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Devialet predictions for 2016 (The Devialet Almanac 2016)
#51
(01-Apr-2016, 17:30)IanG-UK Wrote: I'll withdraw my previous predictions and replace with DEVIALET HEADPHONES - active and digitally fed

1 It's a big and still growing market

2 Particularly for to 12 - 25 year olds who can then be hooked into Phantom or Mini Phantom

3 It exploits Devialet's existing expertise acquired through Phantom and ADH/SAM

4 They are clearly into miniaturising ADH for phones and cars and TVs (probably on an OEM basis) and this is an example of that within the Devialet brand

5 Whilst branding of headphones has strengthened over the past few years, there have been few technical developments, maybe electrostatic of 4 decades ago and sound cancellation more recently, neither particularly successful - so this will be novel

6 Devialet's tie up with Apple and their less observable links with Tesla give them routes into miniaturised rechargeable battery sourcing

7 A battery powered active headphone might preserve the play time of phones if such phones are just giving digital wireless feeds

8 Presumably Devialet can use SPARK and an attraction could be to use it from your phone for your headphones or for your Phantom

9 It warrants them getting all their Premier dealers together as this will create a novel and major selling opportunity

10 I can't see the announcement in late April being an Expert Mk 2 or 3 as they have just committed £0.5m capital to the OdA (which they would not have otherwise done); nor a big active loudspeaker as there is no volume market; the source market is all over the place and Devialet seem to be in to multiple feed options; but maybe we will also see Dialog working with Phantom and Expert.

I think this is an excellent prediction and makes great business sense to me. This makes the Devialet brand ubiquitous and gets the younger generation hooked. 

Guillaume
Industry disclosure: UK distributor for Shunyata Research

220 PRO, totaldac d1 server with additional external power supply, totaldac d1-seven, Echole PSU for Totaldac, Wilson Audio Sasha 2, Shunyata Research cables, Shunyata Hydra Alpha A10 + DPC-6 v3, Various Entreq ground boxes and cables, Entreq Athena level 3 rack, 2 X SOtM sNH-10G with sCLK-EX + 10MHz Master Clock input + sPS-500 PSU, i5 sonicTransporter w/ 1TB SSD

UK
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#52
Not a prediction, just an observation, every pair of headphones used by F1 teams carries sponsorship, in many cases from headphone manufacturers. (Bose, Beats, Sennheiser, etc.)

I'll be checking out the Renault F1 pit crew ear candy over the next few races!

If Ian is right (if) it might create a bit of conflict in the Apple stores, mindful Apple own Beats Audio.
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
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#53
Headphones with DSPing, specifically a cross feed would interest me. As long as they sound as sweet as my Edition Xs.
Roon->HQPlayer->McIntosh C47->McIntosh MC301s>Transparent Super->Wilson Audio Sabrinas w/ Shunyata Denali, Rega RP8, Rega Apheta 2


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#54
OK, it is now time (a little late in fact) for a Q2 update. Yes, we are more than 50% through the year. So what has happened? Lots of rumours recently, but lets summarise what we know as facts.

1: The phantom Gold has been announced. Now there were some predictions of different coloured Phantoms, but basically this hasn't happened, even the new Gold is white.

Felix predicted a 'Phantom 2', not bad, but no mention of if this was bigger, smaller, more powerful or whatever. A bit vague, but kind of correct, except the gold is Phantom 3, if the white and silver are 1 & 2.

IanG went for a smaller, cheaper Phantom - Oh well! Although I predicted the same! In fact, nobody went for a bigger or more powerful Phantom - Rubbish!

2. The 1000 Pro has been announced! Well, there were many predictions of 'no new expert range', all wrong! (including myself!) There were also many comments regarding the possibility of O'dA trickle down, but nobody properly nailed the fact that the D1000 Pro would be a marginally upgraded O'dA, with the O'dA getting trickle down from the Expert range. Good work Devialet, that one was truly unpredictable!

