Next Software Updates for Expert Amplifiers

[NickB]

Just so you don't think it is only on good networks that AIR works, I have it running on my usual NUC on the most appallingly bad mains networking set up in Spin at the moment. Not sure if you know but Spanish mains is not a ring main but a series of spurs that are connected to different trip switches in no sensible pattern whatsoever and mine is fairly standard here. I get speeds between 11Mb and 136Mb and varying all over the place on what are purported to be 600Mb mains connectors. AIR just keeps working the only time it fails is when the network collapses completely and then I can't even ping the router. I am convinced that there is a kind of magic between Win10 and AIR which just seems to work.

I'm not challenging that Devialet AIR works for some and in certain setups and certain OS's. But that isn't my definition of working. Far from it in fact, and as happy as I am for people who have a working AIR setup, I don't feel the need or inclination to build a new network in my house - based on trial and error but using other people's working setups as a guide - purely to accommodate a poorly designed/implemented solution from Devialet. Nothing else designed to plug into my home network requires me to build a new one to make it work properly….

I agree, it definitely seems like they've been (sorry to use the word again) 'lucky' with Win10.  I say that since from what I've read it seems like it's only the unofficial version (i.e. the one Devialet state isn't supported on Windows 10) that works, rather than anything they developed specifically for it.  In fact, please correct me if I'm wrong but from what I've read here the Win10 specific version doesn't actually seem to work on Win10?  In any case it wouldn't surprise me if, come Munich, they take advantage of this coincidence and announce that they've done a 'complete overhaul' (aka nothing) for AIR on Windows10,  and that it's now the only supported operating system.  Unless of course they announce to their joy that you can now get round these 'crazy operating system bugs sweeping through the entire Mac and Windows repertoire' by hanging the cheap looking and seemingly dangerously hot plastic 'room heater' Dialogue thing off the back of your Le Expert…. How lovely and elegant that will look wall-mounted next to my Le 200.

All I can say from my POV is that of all the technology I've bought in the last 5-10 years, the Devialet is the least reliable and so has been the most disappointing - both in the hardware/software itself, as well as in the related customer service.  I honestly don't think the machine's are fit to be sold with AIR as a selling point.  I'm also absolutely amazed that they still openly bang on about AIR and how good it is, and list it on their website and promotional material without any disclaimers about it being flakey as hell and pot luck as to whether it will actually work on a Mac or any Windows OS other than 10 (unsupported) in an average household's network environment.  And an average household's network should be all that's needed.

Now I know there are some hardcore Devialet fans here (and if they own a Devialet that looks beautiful and works then I get it) and they'll be really troubled and upset - possibly even outraged - that someone's got the nerve to openly talk badly of the French creators of their 'beloved', and if thats you I apologise profusely for I do not wish to ruin your love affair- far from it I enjoy reading many of the forum members posts here . BUT, many of us have been burned - specifically by AIR - and I just don't accept the defences such as "it works for me so it works", or "it worked for 22 minutes NON STOP for me last month", or "just give them time, I'm sure they've got engineers working day and night to fix this and they'll get there", or "its your network - you just need to make yours the same as mine and use Win10", or whatever other defence people come up with.…..  

Every now and then I look at my D200 on the wall, and while I admire its beauty (I still think it looks stunning) nothing gets me past the disappointment I feel every time I think about why I bought it and how it was intended to be used vs the reality of my Devialet experience so far.

None of this is aimed at you NickB btw, I just replied to your one about the network because it was the latest post…. Funnily enough, Spanish mains sound like my house before we had it completely rewired when we renovated - apparently the man that lived there before us wired it himself from a library book. Needless to say it failed every safety test we threw at it, and when the electricians ripped out all the redundant wiring in the under-stairs cupboard, it turned out the whole house was wired into a single fuse. I wont even talk about the myriad of junction boxes and taped wires we found under the floors.

If I am misreading your post please put me right - are you saying that the Devialet is useless or AIR is useless? Even if you take AIR out of the equation the Devialet Expert range are superb one piece systems which work amazingly with multiple input choices. I have tried many combinations of music playback from Naim to Valve based systems and to me the Devialet is better than them all by a considerable margin.