Original d'Atelier

[SwissBear]

I'm kind of surprised that the upgradability of the Devialet, which is in my opinion a fantastic feature of the brand, suddenly becomes a source of frustration for most Devialet owners.
Some get upset as the model they own can be upgraded to better models at a reasonable cost compared to the cost of acquisition of a new one. Others are upset as they are offered to upgrade to the best of bread, i.e. the top end of the range, free of charge.
As much as I was upset as long as I was not able to produce very high SQ with my D900 due to configuration problems which were not well documented by Devialet, as much I am delighted to be offered the free upgrade to the new system. And I'm convinced that the HW I already own has most of the features of the new HW, were it new HW ! 
I would humbly suggest everyone relaxes enjoying the fantastic SQ of those machines, and forgives Devialet management for the poor quality of their communication

[Frnch]

We are starting to see different views among Od'A owners about this upgrade with potential frustration but before making any comment I would like to understand more what will be in details the hardware change as moving from 900 to 1000 Watts will no be a revolution for most of us I guess. Anyone having more details?

F

[Mka]

After we have the free "permanent" upgrade option for ODA users in writing, it is probably now a really good time to invest in one of the remaining OdAs on the market. Some of the dealers give good discounts for clearing their stock. A friend of mine just bought one in Germany for 23k€!

What I wonder: what is so difficult in producing a streaming board? We read that they developed a more modular devialetOS. I hope this will print us things like
- true bidirectional enhanced remote App (showing all parameters)
- change setup with app or in device web server
- in device qobuz integration

I fear that they will abandon their problem child air after they got streaming working. If the summer continues to be the way it is, I might revive my reverse engineering of the protocol to finally have a Linux driver. A lean setup with Jriver in a qnap docker container with a direct air connection would be great.

[G51]

I'm kind of surprised that the upgradability of the Devialet, which is in my opinion a fantastic feature of the brand, suddenly becomes a source of frustration for most Devialet owners.
Some get upset as the model they own can be upgraded to better models at a reasonable cost compared to the cost of acquisition of a new one. Others are upset as they are offered to upgrade to the best of bread, i.e. the top end of the range, free of charge.
As much as I was upset as long as I was not able to produce very high SQ with my D900 due to configuration problems which were not well documented by Devialet, as much I am delighted to be offered the free upgrade to the new system. And I'm convinced that the HW I already own has most of the features of the new HW, were it new HW ! 
I would humbly suggest everyone relaxes enjoying the fantastic SQ of those machines, and forgives Devialet management for the poor quality of their communication

Good point!

[Confused]

I'm kind of surprised that the upgradability of the Devialet, which is in my opinion a fantastic feature of the brand, suddenly becomes a source of frustration for most Devialet owners.
Some get upset as the model they own can be upgraded to better models at a reasonable cost compared to the cost of acquisition of a new one. Others are upset as they are offered to upgrade to the best of bread, i.e. the top end of the range, free of charge.
As much as I was upset as long as I was not able to produce very high SQ with my D900 due to configuration problems which were not well documented by Devialet, as much I am delighted to be offered the free upgrade to the new system. And I'm convinced that the HW I already own has most of the features of the new HW, were it new HW ! 
I would humbly suggest everyone relaxes enjoying the fantastic SQ of those machines, and forgives Devialet management for the poor quality of their communication

I actually agree with much of this, but forgive Devialet management for the poor quality of there communication?  Not a chance!  The point being that if you read through some recent 'grumpy' posts, say from Guillaume & IanG, they are actually being very positive regarding 'fantastic SQ and upgradeability.'  To quote 'I absolutely love my O'dA'.  However, more telling is IanG's comment 'I enjoyed the O'dA prior to this announcement.'  OK, it is clear that words from Devialet cannot influence the sound quality of individual amplifiers, but human beings are complex things, and yes, words, communication, can have profound effects on how people feel about things.  With something like the enjoyment of music, relaxing, feeling good, Devialet's actions DO have the power to transform turning on your O'dA from a good feeling to simply making you feel like a mug, which is a bad feeling.  And you know what?  With the complexities of human emotions, this will make your (very, very, expensive) O'dA sound perceptively worse.  The recent grumpy posts only mention one issue for complaint, communication, and this is both communication from Devialet and the dealers.  Ah the dealers, part of their job is surely is to keep customers happy, they wouldn't come back in the future otherwise would they?  In the current circumstances, customers are communicating with their dealers, perhaps wanting very specific information, the dealers know this information and the want to pass it on to their customers to make them happy.  But no!  The dealers can't provide this information, they have signed legally binding non disclosure agreements that Devialet have made them sign.  I find it difficult to conceive how Devialet could have handled all this in any less competently, the situation is utterly farcical.  Devialet should be absolutely shame faced.  Then we have the latest correspondence, "a permanent programme of exclusive and free upgrades'.  Wow!  that sounds brilliant!  (In fact, it does sound very good)  Again, Devialet contrive to make offering something superb really annoying.  Why?  Because the whole correspondence has zero information in it.  What upgrades are needed or offered?  Are they really 'exclusive' or is this more marketing BS from Devialet, and there is nothing exclusive, I am just getting the same innards as the new D1000, so the only exclusive thing I have is the copper gold colour, and I had that already. 