So basically we are all rubbish at predictions. Perhaps we are using logic, and in the wonderful and crazy world of Devialet, this just does not work!

Some honourable mentions:

franchiser predicted this:
'- a larger upgrade to the 400s/800s that will bring some of the benefits (at the moment, presumed benefits only...) of the 900s to the little people. I believe some sort of paid (and time-limited) upgrade to the expert range is almost inevitable this coming year, simply because it has been a while since the last one. It must be time once again to milk the franchise (sorry, make good on the promise that your d-premier will never be obsolete). '

Not bad! Although I note that he is a justified Ancient of Mu Mu, which does come with special powers of future prediction....

Then we have deviousalet:
'hardware upgrades for existing Expert units trickle down from Od'A (A, D, & power boards for both cases'
'Experts will gain power (Od'A=1000, and after upgrading hardware D220/D450, D270/D900)'

Not bad!

So, at the half way point of the year, I would say kudos has to go to deviousalet. To be clear, deviousalet also predicted many other things that were wrong, but one interesting wrong prediction caught my eye....
'problems with AIR will be ignored, while room correction and DLNA/UPnP support will be promised for "soon" but not delivered. ' & streaming to Experts', because it's wrong, but kind of correct, in part.

Final kudos has to go to Devialet though, for being totally and uttely unpredictable so far in 2016..... and still another 6 months to go ....
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
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#55
This remind me again of the article that said Devialet were planning to sell their AHD technology. We haven't seen any of that yet.
                                                    Lifetime Roon, Mac mini, int. SSD, ext. HDD, tv as monitor, key board and track pad on bean bag as remote,Devialet 200, Od'A #097, Blue jeans speaker cable,                                     
                                                                                                                                                                            Dynaudio C1 MkII.
                                                                                                                                                                              Jim Smith's GBS.
                                                                                                                                                                        Northern NSW Australia.
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#56
Thanks for the honorable mention. I'm betting double-or-nothing that my predictions which haven't been disproven will redeem me:

My original predictions, as a reminder (with incorrect guesses struck out and correct guesses in italics):
1) new and improved acronyms (and for bonus points, three-letter acronyms at that)
 1a) some will be connected to useful improvements and others will simply be amusing
2) hardware upgrades for existing Expert units trickle down from Od'A (A, D, & power boards for both cases)
3) firmware upgrades for both Phantom and Experts
 3a) Experts will gain power (Od'A=1000, and after upgrading hardware D220/D450, D270/D900)
 3b) Phantom will gain bass management but not gain power
4) new connection/processing hardware (Dialog replacement) will provide
 4a) support for more streaming services and formats, including MQA but not full Roon Endpoint
 4b) surround sound (3.0, 5.0, 7.0, and Atmos/Auro3D) to Phantom but not Experts
 4c) streaming to Experts
5) problems with AIR will be ignored, while room correction and DLNA/UPnP support will be promised for "soon" but not delivered.

Mid-year commentary:
1) This is like poker. Devialet hasn't yet revealed their new acronyms but is getting twitchy. Note the number of things they're calling "new", "more", or "best". They're also inventing strange new language like "dematerialized music" in their attempt to hold their breath and keep in all the new acronyms. I'm betting that with five new patents and four updated products they can't restrain themselves for long from using a few new acronyms.
 1a) So far AIR3 and the new ADH, Class-A, Class-D, Magic Wire, Power Supply, and Thermal Management are useful twitches of their acronym inclination while the "8x More Powerful" Gold Phantom with "new Titanium Tweeter" is amusing given the show demos of White Phantoms using their copious power to make ugly amounts of excessive noise and the properties of titanium vs. beryllium, diamond, or diamond-coated beryllium which are the state of the art in refined hard-dome tweeters.

2) Devialet has said that hardware developed for the Od'A plus a few improvements since then will be available as hardware upgrades. I was specifically correct about the A, D, and power boards being upgraded although the upgrades aren't yet available so they still have time to prove me wrong.

