Should Apple acquire Devialet/Phantom?

[Gerronwithit]

Neither are particularly intellectual or persuasive arguments. Ragwo is - if not persuasive - certainly patient however. And ogs must believe that the Phantom is mediocre?? What is more likely is that as they continue to struggle, they lose traction and following and die of their own accord in the next recession - not everyone is as patient as ragwo, nor as anti-Apple as ogs.

I know I just sent back $10k worth of product I had on trial but discovered only problems, glitches, and shortcomings that I do not expect for my hard earned after tax $10k. Not ready for prime time as we say in the US. But I have 3 iPads and a sequence of iPhones that just work and look good. May not satisfy techno-geeks but they work and look good. As for mediocrity, I refer you back to win-win premise.

Firstly, I don't own a Phantom. However, last year I took both my sons to the Bristol HiFi show where there is always mountains of kit dressed to impress. Neither are audiophiles and were extremely sceptical of expensive cables and their supposed capabilities. However, both were very impressed with the Phantoms they heard and their capabilities. For them it was the stand out product and I can assure you they are not going to take anything I say for granted. 

Now, I have my 250 Pro back with the CI upgrade and have installed the beta firmware. My music is played through Roon and is mainly from Tidal. What I am hearing is aural heaven and when I think that something I'm listening to is a bit rough, it is because the recording is a bit rough or poor not because of my hardware. As to the software, I have yet to suffer a glitch from the Devialet itself, although have has the odd minor interruption when Roon spring an upgrade on me. At worst, that has required a cold start of the 250 Pro. 

As for Apple developing the software. well. haven't seen a lot of advances on AAC in the last decade or so. I too have an iPhone, an iPad and am writing this on my MacBook Air while controlling my 250 Pro and playing my music via Roon on the same piece of hardware. Apple is too busy watching what Amazon or Google are doing to care about high end audio and am not sure Tim Cook has a clue. If you wanted real software integration then the developers used by companies such as Denon, Onkyo or any other of the AV manufacturers who have to integrate all sorts of competing HiFi, audiovisual and communications standards into their offerings come to mind.