume's analysis is very fair - particularly from an Od'A owner who has enjoyed the "unique" delights of that unit for about a month before being told it is being subsumed.
I've enjoyed the Od'A prior to this announcement for four months but am otherwise in the same position.
That it took Devialet five (since D'Premier launch) or about three (since 800 launch) years to make something materially better, but then make something even better than the Od'A within four months, makes the cynic question what has really happened.
One might suggest that the Od'A was a commercial prototype for the 1000+, whose success or otherwise would determine the way forward for Devialet generally.
In the round, I don't criticise that, provided that Od'A owners are dealt with as a top priority, in terms of personal emails from Calmel (who signed the Od'A after all!), decent terms for transition to the 1000+, a full and fair explanation as to why this happened, and a speedy transition too. With a maximum of 97 known Od'A owners that is not a big job.
That has not happened and, in what is now typical Devialet style, different Od'A owners get different bits of news, some written, some verbal, with nothing from some very established dealers like Oxford Audio, who must feel thoroughly embarrassed.
In the end, I think the outcome will, in ownership and sonic and monetary terms, be fine. I think ...
But as one example, the signed baseplate of the Od'A (which will be quite important to some owners) is being replaced by something allegedly better. Or worse, depending on your view ...
Guillaume has not even received his personal upgrade invitation - and were I in charge of Devialet I'd make sure that, as a great advocate of the brand through his ownership of DevialetChat, he would be at the head of the queue.
I'll avoid using my luxury car analogy, as it relates to customer service, again, in respect of a luxury brand which has the head of luxury goods LVMH as one of its financiers and (one would expect) advisers. It is perverse that they repeatedly irritate customers and advocates by misjudged and mistimed communications, before launching outstanding class-leading products.