3) Firmware updates aren't yet released but I'm still betting on them and hoping for this year.
 3a) I've already been proven right about the Od'A going to 1000W but didn't expect even Devialet to screw the Oa'A owners by upgrading the 800 to 1000W too. To be fair, I predicted a power upgrade through software update not hardware so I'm wrong unless a firmware update appears with power increases.
 3b) I never would have guessed that what Phantoms needed was more power. Wow. On this one I'm certainly wrong, but so is Devialet unless they improved bass management (which would give me partial credit).

4) While the Dialog has not been updated or replaced the Gold Phantom does support AirPlay and Spotify so may yet have new prove me partially correct. Or, given the continuing problems with the Dialog, Devialet may yet update/replace it.
 4a) Do Spotify or AirPlay count as a streaming service and format? Maybe MQA will come, and certainly Roon Endpoint seems unlikely.
 4b) We'll see. This is more my hope than guess, but maybe I should have been quiet and been given what I wanted like AirPlay.
 4c) Devialet did announce new streaming hardware for the Expert Pro line, but that wasn't really my guess, nor will they deliver it in 2016, so I don't think I get any credit here.

5) While I'm wrong that all problems with AIR were ignored, AIR3 still has many problems for many people, and is only available on one platform, so unless they dramatically improve the beta in 2016 I think I get at least some credit here. I certainly get credit for UPnP support being promised, but we can still hope that I'm wrong if they actually deliver it in 2016. Personally, if AirPlay in the Gold Phantom works that makes me wrong in essence because it serves my needs better than DLNA or UPnP, and AIR3 sound so much better while continuing to work for me that I happily yield to Devialet for my personal needs. However they need to fix AIR for the majority of users to truly prove me wrong.
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#57
I doubt this will happen (take this more as a personal wish), but I would like to see a high end Phantom tech based speaker lineup made for the Expert PRO series. Basic idea: use Expert PRO power for mid/high drivers and have a built-in 4000 watt active bass driver. Cost range 5k to 12k depending on model.

A more realistic take:

- Room correction for both Phantom and Expert. This would be highly popular and make it so much easier for their dealers to demonstrate their gear. On the software side there are several options they could license or they could just build thei rown.

- ADH based headphones for the Apple ecosystem. Apple is getting rid of the 3.5mm jack so all headphones are going digital there. They already have a good synergy with Apple and this would bring the Devialet brand name into the mainstream in ways even the Phantom cannot hope of doing. This would be the missing third pillar in their strategy: bring in customers via ADH headphones, eventually get them to become interested in the Phantoms and via Phantoms eventually get them to buy an Expert PRO.
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#58
OK, we have reached almost reached the end of the year, and to be honest I would be surprised if there were any more big Devialet announcements over the rest of the week.

So what did 2016 deliver? I think the 'big ones' were the new 'Pro' range, the upgrade scheme and the Phantom Gold. In addition, we have Devialet's sponsorship of the Renault F1 team, a nice record that you can play only once, the announcement of a new streamer board (but no details) and the anoucement of a large fundraising and investment.

Interestingly, there were a number of predictions of the O'dA improvements 'trickling down' to the Expert, and even predictions of an upgrade scheme. However, not one person correctly predicted the arrival of the Pro series, with the 1000 Pro actually being higher specification than the O'dA, so this one surprised us all, not least those who has shelled out there own hard cash to buy an O'dA. I think this was a scenario so bizarre so that nobody could think of it in there wildest dreams, but it happened nonetheless!

There were predictions of bigger Phantoms, smaller Phantoms, and different coloured Phantoms, but what we eventually got was an allegedly superior 'Phantom Gold', exactly the same size and with more power. Nobody exactly predicted this either.

Reading back through the predictions, I have to conclude that we were all a bit rubbish at trying to predict Devialet, or perhaps you could conclude that Devialet are unpredictable. As an example, there were the odd predictions of what would be announced at Munich, in the end sod all happened at Munich, then we had the dealer event and big feast at the Palace of Versailles, with all the dealers then subjected to non-disclosure agreements, which as it turned out did put the dealers in a very difficult position with their customers.

