Devialet at Oxford Audio 13th July

[RebelMan]

So when I see people going ape over a convenience feature (aka AIR) that doesn’t work as smoothly as it should I think these people don’t have a clue what a real problem is.  Not having AIR work is not loosing sound quality.  Not having AIR work is not having your system dead in the water.  Not having AIR work is not loosing your investment.  Not having AIR work is an inconvenience and that my friends is all!

I'm sorry to rise to the bait again (I should know better), but how on earth can you presume to judge what capabilities are important to other people?  It may be just a convenience feature for you, but for others it may have been a primary reason for buying the amplifier.  And for some, AIR not working may indeed render their system "dead in the water".

You raise a good point.  Let's take a look back.  When the Premier debuted it did't have AIR, it didn't even have the means to communicate wirelessly either.  Although the designers had "plans" to include the feature from the get go corporate deadlines didn't allow for it.  Eventually the add-on board was released but not until the hardware and software were ready to go (so they thought) and if you recall that took awhile.  (It's often the case that smaller companies will subcontract out services for economic and/or expertise reasons so delays are often the result of outside influences and beyond their (Devialet's) control.)   But that didn't stop Devialet from selling Premiers.  And even if the buyer's purchase was dependent on them having AIR that didn't stop them from using the equipment until they could use AIR.  Much of the backlash comes from these people!

Fast forward to today when AIR is not only an integral part of the amplifier its become somewhat mainstream.  If AIR does not work for them are they dead in the water?  Absolutely not!    The AIR infrastructure requires compatible and working ancillaries to execute properly.  If your cheap (comparatively speaking) WiFi router took a dump are you prevented from listening to your Devialet?  No you are not, not technically anyway.  But if you want to be stubborn about it then why not keep it to yourself?  It's widely known that Windows systems generally do not play cooperatively with AV setups yet will people try to make them work and sometimes with success but many times not.  As and engineer I have access to a variety of systems but I would never use Windows with my AV setup at home.  Yes, I know what you're thinking, that Devialet said that it would work with Windows.  Well that's true they did and they really wanted it too and they hoped that it would but sometimes goals are a bit too lofty and you may not have clairvoyance into that until the deed is done.  Some companies won't even offer  Windows equivalent software for their products just MacOS.  At least Devialet is trying to give customers the option.  Until then learn to make do with what does work or not, but don't show up in every thread raining on everyone else's parade.