08-Aug-2025, 09:42
(This post was last modified: 08-Aug-2025, 09:47 by David A.
Edit Reason: Added point
)
@Staradonna ,
I'm not going to quote the whole of your post above but I want to make a comment on your part 2- streaming capabilities.
RAAT has never been supported by anything other than Roon, it is a Roon streaming protocol which can only be used between Roon and a Roon Ready device. Both the Expert Pro and Astra are equally capable of using RAAT when streaming from Roon. You could never use RAAT when streaming to either from any source other than from Roon and you can only use it to stream from Roon to the Expert Pro and to the Astra because both are Roon Ready endpoints.
Both the Expert Pro and the Astra support Airplay and UpNp.
The Expert Pro does not support either Qobuz Connect or Tidal Connect and since Devialet has stopped providing updates for the Expert Pro then they never will. If Astra does not support them now then it may never. When Devialet released the Expert Pro in 2017 it promised to provide Bluetooth support but it never has.
Re room EQ via a streamer with Dirac: Dirac will only provide room correction for signals going through the streamer. If you also have a turntable or any source device which you directly connect to the Devialet it will not get the room correction available via the streamer's Dirac functionality. Sweet Room in the Expert Pro provides room EQ functions for all sources connected to the Expert Pro.
When it comes to comparing the features and capabilities of the Expert Pro and the Astra you can only compare the features and capabilities they have at the time you make the comparison. The features and capabilities the Expert Pro now has are locked in, they are not going to change. The Astra only supports whatever it supports at the time you make the comparison, it does not support anything it doesn't have at the time you make the comparison.
The Expert Pro supports quite a few things now that it did not support on release, it wasn't Roon Ready on release so it did not then support RAAT and it also didn't have Sweet Room which it now has. What the Astra supports right now is only what it has right now. That is also going to change over time and it will eventually support some things it does not support. Like the Expert Pro it may never support everything that Devialet promise but like the Expert Pro it may also end up supporting some things that were not promised.
t's "wait and see" when it comes to what the Astra will eventually end up supporting just as it was for the Expert Pro but until the Astra does not support a feature you can't list it as a supported feature in the expectation that it will eventually be supported. My experience with Devialet and the Expert Pro is that you should make your buying choices based on what the product can do at the time you buy it, not because you expect it to provide for support at some future time for something it does not have at the time of purchase.
Devialet did eventually deliver on most of its promises for the Expert Pro but it did not deliver on all of them and there will be some owners of Expert Pros who are disappointed and annoyed at Devialet's broken promises because they purchased in the expectation that they would get what was promised. Devialet is now delivering on some of those broken promises with the Astra but Expert Pro owners will not get those promised features unless they now upgrade to the Astra at considerable cost. There will be Astra owners who end up in the same situation if Devialet does not deliver on all of its promises for the Astra but instead deliver them in whatever amplifier comes after the Astra.
I'm not going to quote the whole of your post above but I want to make a comment on your part 2- streaming capabilities.
RAAT has never been supported by anything other than Roon, it is a Roon streaming protocol which can only be used between Roon and a Roon Ready device. Both the Expert Pro and Astra are equally capable of using RAAT when streaming from Roon. You could never use RAAT when streaming to either from any source other than from Roon and you can only use it to stream from Roon to the Expert Pro and to the Astra because both are Roon Ready endpoints.
Both the Expert Pro and the Astra support Airplay and UpNp.
The Expert Pro does not support either Qobuz Connect or Tidal Connect and since Devialet has stopped providing updates for the Expert Pro then they never will. If Astra does not support them now then it may never. When Devialet released the Expert Pro in 2017 it promised to provide Bluetooth support but it never has.
Re room EQ via a streamer with Dirac: Dirac will only provide room correction for signals going through the streamer. If you also have a turntable or any source device which you directly connect to the Devialet it will not get the room correction available via the streamer's Dirac functionality. Sweet Room in the Expert Pro provides room EQ functions for all sources connected to the Expert Pro.
When it comes to comparing the features and capabilities of the Expert Pro and the Astra you can only compare the features and capabilities they have at the time you make the comparison. The features and capabilities the Expert Pro now has are locked in, they are not going to change. The Astra only supports whatever it supports at the time you make the comparison, it does not support anything it doesn't have at the time you make the comparison.
The Expert Pro supports quite a few things now that it did not support on release, it wasn't Roon Ready on release so it did not then support RAAT and it also didn't have Sweet Room which it now has. What the Astra supports right now is only what it has right now. That is also going to change over time and it will eventually support some things it does not support. Like the Expert Pro it may never support everything that Devialet promise but like the Expert Pro it may also end up supporting some things that were not promised.
t's "wait and see" when it comes to what the Astra will eventually end up supporting just as it was for the Expert Pro but until the Astra does not support a feature you can't list it as a supported feature in the expectation that it will eventually be supported. My experience with Devialet and the Expert Pro is that you should make your buying choices based on what the product can do at the time you buy it, not because you expect it to provide for support at some future time for something it does not have at the time of purchase.
Devialet did eventually deliver on most of its promises for the Expert Pro but it did not deliver on all of them and there will be some owners of Expert Pros who are disappointed and annoyed at Devialet's broken promises because they purchased in the expectation that they would get what was promised. Devialet is now delivering on some of those broken promises with the Astra but Expert Pro owners will not get those promised features unless they now upgrade to the Astra at considerable cost. There will be Astra owners who end up in the same situation if Devialet does not deliver on all of its promises for the Astra but instead deliver them in whatever amplifier comes after the Astra.
Roon Nucleus+, Devialet Expert 140 Pro CI, Focal Sopra 2, PS Audio P12, Keces P8 LPS, Uptone Audio EtherREGEN with optical fibre link to my router, Shunyata Alpha NR and Sigma NR power cables, Shunyata Sigma ethernet cables, Shunyata Alpha V2 speaker cables, Grand Prix Audio Monaco rack, RealTRAPS acoustic treatment.
Brisbane, Qld, Australia