So here we go again, Devialet offer something good, but do it in way that almost looks like it's purposely designed to annoy their customers.  The whole business is totally and utterly unfathomable!  And it spreads wider than just the O'dA.  Because we have many rumours and half truths about the upgrades we have much speculation about what can be upgraded to what and at what price.  Take comments about D120's being upgraded to the same 'Pro' spec as the D200, similar issues with D-Premier upgrades.  This is annoying people, Devialet have announced the upgrade program, asked owners to sign up, but only provided crumbs of information.  This really is annoying people!  Can they not work this out!
Of course, communication issues with Devialet are nothing new.  I could sit here writing about two years of communication regarding issues with AIR and many other things.  This would take a very long time and be very depressing, but you know what, I have a bit of free time this morning, I am going to turn my Dev's on and enjoy some tunes!

Oddly enough, I think the 'Pro' upgrade looks very good, I am quite excited about it, but when I think of Devialet as a company, how they communicate, their arrogance and so on, I am tempted not to bother with the upgrade.  My amp sounds fine, I love it, but do I want to empty my bank account to Devialet's benefit?  Not really, not when they treat customers like this.  If you are reading this Devialet, make an effort, sort this mess out.  As for me, I do have a bit of a thing for the Chord Dave, I am also tempted by the thought of trying the dCS Vivaldi DAC, however, these products will not work sensibly with Devialet amplifiers.  We have choices Devialet, don't test our loyalty too far, we'll be gone!

Do you think I am being unfair to Deviaet?  Well consider this.  Devialet do know about this forum, they do read it.  Devialet have sold an O'dA to the 'Le Gouverneur' of this forum, and made no effort whatsoever to communicate with the man, to try and keep him happy.  To me that is just plain stupid and ignorant, even from a hard nosed business perspective.  Or to put is another way, totally and utterly bonkers!

Now back to the tunes!  I fancy a bit of Tokyo Ghetto Pussy this morning!   That will cheer me up no end.  (Yes, this is a musical artist folks, well, kind of)  And thinking of totally and utterly bonkers, maybe some Dizzy Rascal later, as a tribute to Devialet.

[SwissBear]

I actually agree with much of this, but forgive Devialet management for the poor quality of there communication?  Not a chance! 

Agreed. You have a very good point.
Let's not forgive but let's not stop enjoying the product at the same time

[Mka]

I actually agree with much of this, but forgive Devialet management for the poor quality of there communication?  Not a chance! 

Agreed. You have a very good point.
Let's not forgive but let's not stop enjoying the product at the same time

High-End products are a lot about emotions and perception. And most of us agree that devialiet has 65-1 great developers and probably one horrible marketing & communications guy.
But still better than 1 horrible developer producing vapoware and 65-1 great marketing guys. @Devialet: The first is much easier to fix. (As the nettiquette of this forum doesn´t like OT discussion about "the one" topic, please do not speculate what the -1 developer is working on since 5 years :-) )

(I did mention that I love my OdA's SQ playing right now "Chopin: The Complete Nocturnes - Klavier: Gergely Bogányi [DSD]" , best nocturnes ever .....)

[m4gnus]

I actually agree with much of this, but forgive Devialet management for the poor quality of there communication?  Not a chance! 

Agreed. You have a very good point.
Let's not forgive but let's not stop enjoying the product at the same time

High-End products are a lot about emotions and perception. And most of us agree that devialiet has 65-1 great developers and probably one horrible marketing & communications guy.
But still better than 1 horrible developer producing vapoware and 65-1 great marketing guys. @Devialet: The first is much easier to fix. (As the nettiquette of this forum doesn´t like OT discussion about "the one" topic, please do not speculate what the -1 developer is working on since 5 years :-) )

(I did mention that I love my OdA's SQ playing right now "Chopin: The Complete Nocturnes - Klavier: Gergely Bogányi [DSD]" , best nocturnes ever .....)

Devialet is assumably a very engineer driven company. Such companies are known for three shortcomings; function, looks and customer communication. I think Devialet has succeeded in the first two, although at least the remote function could be a bit trimmed. As goes for communication, the posts here shows Devialet has not managed well enough. However, I believe the company's intentions are all good. The management don't mean to be "arrogant". They want us ODAowners to feel part of the developing process.

I'm new as a Devialet owner but still happy. (I never expected the ODA to be the "investment" the dealer was talking about).

[f1eng]

IMHO the interface with the outside world went pear shaped when Bernard Arnault of LVMH bought in.

When my attention was first drawn to Devialet they were a small new high tech company in Paris. Their web site was simple, easy to navigate and full of well explained technical information.
I bought 2 D-Premiers  and if you needed any technical help the one man PR department put you directly in touch with an engineer if he couldn't help personally.

After the big investment we got the Orange web site. Almost impossible to find anything in, some pages had no links at all. When I complained about its uselessness I was told they thought it better.
My guess is that JVMH is a marketing specialist (they sell very expensive products), they perhaps specified a sales targeted web site.

I am quite sure that I, personally, would almost certainly not have followed up my interest in the technology with a home demo if the current web site had been going back then.
None of the information which fired my interest is easy to find any more and the way the data is presented assumes the reader is an idiot or at least technically illiterate.

This is a disappointment since I love the product and the engineering.

Free updates forever could be a double edged sword. It could also mean that we get one update then there aren't any more...

[nicoludio]

Yes, the old website was excellent, and easy to navigate to find whatever information that was required.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I do wonder if the promise of free and permanent upgrades is a marketing spin. At some stage, there may be a need to change the case to cater for better hardware. When that happens, what next for the hardware upgrades?

Still, despite the marketing/PR snafus, it is an excellent product.