22-Jul-2016, 22:15
(This post was last modified: 23-Jul-2016, 01:48 by Damon.
Edit Reason: the usual: grammar, spelling, deleting extra words
)
Crikey, there are lot of angels here on very high horses. And it is disappointing to see the way the tone has degraded in this thread. OAC must be a bit fed up at the decline and deviations.
We generally agree that Devialet has an erratic record of posting release dates, and then failing to meet those targets, especially in regard to the recent hardware upgrade. But that only matters is one feels the need to constantly play with their gear. Devialet released firmware upgrades from 7.1.1 to 9.0 quite rapidly, and brought functional and (apparently) sound quality improvements. For free. GuillaumeB posted today that he now has the 1000 watt upgrade. No fuss, and no announcement, and yet, the inevitable complaints.
Air is a problem for some users, but not all. The extensive posts by Confused #25, and IanG-UK, #71 I think, had excellent information in them- including comments that indicate Devialet understands AIR has flaws and that they do, in fact, read this forum. And yet the name-calling continues. Threats of, 'I'll never upgrade, or give them another penny, or I'm selling' persist. Complaints abound whether they make an announcement or remain silent. Frankly, with the abuse they get here, I'm not at all surprised they don't bother to participate.
Of course, Alan Shaw would simply kick you off his forum for talking about him or his products the way some do about Devialet here. That must be the other end of customer care. Naim gets a bit antsy when forum members start giving too much praise to other brands. And even though they participate on their forum (which they own) they can't get streaming to work across their product range. Their connections and dropouts cover everything from internet radio to 24/192. And their firmware upgrades sometimes create heavy black bricks that don't function at all. Heck, even my Sonos can't find it's own ass sometimes.
So what if they extended the original DPrem. upgrade window. You may think you've been mislead, but that is a remarkably personal way to react to a business decision that frankly, has been a benefit to others. If you have a DPrem, then the value of your old amp has been propped up. Anyone who bought a D Prem. and upgraded it did so of their own volition. I would say you are fortunate to have a product that was upgradeable then, and is upgradeable now. Almost any other product would be two generations old by now. All Expert series amps remain current with the upgrade options, and if they continue to offer the upgrade, then I'm thrilled.
As RebelMan points out, they are a young company, and making mistakes that many relatively young and small companies make. With products on sale for about five years, they qualify as young. I hope they catch up on some of these points as it would add a great deal to the profile of the company, and certainly it would engender much more customer loyalty.
Would I like them to be part of the forum? Yes, absolutely. Do I think it would be a good strategic move to get their communications and marketing and engineering and production departments in one room and get organized? You bet. But don't give them a hard time for their language and communications while clamouring to have users sign a petition that can't even get the title grammatically correct.
One mention of a possible new development and some folks start yapping like dogs when they hear the food bag opening. And then they come here and bash the company when the release schedule is not met, or when it appears that they are not going to give every individual owner their own customized unit. 'I want ROON', 'I want UPnP', 'I want MQA'; the list of demands never ends. Again, no surprise that they read the forum but just can't get themselves to jump in.
Respect and decency go both ways.
On topic, it still seems to me that we have learned a lot from the OAC day and the very helpful information that members posted. That, combined with the response from Quentin Sannie´which Antoine posted in the petition thread will, I hope, bring some patience and confidence back to this forum.
We generally agree that Devialet has an erratic record of posting release dates, and then failing to meet those targets, especially in regard to the recent hardware upgrade. But that only matters is one feels the need to constantly play with their gear. Devialet released firmware upgrades from 7.1.1 to 9.0 quite rapidly, and brought functional and (apparently) sound quality improvements. For free. GuillaumeB posted today that he now has the 1000 watt upgrade. No fuss, and no announcement, and yet, the inevitable complaints.
Air is a problem for some users, but not all. The extensive posts by Confused #25, and IanG-UK, #71 I think, had excellent information in them- including comments that indicate Devialet understands AIR has flaws and that they do, in fact, read this forum. And yet the name-calling continues. Threats of, 'I'll never upgrade, or give them another penny, or I'm selling' persist. Complaints abound whether they make an announcement or remain silent. Frankly, with the abuse they get here, I'm not at all surprised they don't bother to participate.
Of course, Alan Shaw would simply kick you off his forum for talking about him or his products the way some do about Devialet here. That must be the other end of customer care. Naim gets a bit antsy when forum members start giving too much praise to other brands. And even though they participate on their forum (which they own) they can't get streaming to work across their product range. Their connections and dropouts cover everything from internet radio to 24/192. And their firmware upgrades sometimes create heavy black bricks that don't function at all. Heck, even my Sonos can't find it's own ass sometimes.
So what if they extended the original DPrem. upgrade window. You may think you've been mislead, but that is a remarkably personal way to react to a business decision that frankly, has been a benefit to others. If you have a DPrem, then the value of your old amp has been propped up. Anyone who bought a D Prem. and upgraded it did so of their own volition. I would say you are fortunate to have a product that was upgradeable then, and is upgradeable now. Almost any other product would be two generations old by now. All Expert series amps remain current with the upgrade options, and if they continue to offer the upgrade, then I'm thrilled.
As RebelMan points out, they are a young company, and making mistakes that many relatively young and small companies make. With products on sale for about five years, they qualify as young. I hope they catch up on some of these points as it would add a great deal to the profile of the company, and certainly it would engender much more customer loyalty.
Would I like them to be part of the forum? Yes, absolutely. Do I think it would be a good strategic move to get their communications and marketing and engineering and production departments in one room and get organized? You bet. But don't give them a hard time for their language and communications while clamouring to have users sign a petition that can't even get the title grammatically correct.
One mention of a possible new development and some folks start yapping like dogs when they hear the food bag opening. And then they come here and bash the company when the release schedule is not met, or when it appears that they are not going to give every individual owner their own customized unit. 'I want ROON', 'I want UPnP', 'I want MQA'; the list of demands never ends. Again, no surprise that they read the forum but just can't get themselves to jump in.
Respect and decency go both ways.
On topic, it still seems to me that we have learned a lot from the OAC day and the very helpful information that members posted. That, combined with the response from Quentin Sannie´which Antoine posted in the petition thread will, I hope, bring some patience and confidence back to this forum.
Damon
Powernode, NAD M32, Cambridge CD transport, Analysis Plus, Nordost, iFi Nova, CSS Criton 1TDX, KEF C62
Vancouver, Canada
