UPDATE IS FINALLY HERE!

[highland98]

Yawn.  Another trivial update.  Nothing that brings the Spark functionality/user interface beyond that of a brick.  I am sure the lone programmer for Devialet is working very hard at this part-time job, but at this rate it will take 20-30 years to get the Spark product up to today's functional robustness of, say Auralic's Lightning DS product, or Aurender's app, or OrangeSqueeze, or iPeng, or even (as a music library interface) iTunes (hint, hint - there is now an SDK for roon).  The principals at Devialet seem to be living on planet Hardware, where everything is good as long as something works when you plug it in.  Sadly, the Phantom product will fall by a very cluttered wayside soon without some real development applied to the Spark product.

[sekriT]

Yawn.  Another trivial update.  Nothing that brings the Spark functionality/user interface beyond that of a brick.  I am sure the lone programmer for Devialet is working very hard at this part-time job, but at this rate it will take 20-30 years to get the Spark product up to today's functional robustness of, say Auralic's Lightning DS product, or Aurender's app, or OrangeSqueeze, or iPeng, or even (as a music library interface) iTunes (hint, hint - there is now an SDK for roon).  The principals at Devialet seem to be living on planet Hardware, where everything is good as long as something works when you plug it in.  Sadly, the Phantom product will fall by a very cluttered wayside soon without some real development applied to the Spark product.

Phantoms are killer in terms of hardware. But Devialet is determined to muck it up with poor firmware support.  Hire an 18 year old kid from India, I bet he would finish the code for NAS streaming in a couple of weeks.

[frenkb]

Yawn.  Another trivial update.  Nothing that brings the Spark functionality/user interface beyond that of a brick.  I am sure the lone programmer for Devialet is working very hard at this part-time job, but at this rate it will take 20-30 years to get the Spark product up to today's functional robustness of, say Auralic's Lightning DS product, or Aurender's app, or OrangeSqueeze, or iPeng, or even (as a music library interface) iTunes (hint, hint - there is now an SDK for roon).  The principals at Devialet seem to be living on planet Hardware, where everything is good as long as something works when you plug it in.  Sadly, the Phantom product will fall by a very cluttered wayside soon without some real development applied to the Spark product.

Though agreed that Spark needs improvement, I don't experience it even close to as bad as you do. I work with Tidal and Spark is stable and fast, playback and search. The album library works well too. So I don't agree with you that Phantom will fall wayside due to Spark, but it will become even bigger when Devialet makes the next step with Spark!

[Johnnydev]

Hey Devialet, where is the NAS connectivity?  Please stop drinking wine in the afternoon and write some codes!!

With a good glass of wine. You get Nice music

Relax

Johnnydev, I am drinking my wine and relaxing.  

Are you working for Devialet since you are defending the company?  

NAS is the most important feature for audiophiles that is missing not Spotify!! 

Here is a screenshot from December 2014 white paper.   It says "Based on the EVO platform, DIALOG will integrate more and more music streaming services natively, multichannel audio decoding, UPnP compatibility to access music from NAS devices, and much more…"

Yawn.  Another trivial update.  Nothing that brings the Spark functionality/user interface beyond that of a brick.  I am sure the lone programmer for Devialet is working very hard at this part-time job, but at this rate it will take 20-30 years to get the Spark product up to today's functional robustness of, say Auralic's Lightning DS product, or Aurender's app, or OrangeSqueeze, or iPeng, or even (as a music library interface) iTunes (hint, hint - there is now an SDK for roon).  The principals at Devialet seem to be living on planet Hardware, where everything is good as long as something works when you plug it in.  Sadly, the Phantom product will fall by a very cluttered wayside soon without some real development applied to the Spark product.

Though agreed that Spark needs improvement, I don't experience it even close to as bad as you do. I work with Tidal and Spark is stable and fast, playback and search. The album library works well too. So I don't agree with you that Phantom will fall wayside due to Spark, but it will become even bigger when Devialet makes the next step with Spark!

I totally agree with you. Overhere it's working on the same way as discribed. I work with qobuz, tv and Mac-book pro with spark on all my devices and i am happy with it for this time. 

Improvements are welcome and i can't wait for internet radio via spark

I think there is someting wrong in the set up or the router by SekriT, or he is frustrated about his NAS story

[Gremlin]

It seems that Devialet and Phantom are now garnering some less than favourable reviews, especially about the soft/firmware:

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/homet...m8q1d.html

http://www.gizmodo.in/design/This-2000-W...764157.cms

I think that they need to up their game.

[sekriT]

Johhnydev, there is nothing wrong with my setup because Dialog still does not offer streaming music from DLNA servers (NAS). Apparently you don't get it, so let me explain it to you.  Dialog is located next to my server and both are connected to home network. Server is running JRiver Media Center (DLNA server) and has 90k titles, all FLAC and DSD. Since Dialog cannot stream music directly from Jriver over the network, I have to have an external USB DAC which outputs in optical TOSlink to Dialog.  Streaming via USB cable introduces some noise and impurity. So I had to buy a USB filter (USB regen), a high quality USB cable and special power cable for DAC. All of this amounts to >$1000 and still would not be as pure music as if Dialog was streaming directly from JRiver using DLNA. The less interface the better! DLNA technology has been around for decades and it is quite simple protocol to use. It would not take a month for an average programmer to write code for streaming from DLNA server.  It's been more than a year since it was announced. Do you have the slightest idea what I am talking about now? Highland98 is absolutely correct in his comments above.

