Yes thats about the price i have heard too for Le 120, about half the price you have quoted above. Above mentioned prices is for two Le 200's.
3400 EUR for Le 120 upgrade?
I prefer to buy another amplifier.If I was going to spend 3400 Euro plus the Le 120 I would have bought Le 200 from the beginning.
Now that I know that Devialet Expert is an experiment or a project in Beta state thanks but no thanks!
The only thing I can say at this point is that I wish Devialet spent more time adding features to the firmware to maintain my D120 as one of the best amplifier to date, and that would make a real change on SQ (like room correction) instead of rendering it obsolete (market wise) by releasing a new hardware for which improvements on SQ will be most probably subtle (if not imagined)
I wonder what classifies as "recent purchase" that will have a cheaper upgrade option? I bought mine at the end of February 2016, and haven't received any firmware or AIR upgrades before this product launch.
Also, if streamer boards will be available in approximately half a year, does it make sense to send in your Devialet and be without it for about a month, and repeat the procedure in a couple of months?
Crikey, I thought we got over the 'my amp is going to be obsolete because of this upgrade option' thing. Every company that wants to stay in business improves its products, and released new products. Not doing so would make the whole company irrelevant, and that would put it out of business in a few years.
Ayre has had upgrade options for their amps, Naim will sell you additional power supply boxes, Linn lets you twiddle your turntable until you run out of cash, and VPI has also had expensive upgrades available for some of its turntables. I'm impressed that we are not being left behind, even if the upgrades are not low-budget choices. It seems that the upgrade replaces most of the internal parts. That doesn't make the Expert series a beta product, and I'd be astounded if such a hardware change had little effect only on the sound. Think of the SQ changes many on this forum have found the the various firmware updates, even though Devialet has, for the most part, said there should be no change in the sound quality.
Plenty of other companies are working on products that seem very much inspired by the Devialet approach. If Devialet retires it's new-product planners, and sits around doing nothing, then it will be a short-lived company. Nothing kills resale value like becoming an orphaned product.
I agree that their product advertising can be over-the-top, and the announcement and delivery of various upgrades is erratic. That is just part of the fun, but there are a lot of posts here that add just as much confusion. And angst. Re-read Jeff Fritz's review of the D120; that will make you feel better.
I wonder if the new entry level product, the upgraded D120 pro or plus, will be about the price of the current D200. If so, that would support the price of the current D120, unless they eventually release a new entry level amp at the current D120 price.
(30-Jun-2016, 20:40)Bwaze Wrote: [ -> ]Also, if streamer boards will be available in approximately half a year, does it make sense to send in your Devialet and be without it for about a month, and repeat the procedure in a couple of months?
According to my source, the streamer board is dealer replaceable, unlike the initial major upgrade
(01-Jul-2016, 00:01)Damon Wrote: [ -> ]Crikey, I thought we got over the 'my amp is going to be obsolete because of this upgrade option' thing. Every company that wants to stay in business improves its products, and released new products. Not doing so would make the whole company irrelevant, and that would put it out of business in a few years.
My take on this is exactly the same!
We all have the choice to do it or to leave it.
(01-Jul-2016, 07:57)Herman Wrote: [ -> ] (01-Jul-2016, 00:01)Damon Wrote: [ -> ]Crikey, I thought we got over the 'my amp is going to be obsolete because of this upgrade option' thing. Every company that wants to stay in business improves its products, and released new products. Not doing so would make the whole company irrelevant, and that would put it out of business in a few years.
My take on this is exactly the same!
We all have the choice to do it or to leave it.
Reading this and some of the earlier comments, I think I would like to point out that there are 2 tracks of innovation for Devialet as a company.
a. Develop new and improved hardware and devices
b. Develop new and improved features for existing devices
If Devialet is to remain ahead of competition that need to invest on (a) to push the limits of hifi. I don't feel that anyone disagrees with that, but I see there are questions around the cost of the upgrades vs cost of new devices. I am sure that if Devialet fails to balance this well, they will run out of business. The market for high-end devices isn't that big after all.
Personally I feel that Devialet fails to deliver on (b) and I believe that this is a mistake, but I totally see that selling upgrades and new devices is where they make their money. Making room correction and streaming as firmware upgrades to existing customers doesn't create revenue unless it is aligned with introduction of new devices. If they had a revenue model for (b) it might have been different.
regarding (b): At least they should stop announcing empty promises and keeping their old ones
I have to agree with @
Borgen. If somehow (in a parallel universe perhaps) we had Devialet quality hardware, combined with stable and highly optimised software, the overall product would be outstanding. That is the problem with the EVO platform, it is capable of delivering so much more, as things stand it's underutilised, very many missed opportunities. In the interest of balance, I presume that if Devialet employed a huge, highly competent software team, the costs would be huge. This would inevitably mean more expensive products. (I believe software engineers can command reasonably favourable salaries) Although I do wonder what would happen if they opened the EVO platform to the world and allowed third party development. Might be chaos, might lead to some brilliant developments?
As for the upgrade dilemma, retained values etc. The first point is the upgrades are optional. If you don't take it, your amp will sound the same for zero charge.
Then think of cars. A couple of years before I bought my first Devialet, I bought a car. Since then, the manufacturer has brought out a new model of the car, it's higher spec, looks a bit nicer, and so on. No upgrade of my car has been offered! The car has also lost a LOT of it's value.
Back in the very late 90's / early 2000's I performed a major upgrade of my hifi. Today, I still have the amplifiers I bought then, Arcam Alpha 10/10P, they are still in use in a surround sound system, as are the speakers I bought then. The CD player I bought in I think 2000, is still in use in my main system. I only play CD's occasionally, but my trusty old CD player is still in use, connected to a Devialet. I bought a car in the late 90's too, I do not own it now, it still exists, and it's a horrible pile of junk! I think a lot of this is psychological. If you'd bought one of the first D-premiers, it would still be a fine product now, OK not the latest thing, but a damn good amp nevertheless. There are far worst ways of wasting money than buying Devialet products.