New product launch?

[Damon]

Crikey, I thought we got over the 'my amp is going to be obsolete because of this upgrade option' thing. Every company that wants to stay in business improves its products, and released new products. Not doing so would make the whole company irrelevant, and that would put it out of business in a few years.

Ayre has had upgrade options for their amps, Naim will sell you additional power supply boxes, Linn lets you twiddle your turntable until you run out of cash, and VPI has also had expensive upgrades available for some of its turntables. I'm impressed that we are not being left behind, even if the upgrades are not low-budget choices. It seems that the upgrade replaces most of the internal parts. That doesn't make the Expert series a beta product, and I'd be astounded if such a hardware change had little effect only on the sound. Think of the SQ changes many on this forum have found the the various firmware updates, even though Devialet has, for the most part, said there should be no change in the sound quality.

Plenty of other companies are working on products that seem very much inspired by the Devialet approach. If Devialet retires it's new-product planners, and sits around doing nothing, then it will be a short-lived company. Nothing kills resale value like becoming an orphaned product.

I agree that their product advertising can be over-the-top, and the announcement and delivery of various upgrades is erratic. That is just part of the fun, but there are a lot of posts here that add just as much confusion. And angst. Re-read Jeff Fritz's review of the D120; that will make you feel better.

I wonder if the new entry level product, the upgraded D120 pro or plus, will be about the price of the current D200. If so, that would support the price of the current D120, unless they eventually release a new entry level amp at the current D120 price.