[davidadamson]

Totally agree we need native support for NAS, however I am very happy with my phantoms they work fantastic, a Spark is not that bad, I was using Aurilac Aries to stream Tidal then as soon as Spark could run Tidal it was no longer necessary, I run my NAS through my powerbook and have no problem.
Yes native support would be convenient but not a deal breaker.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[seb]

Johhnydev, there is nothing wrong with my setup because Dialog still does not offer streaming music from DLNA servers (NAS). Apparently you don't get it, so let me explain it to you.  Dialog is located next to my server and both are connected to home network. Server is running JRiver Media Center (DLNA server) and has 90k titles, all FLAC and DSD. Since Dialog cannot stream music directly from Jriver over the network, I have to have an external USB DAC which outputs in optical TOSlink to Dialog.  Streaming via USB cable introduces some noise and impurity. So I had to buy a USB filter (USB regen), a high quality USB cable and special power cable for DAC. All of this amounts to >$1000 and still would not be as pure music as if Dialog was streaming directly from JRiver using DLNA. The less interface the better! DLNA technology has been around for decades and it is quite simple protocol to use. It would not take a month for an average programmer to write code for streaming from DLNA server.  It's been more than a year since it was announced. Do you have the slightest idea what I am talking about now?  Highland98 is absolutely correct in his comments above.

Not defending Devialet and also waiting for some added features (especially Roon and Apple Music Integration), but I am using a less complicated workaround which should not compromise sound quality. I have a Mac mini as a server running Roon for my home. So I connected to Dialog via Optical. Optical may max out at 24/96 which is maybe not enough for some, but it should nevertheless be a Bitperfect workflow (1:1 sample rate of the source material). The other option, which I frankly use even more often (because I hate adjusting the volume separately) is to use Spark. Spark runs on my Mac mini as a source device and transfers the music files via Ethernet to Dialog. No compromise on quality and no DNLA needed. I have non Dialog/Phantom Systems in my home as well. Here I use AirPlay which I am using for years. On these systems 16/48 is OK. There are newer and more advanced systems available, but for me integrating the Phantoms was no additional expense on the systems side (except for the ADC I needed for the turntable - I decided to go for an unconventional solution - the Musical Fidelity Merlin). So, if people are reading this and thinking about workarounds or alternative setups, I can highly recommend a server solution. It would be a lot less than $ 500 without compromising quality and retaining a lot of flexibility.

[sekriT]

True, you can use Spark to transfer music from the server to the client using a proprietary protocol. But who has the nerves to use Spark? Does anyone know what formats does Spark play? I googled "spark audio format" and it came out with no result. Devialet "assistance" section is almost empty. Let's compare the user interface of Spark to JRiver. I added a random album to the playque in Spark but some reason the playlist titles are grayed out, filled with "No data is available" and nothing happens if you click on them. You cannot click on the title you want to listen. Heck, it is playing the file but it doesn't know the title it is playing! Only thing reliably works is the volume control and mute buttons. Here is the best: if you close the Spark on the client, it continues to play and that is absolutely ridiculous. If Jriver and Linn clients are BMW and Porsche, Spark would be Tata Motors. Not to mention that Spark does not stream outside your home network. I love JRiver iphone app which streams music from home server to my car stereo over the cellular network. I bought a bluetooth speaker for my desk at work too. Devialet must stop reinventing the wheel. Just use DLNA protocol to stream from any music server (NAS). Take example of Linn. It works with all sorts of third party music servers: http://www.linn.co.uk/software

[seb]

True, you can use Spark as a "bridge" to transfer music from the server to the client.  But who has the nerves to figure out how the hell Spark works with your music library and what music formats does it play?  

Let's compare the user interface of Spark to JRiver. I added the album to the list but some reason the playlist items are grayed out, it says "No data is available" and nothing happens if you click on them, it is playing the music but it doesn't know the title it is playing! Only thing reliably works is the volume control and mute buttons. Compared to Jriver user interface, it is like trading BMW for Tata Motors.

I absolutely agree. That is the reason I prefer Roon which helps me organize my library and TIDAL at the same time. I also appreciate how Roon enhances the music with metadata. However, I wonder, why the titles are not shown in Spark. Is it the new software/firmware (the reported "bug") or the file structure/database itself? It took me a while to organize and cleanup my music files. It was a kind of painstaking undertaking which I did well before I got the Phantoms. Doing this may have not exposed the weaknesses of Spark as much, but it seems Devialet has made the first steps in the right direction. Spotify Connect is an encouraging sign, lets hope the other services and API's will follow. In fact I would think it would make things a lot more easier for them if they could provide appropriate API's for integration in existing apps and services. Spark then would only be needed for a proper system setup using their proprietary technology ...

I assume it is quite complicated to integrate these services in their firmware, but what about a "server" (Mac/PC) solution that would probably help quite some people for the time being. I am no software specialist, but what if Spark would present itself on a server as a "device" which then JRiver, Roon etc. could use as an output device? If this can be implemented with less resources and more timely, it would be really helpful. The full integration would then be "perfection".