(15-May-2018, 00:33)ssfas Wrote: [ -> ] (15-May-2018, 00:10)RZappydev Wrote: [ -> ] (14-May-2018, 23:32)Celts88 Wrote: [ -> ]Why sympathy for Devialet?
I have 2 x 250Pro's ($50kRRP here in Aus), but it's nearly 3 weeks and no answer to my Customer Support ticket. They won't pass on my phone calls to Mathieu or anyone else within Devialet, will only reply via email which is at best once per week, and now they have an event in Munich that is by word of mouth only, but the rest of their thousands of customers are kept in the dark regarding current/future plans for their Experts (not just Pro CI models, but Pro & non-Pro models).
Before anyone says go to my dealer, I've already tried that and they know nothing about any current/future plans (or they've been told to say nothing), and the distributor here in Australia knows little also (I know more than the both of them put together). Devialet won't update their customers, and aren't keeping there dealers or distributors in the loop (at least here in Australia they're not).
No sympathy here from me, sorry to say.
+1 from me. This excellent forum is the only useful source of information, and I have learned not to believe any ‘information’ that comes from these ‘meet the customer’ sessions.
I’ve been doing the beta, been sending in reports by email, they’ve responded by email several times asking more about specific issues. I seem to remember Mathieu in France and the chap in London calling me a few times.
I’m pleased they did Spotify first, my kids love it and now understand the pleasure of Hifi, it used to be dad’s thing. Now they blast away.
I have emailed a few times politely asking when Qobuz will be onboard, it was promised at the outset. I don’t expect replies or for them to send me their business plan or stategic forecast. I do know they are listening, collating all the error reports and making progress. They told me most beta testers are very constructive and helpful. I’m happy as it’s a great product, gives me great pleasure and will only get better.
Maybe sympathy is not the right word to use, what I meant was that it is understandable that they struggle on the topic of communication - but true, they should have sorted this out over the years.
They released a product many years ago and I was one of their first customers. I bought my first D-Premier 8 years ago. A talked to their engineers in Munich extensively in 2011 in Munich when they were still exhibiting and three times in Tokyo in the following years. When I bought it, my configuration had to be sent to my dealer when I specified what settings I wanted for my phono input.
They made promises for an online configurator, wifi board, etc. All in all, I must say that many (perhaps not all) were delivered with often long delays and bugs. But, if you look at the whole picture, name another hi-fi brand that upgrades firmware every 2-4 months, many times with new functions, and offers upgrades to hardware every 3 years or so.
Once you buy a piece of hi-fi equipment, you don't normally need any communication from the manufacturer and vice versa unless your unit is broken.
In fact, I can't even name any company/product off top of my head in any industry that does that. You don't have to communicate with the manufacturer/dealer of your car, TV, phone, etc unless there is a problem. You don't upgrade the firmware in your car every two months (I haven't ever checked if there is a new one for mine...).
So they created a new type of product/business model and still haven't figured out the communication channels that would fit it. Actually, that was not discussed in Munich this time either, and I feel a little bad about it. We should have asked them to properly explain how that communication is going to be from now on to ALL customers.
They have sold nearly ten thousand expert units and 50 thousand phantoms, and I have a feeling that only a small fraction of them are on Devialetchat actively. Not to mention those who don't speak English. And this forum is not something that Devialet set up in the first place.
I heard from an expert who is closely following what's going in "audio software" world that most companies with streaming devices or programmable audio gear have third parties to develop their software and test it before they deliver it. Devialet is one of the few who does it in-house. So that is another source of struggles.
To summerize my rambling,
- Devialet has to set up proper channels for bi-directional communication with full-time knowledgeable staff. Not random Q&A event with a handful of people, although it maybe a good start.
- They should employ a few more software engineers or outsource some development to specialized firms.
- They should test new firmware releases a lot more thoroughly following a strict protocol in-house and with a number of volunteer testers and forget about this constant beta-release. They introduce two new functions and eliminate two bugs while deleting an existing function and introducing a new bug with every beta firmware release.
Over my 8 years owning a Devilet, I have had two periods when I was 100% happy with the Devialet. The first year before the wifi board and my last year after I stopped using Devilet for streaming. The reason I didn't upgrade to Pro 1000 was basically that I don't trust their software programmers. When there will be a month on this forum in the firmware upgrade thread without bugs constantly popping up, I will reconsider.
Zoltan