UK event with Mathieu Pernot - 17 July

[Celts88]

It seems Devialet has given up keeping the amps 'on top'. Strange actually as the 140/210 is quite new. It's easier to make new life style designs like Reactor. Easier to make money too if sales figures for Phantoms are correct.
The main problem could be programmer quality and capacity. It is not easy to find really good programmers these days even if there are many 'programmers' available. If you are one of the clever programmers you can easily be tempted by good offers from other employers. So keeping good programmers is also a challenge

I haven't visited Devialetchat for 5 months because of my disappointment at Devialet's de-focus on the Expert range due to blinkered focus on Phantoms. Now that Reactors are here the Expert range is even further down the list.

Seems like it may be best waiting another 5 months then revisiting again.

All the best everyone, and appreciate all your efforts past & present - good luck with getting traction with Devialet 

[GuillaumeB]

It seems Devialet has given up keeping the amps 'on top'. Strange actually as the 140/210 is quite new. It's easier to make new life style designs like Reactor. Easier to make money too if sales figures for Phantoms are correct.
The main problem could be programmer quality and capacity. It is not easy to find really good programmers these days even if there are many 'programmers' available. If you are one of the clever programmers you can easily be tempted by good offers from other employers. So keeping good programmers is also a challenge

One of the biggest challenges is recruiting really good programmers in Paris/France.

Because of Silicon Valley there is effectively a "brain drain" of the best software engineers which puts up costs quite dramatically (for a French employer). Taxes are much lower, salaries higher and of course opportunities much more plentiful on the West Coast. 

If you have to spend lots of money on developers you are going to put them to work on opportunities and products that can generate the most revenue, particularly if you have already raised 200M euros of debt/equity. 

The best thing we can hope for is that Devialet sees the need to maintain its Expert line, from which so many of the awards and accolades come and therefore much of its credibility as "the best sound in the world". Furthermore as we saw in the case of SAM it might be possible to bring new technologies into the Expert line taking advantage of its DSP engine and of course CI board (I imagine we are only scratching the surface here in terms of what it can do), a point very well made by @Confused in an earlier post.

Guillaume

[f1eng]

As @mdconnelly says, there is no need for 2 configuration methods. It could all be done on board via the web interface that is already there, and stored in memory on the Devialet so no need for the SD card at all. Maintaining 2 configuration methods would be stupid. One method is enough. It just needs to be easily available to everyone. A method which allows us to make changes and have them applied and stored immediately without needing to download a file to our computer, copy the file to an SD card, and insert the card into the Devialet would make everyone's life a little bit easier.

Mathieu made it clear they want to support all products. The D-Premier doesn't have network connections whereas both have SD card slots...FWIW I personally prefer it the way it is for a couple of reasons.

[Manfred]

I bought originally a D170 now a D220Pro. My learning with Devialet AIR over the years is simple: If I had to make a buying decision today, I definitely would separate the streaming from amplification.  The key criteria for a streaming solution would be software quality.

[IanG-UK]

It is now one week after the somewhat disapponting Devialet event where, despite some continued enthusiam from Devialet owner attendees, many of whom are readers of and contributors to Devialetchat, there was little enthusiam from the two parties who are in this business, at least in part, to make a profit from the Expert product.

And nothing from them since then.

Maybe it would have taken Devialet an hour to draft, approve and issue an email to Expert owners, in the UK or worldwide, in the last few days, with an element of reassurance and an opportunity to re-market the CI board or to market Reactor. Cost? £100? Profit if you sell just one CI board or just one pair of Reactors. More. All rather odd.

It is almost as though OAC has given up, understandably, because it feels like those with Expert responsibilities within Devialet have given up.

So perhaps we can expect silence for the next 12 months until Mathieu visits again, if he indeed does.

[mdconnelly]

With all the praise and accolades Devialet has garnered for the Expert/Expert Pro products over the last few years, I struggle to understand why they would set aside their flagship product at this time. The skill and unique design that went into the Expert gave them a name and high credibility in the audio community. I would think that with strong support and marketing effort, there would be a much bigger market to capture. So, I totally agree with @IanG-UK - it is all rather odd. (but then, perhaps that's why I've always been an engineer and not in sales & marketing ;-)

[Flashman]

With all the praise and accolades Devialet has garnered for the Expert/Expert Pro products over the last few years, I struggle to understand why they would set aside their flagship product at this time.  The skill and unique design that went into the Expert gave them a name and high credibility in the audio community.  I would think that with strong support and marketing effort, there would be a much bigger market to capture.  So, I totally agree with @IanG-UK - it is all rather odd. (but then, perhaps that's why I've always been an engineer and not in sales & marketing ;-)

It's pretty clear that Devialet is using its significant luxury group investments to cast a wider net in the consumer audio space.  Regrettably, the Expert/Expert Pro series is too niche for the bean counters, thus the lack of serious intent in improving it.  On the other hand, I do appreciate that Devialet went the Pro series route with streaming board.  That may be the last serious improvement we'll see.

[streamy]

It is now one week after the somewhat disapponting Devialet event where, despite some continued enthusiam from Devialet owner attendees, many of whom are readers of and contributors to Devialetchat, there was little enthusiam from the two parties who are in this business, at least in part, to make a profit from the Expert product.

And nothing from them since then.

Maybe it would have taken Devialet an hour to draft, approve and issue an email to Expert owners, in the UK or worldwide, in the last few days, with an element of reassurance and an opportunity to re-market the CI board or to market Reactor. Cost? £100? Profit if you sell just one CI board or just one pair of Reactors. More. All rather odd.

It is almost as though OAC has given up, understandably, because it feels like those with Expert responsibilities within Devialet have given up.

So perhaps we can expect silence for the next 12 months until Mathieu visits again, if he indeed does.

There are summer holidays in France. So, don’t expect much from Devialet in the next weeks.

[NickB]

Its funny that nowadays everything has to be done by return of email.

The continued silence from Roon support seems a little odd don't you think.

[Confused]

Its funny that nowadays everything has to be done by return of email.

The continued silence from Roon support seems a little odd don't you think.

Nick - I tend to agree.  I think Roon are masters of communication and managing the message that Roon are wonderful and are doing everything the right way.  Devialet are by comparison very poor at doing this.  So it is slightly ironic that Devialet AIR now seams to be working fine for almost everyone, whereas Roon RAAT is problematic and buggy for some, and not just Devialet users.

And whilst I'm here.....

@IanG-UK - I am a little puzzled by your post #158.  I agree with the sentiment re a lack of enthusiasm from the Devialet attendees, this was hard to miss.  However, I got the general impression that OAC remained very upbeat about everything Expert Pro.  Alasdair performed a very slick and enthusiastic run though during the second Devialet model demonstration, and later in the day I was chatting with Jon and Mathieu, and Jon seamed very upbeat about things.  So I left with a positive feeling from OAC, if less so from Devialet themselves.  I am wondering if there was something I missed in the first 15 minutes of the initial presentation?  I did arrive a little late and missed the very first bit.  I am not quite sure what you were trying to say?

And also whilst I am here.....

Does anyone here know the name of the Steely Dan track that was played during the "session 2" comparison of amplifiers?  I asked this earlier in the week (post #148), and it seams not.

I will sign off by referring to @GuillaumeB's post #155.  Wise words from Guillaume, and this reminded me almost exactly of what was being explained in a conversation between Ian (Thumb5), Mathieu Pernot and myself later in the day.  This issue appears to be very real and damaging, and I think can in part explain a lot of the audio software related issues we are seeing currently, not just with Devialet but elsewhere.