When the OdA free upgrade program will Kick Off ????

[Zappydev]

Quentin's letter about the problems and delays has me confused.   Has Devialet made it clear to those that are sending your Od'A off now that they'll work just fine with existing firmware when you get them back with the new CI board installed or will you need to run their beta software (when released) in order to get them to work at all?

Installing the CI board before the software platform that supports it is production ready seems a bit backward (and a bit nuts ;-), but perhaps I'm just missing something.  If anyone has any insight on this, please share.

I have no idea what their masterplan may be, but there is no way on earth that I will be sending them my O d'A until they have released what they consider to be a stable firmware, and the consensus of other members here is that AIR works at least as well as it does today. Having spent over a year struggling with earlier AIR releases, I have no intention of going back to a system that may or may not work, and may take years to fix. All the additional features (Qobuz etc. are nice-to-haves, but reliable network streaming was a fundamental requirement when I bought my original D170, and I am not prepared to go back to those uncertain days while Devialet fiddle about out of their depth once again.

It is a given that software development has an unreliable timeline, but I see no apology in his letter for the sheer hubris of announcing a specific date (October 17) for release when it is clear that at that time, they did not have a system that was even close to being ready. As others have stated elsewhere, Devialet is awash with money, and the world is awash with highly talented software writers. Quentin's letter, however politely written, does nothing to acknowledge the fundamental incompetence that seems to pervade that part of the organisation that is involved with software development and the marketing thereof.