flaky, flaky dialog

[Johnnydev]

Thanks for the continued information.  I hadn't even heard about the Elevate program (or Dante).  I've gotta say - if the original system had worked anything like it was intended to, I'd consider Elevate simply as a way of getting new hardware + warranty.  Given the actual situation, giving Devialet an additional $3200 US in the hope that the new hardware is better really rankles.  They ought to discount the program for every day you spent in "customer service hell" - they'd probably end up owing me money.  ;-)  (It took me literally fifteen months of back-and-forth with them, before I eventually just gave up on customer service and decided to live with the problems.)

I skimmed through the giant Elevate thread, but it seemed to be mostly concerned with delivery times, and I saw relatively little about whether the new hardware was worth the price.  I'm really hoping that being an early adopter (my Golds have serials ending in U06, which I take it makes them "old") doesn't mean they're doomed to fail in a few years, now that they're out of warranty.  I know that I was pretty dismayed to learn after purchase that Phantoms are "unrepairable", due to the woofer design.  Does the new hardware change this in some way?

It sounds like rolling the dice on DOS 2.0 may be the best option at this point.  Losing the ability to run Spark on Windows, which is my current use case, is a problem.  But not needing to use the app at all might make up for it.  As well as the satisfaction of taking a hammer to my Dialog.  I assume the old Remote will work with DOS 2.0?

Yes the old remote will work with Dos 2.0

[Erwinh]

You can still consider the elevate program, my new Phantoms work significantly better and straight forward than my old 1st generation Silvers. And so does the remote.

[kantblue]

Hi Meeotch

I love your idea of discounts being applied for time spent with customer services - trouble is Devialet - along with many other companies would be long gone if this was a legal requirement

I don't know if its just because I'm older or because modern hardware can do so much more, but I often feel like I must have accidentally signed up to a 'beta test' when I purchase anything from an electric toothbrush to a hifi speaker. Almost everything requires tweaking to get it up and running.

I started my digital hifi experience with Logitech Squeezeboxes (great product but flaky wasn't the word) and that has left me eternally grateful for forums like this one.

Keep us posted if you decide to go with DOS2. The older remote should be fine with it.

As an initially reluctant 'Elevator' I can confirm that the new Phantoms do seem much more stable and certainly run far less hot than my older models and bear in mind they come with one of the new remotes with each speaker. I also went for 'Devialet Care' which gives me 5 years of some protection - it still annoys me that 5 years is now almost considered to be excessive - my Revox tape deck is still going after over 40+ years, turntable now at 50 years !

If you do decide to go for the Elevate program I would ask you to check with Devialet about delivery times - the worldwide shortage of components seems to be causing longer delays which might be an issue bearing in mind your existing speakers have to be returned first.

kantblue

[meeotch]

Ha - I know what you mean. All the other speakers I own are literally decades old. I bought most of my audio gear in high school, and just sold most of it, in working condition, 35 years later. I understand that modern gear has many more capabilities, and is therefore more complex... But from an engineering standpoint, that's no excuse for making it short-lived (or unrepairable!) by design - at least when you're talking about something that costs thousands of dollars. Nobody would buy a car that lasted less than 10-20 years, even if it had bluetooth and was full of cameras.

One question I've got about Elevating: do the new speakers consume less power while idle? (Not talking about standby mode, which I will never use, as it requires physically interacting with each speaker to turn them back on. I mean just sitting silent, waiting for an audio signal.) My Golds consume about 16W at rest. Since my use case requires leaving them on 24/7, that costs me about $230/year in electricity alone.

[scotthar]

RE:   Losing the ability to run Spark on Windows, which is my current use case, is a problem.  But not needing to use the app at all might make up for it.  As well as the satisfaction of taking a hammer to my Dialog.  I assume the old Remote will work with DOS 2.0?

FWIW: 
DOS2 means you WILL be using the IOS or Android app.  There is just no way around using another app at some point for some reason.
I still use the Dialog with DOS2.0 and is fairly well behaved.  I don't need to use the app a lot, but I do occasionally need to go poke the input, just click on the Dialog input and it starts playing. Not sure if that's specific to the dialog or you might see similar need changing between various optical inputs.

Yes the old remote works as well as it ever has, maybe better. (but really don't use it as much as the new one)

The new remote is great ALMOST PERFECT - it makes me forget I have to sometimes use the Devialet APP in-between times it is needed.

to be perfect 10 - the remote needs to have control over the inputs.
and if it could be used as a multi-room controller it gets an 11.
but thats a fantasy at this point.

The new Devialet app is MUCH better than SPARK and seems to be a necessary evil unless you kick the Devialet 'Control' stack out of the chain with something like Dante.

I would be happy enough if the Devialet app would somehow show up in the Amazon MarketPlace and be installable on Windows 11 , at some point in the near future..