New product launch?

[Hifi_swlon]

With 84 pages of posts, I don't know if I have the stamina to go back through them all, so I'll ask a question that may already have been answered; do we know, or have any hint, if the new streamer board can be installed into a non-upgraded Expert amp? Of course we don't know what the function or performance of the new streamer hardware will be, but I'd love to ditch my Sonos boxes.

It occurred to me that if I were shopping today, I doubt I would buy the D220 Pro, but would almost certainly chose the new D130 Pro. I didn't buy a D200 18 months ago and that sort of reminds me that i don't really need one now. Logically then, I'm not really an update candidate.

Thanks for any info that I've missed.

Very, very likely - not to say 100% for sure - it won't be able to install into a non-upgraded Expert.

Since the pros are currently running the existing streamer boards, it's very unlikely to be a technical impossibility - it will at least use the same connectors. There's a chance the pros have dormant technology waiting for the new board which would mean the old line would be incompatible, but since the board doesn't exist yet I'd say it's unlikely. Of course there's a chance they've left a bigger space for it in the pros, and therefore it wouldn't physically fit in the standard line. But again, why would they.... Could be more power available to the board in the pros maybe. That would make sense for more demanding hardware.

My guess is it's more likely going to be a marketing/sales decision - a 'you can only have the new streamer board in a pro or above model' could generate a few extra sales/upgrades/trade-ins...

If AIR3 truly is fixed, and there are sufficient resources devoted to keeping it current, then it's hard to see what the benefits would be. My main reason for wanting RoonReady was because AIR didn't work and seemed like it would always be flakey, so Roon would be ideal. I suppose RoonReady enabling grouped zones with the Devialet would be a selling point, but you can do that a lot of other ways so it would have to be affordable as a non-pro add-on, and sound great. We'll see I suppose.