Another big one was the Devialet AIR petition, which lead to a letter of apology form Mr Quentin Sanne, and subsequently to the most welcome, but slightly underwhelming 'Love is in the AIR' initiative. In fairness, I'd have to say that AIR 3 is one of Devialet's successes this year, but I cannot give them too much credit for this as an improvement in the stability of AIR is clearly years overdue.

I'd give an honourable mention to Schambrg – For correctly predicted Airplay compatibility for the Phantoms. This has happened (just) and was not predicted by anyone else.

Another honourable mention to Deviousalet - Who stated 'Experts will gain power (Od'A=1000, and after upgrading hardware D220/D450, D270/D900) – Well, he got the O’dA bit right at least!

But to be frank, we were all rubbish, lets be honest. Better luck in 2017 folks!

And the final award for the year has to go to Devialet, for basically outwitting the lot of us!
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
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#59
(28-Dec-2016, 14:45)Confused Wrote: OK, we have reached almost reached the end of the year, and to be honest I would be surprised if there were any more big Devialet announcements over the rest of the week.

So what did 2016 deliver?  I think the 'big ones' were the new 'Pro' range, the upgrade scheme and the Phantom Gold.  In addition, we have Devialet's sponsorship of the Renault F1 team, a nice record that you can play only once, the announcement of a new streamer board (but no details) and the anoucement of a large fundraising and investment.

Interestingly, there were a number of predictions of the O'dA improvements 'trickling down' to the Expert, and even predictions of an upgrade scheme.  However, not one person correctly predicted the arrival of the Pro series, with the 1000 Pro actually being higher specification than the O'dA, so this one surprised us all, not least those who has shelled out there own hard cash to buy an O'dA.  I think this was a scenario so bizarre so that nobody could think of it in there wildest dreams, but it happened nonetheless!

There were predictions of bigger Phantoms, smaller Phantoms, and different coloured Phantoms, but what we eventually got was an allegedly superior 'Phantom Gold', exactly the same size and with more power.  Nobody exactly predicted this either.

Reading back through the predictions, I have to conclude that we were all a bit rubbish at trying to predict Devialet, or perhaps you could conclude that Devialet are unpredictable.  As an example, there were the odd predictions of what would be announced at Munich, in the end sod all happened at Munich, then we had the dealer event and big feast at the Palace of Versailles, with all the dealers then subjected to non-disclosure agreements, which as it turned out did put the dealers in a very difficult position with their customers.

Another big one was the Devialet AIR petition, which lead to a letter of apology form Mr Quentin Sanne, and subsequently to the most welcome, but slightly underwhelming 'Love is in the AIR' initiative.  In fairness, I'd have to say that AIR 3 is one of Devialet's successes this year, but I cannot give them too much credit for this as an improvement in the stability of AIR is clearly years overdue.

I'd give an honourable mention to Schambrg – For correctly predicted Airplay compatibility for the Phantoms.  This has happened (just) and was not predicted by anyone else.

Another honourable mention to Deviousalet - Who stated 'Experts will gain power (Od'A=1000, and after upgrading hardware D220/D450, D270/D900) – Well, he got the O’dA bit right at least!

But to be frank, we were all rubbish, lets be honest.  Better luck in 2017 folks!

And the final award for the year has to go to Devialet, for basically outwitting the lot of us!

Excellent summary Confused!

Guillaume
Industry disclosure: UK distributor for Shunyata Research

220 PRO, totaldac d1 server with additional external power supply, totaldac d1-seven, Echole PSU for Totaldac, Wilson Audio Sasha 2, Shunyata Research cables, Shunyata Hydra Alpha A10 + DPC-6 v3, Various Entreq ground boxes and cables, Entreq Athena level 3 rack, 2 X SOtM sNH-10G with sCLK-EX + 10MHz Master Clock input + sPS-500 PSU, i5 sonicTransporter w/ 1TB SSD

UK
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