Configurator status

[David A]

I use just 2 inputs on my Expert, but I have to cycle through several "never used/non-deselectable" inputs to switch between them. "1st world problem" annoying! You'd think this would be an easy thing to fix, but apparently not. Perhaps there's some contractual reason for having them there? The last Expert firmware update was a year ago, so I'm hopeful we're due for another about now.

I drafted a response to this last night but deleted it without posting. I'm glad I did because I had second thoughts about part of my response.

I am going to disagree with you that we're due for another Expert Pro update about now, I think that we're long overdue for it. That last update listed one outstanding promised feature, Bluetooth connectivity, and 2 outstanding bugs "still being worked on". It also added the gigabit connection RAAT bug and possibly some others. It's over 2 years now since the CI board was released and all promised features should have been implemented well before now, and bugs should be fixed in well under 12 months in my view so I'd actually say that we're months overdue for the next firmware release. Since Devialet are going to be present at the Munich show in May this year, I'd hope that we'd see a new firmware before then or, at worst, they would announce at the show that a release is imminent. If we don't see something by the show and them make no announcements, then they're likely to face some embarrassing questions at the show but they've been ignoring those questions for a year now and the only difference the show could make is to embarrass them a bit more if those questions get asked publicly and aren't answered satisfactorily. Unfortunately Devialet don't seem to be bothered by embarrassment so the show could come and go and nothing may change. Only time will tell. Anyone currently holding their breath waiting to hear something won't be bothered by then, they'll have died from suffocation well before the show so get your hopes up if you like but don't hold your breath waiting for a firmware update, it could still be a long time away. I'm hoping for an update soon but I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much. I can remember thinking we'd get another update before the middle of last year and we're a long time past that now.

Regarding the streaming inputs and being able to deactivate them, or probably more accurately, remove them from the list of inputs we cycle through, last night I was going to say that I thought that would require a change to the Configurator but I've now had second  thoughts on that. When you press the settings button on the remote, you cycle through Balance, Bass, Treble, and SAM settings before coming to a list of various settings you can turn on or off. Since the Balance, tone control, and SAM settings are retained when you turn the amp off, it may be possible to add the streaming inputs to the settings you can turn on or off in the list and have that setting retained like the balance, tone control, and SAM settings are. That might be possible in a firmware update.

Failing that, I think giving us some control over which streaming inputs we have to cycle through is going to take an update to the Configurator and there hasn't been any word on that. I used to hope that we'd be given the ability to change configurations without having to use the Configurator and SD cards but I've come to think that won't happen. They would still need to keep the Configurator going for those people with earlier model amps than the Experrt Pro range, and also for those with Expert Pro amps who haven't taken advantage of the CI board upgrade. I suspect that the only practical way of providing SAM profiles is the Configurator or a separate download process. If they included the library of SAM profiles in the firmware, we'd need a new firmware update every time they added a new speaker to the Profiles and they won't commit to that, and I don't think they would want to have to maintain 2 different configuration approaches, one for CI board amps and one for amps without the board. I suspect the Configurator is here to stay for the CI board and earlier amps. I think they're unlikely to come up with a new configuration method until a new generation of amps with significant hardware changes is introduced and any new configuration method will only be available for those amps.