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Od’A and now 1000 Pro and 120/200/400 Pro - an alternative view
#1
Some of the criticism being levelled at Devialet in the past three months, primarily as it relates to “announcing” the new product range, is, in my opinion, justified - although much of it may have been provoked by leakages from dealers who have broken their NDAs. And, on reflection, Devialet should have judged that a three month embargo between the Versailles gathering and the impending formal launch (at least in the UK) was simply too long for any NDA to hold firm. It is hoped that Devialet will censure those breaching their NDAs if at all possible.

As an owner of an Od’A, my initial reaction to the rumours that a “better” top model would be released within six months was one of disappointment and amazement at what appears to be inept planning, albeit this has been tempered by the news that Od’A owners will get a free “upgrade”, though details of this are non-existent at present, which I regard as very disappointing - though, in the overall scheme of things, defensible from Devialet’s point of view.

From a commercial and technological point of view, it was always likely that a new or rebranded range would be introduced by mid 2018 - my recollection is the D-Premier launched at the start of 2010 with the 110/170/240/500 launching in May 2013. So, somewhat selfishly (and what an irrelevant reason that is), I thought that the exclusivity of the Od’A would run for two years or so, even if there were some aspects dripped down to the cheaper units.

And, of course, Devialet could have chosen to simply drip down some aspects to what are now the 120, 200 and 400 (and maybe the 250); or to rebrand those models as the 120/200/400/(250) Pro, thus giving the models a refreshed identity; giving existing owners upgrade options as it seems is being proposed anyway.

(Just allow the 800 to lapse for a while or create the 900 Pro)

The Od’A would remain as the supreme product, would be untouched, and no Od’A owner would feel aggrieved - since nothing in the lesser units would be “better”.

That would therefore have been the easy way forward for Devialet and offended no-one, especially if the promising AIR developments were delivered in full.

But Devialet has probably taken a more challenging route which one hopes will be the correct one in the medium term.

This may well be influenced by the fact that 97 Od’As have been sold (largely to customers though some just to retailers) in four months - and my guess is that that pace of sale might be at two or three times the run rate experienced for the 800 over the three years since May 2013.

Less likely, indeed highly unlikely, but possible, is that it may be influenced by a significant technological development breakthrough in the first quarter of 2016.

So we effectively get a full range relaunch - perhaps somewhat earlier than planned and only partially delivered in 2016 - which tells us all that as well as getting now the new A board, the new D board, the new power supply and the new thermal management system (as embodied in the Od’A) we will - now or at some stage soon - get the new Magic Wire DAC and the new OS. [It now transpires that the OdA has the A, the D, the Magic Wire; will get the power supply and thermal management in Q2017 along with the new OS and new streaming board] [It susequently transpires that the OdA will have the A, the Magic Wire, possibly the algorithm, possibly the current to voltage conversion replaced] [This is an example of Devialet's communication policy!] 

This may well prepare the unit for an even greater functionality over the next three or four years and in this context Devialet cannot win: they would be criticised if they stored up developments for release every five years and they are criticised if they do partial releases whilst not being sure of the timings of emerging developments.

What this more adventurous route does result in, in the short term, is to irritate Od’A owners and, in my view, they have managed this poorly. The gestation period of three months has been far too long; and just before a global customer launch every Od’A owner (97 at most) should have had an email direct from Monsieur Calmel - the originator of the Od’A - to say what was going to happen.

Anyway, they now have the opportunity to put things right if they handle the official UK launch well next week [in the event, they handled it badly]; and it would further help if they recognised that DevialetChat (love it or loath it) was a large collection of Devialet advocates (some of whom are gradually becoming the opposite) who would welcome some participation from Devialet on the forum.

Their communication talents are pretty hopeless and they need to get those right; but I’d much rather have a fantastic product with crap communication than the opposite.

(Must have been in a good mood when I wrote this.)
Innuos Statement 2TB SSD with Next-Gen PSU (with Roon lifetime)
MacBook Pro (with Air)
Draytek Vigor 2860v-Plus/Devialet Original d'Atelier CI Nos. 54A&B/Magico M3 pair
Shunyata cables (digital/interconnect/loudspeaker/power)/Shunyata power units (Triton/Typhon)

 Dialog/Phantom Gold/Tree pair
Missing Link cables (power)
England
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#2
If you think about other companies who bring out an anniversary model, they aren't always top models. (Dynaudio Sapphire for instance) Devialet could have avoided all this controversy by selling the O 'dA as a copper coloured 250 with some benefits. Then nobody would have seen it as the top model.
                                                    Lifetime Roon, Mac mini, int. SSD, ext. HDD, tv as monitor, key board and track pad on bean bag as remote,Devialet 200, Od'A #097, Blue jeans speaker cable,                                     
                                                                                                                                                                            Dynaudio C1 MkII.
                                                                                                                                                                              Jim Smith's GBS.
                                                                                                                                                                        Northern NSW Australia.
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#3
(07-Jul-2016, 09:30)Pim van Vliet Wrote: If you think about other companies who bring out an anniversary model, they aren't always top models. (Dynaudio Sapphire for instance) Devialet could have avoided all this controversy by selling the O 'dA as a copper coloured 250 with some benefits. Then nobody would have seen it as the top model.

'Under the personal supervision of Pierre-Emmanuel Calmel, Devialet's top engineers have created an exclusive and ultimate limited edition of 100 units only of the Expert amplifiers'

Sounds clear enough to me......
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
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#4
(07-Jul-2016, 09:47)Confused Wrote: 'Under the personal supervision of Pierre-Emmanuel Calmel, Devialet's top engineers have created an exclusive and ultimate limited edition of 100 units only of the Expert amplifiers'

Sounds clear enough to me......

This is exactly why IanG-UK is right to say that Calmel should have written to all Od'A owners explaining what was going on. That would have been a nice touch and defused any tension at the time. Instead...

Anyway I am delighted to report that Mathieu Pernot has agreed to answer our questions next Wednesday, as penned by IanG-UK himself (and already sent to Mathieu). On top of a number of questions aimed at understanding the evolution from 800 to O d'A to 1000 Pro, you'll be pleased to hear that these also include AIR, Roon and MQA.  Smile

Guillaume
Industry disclosure: UK distributor for Shunyata Research

220 PRO, totaldac d1 server with additional external power supply, totaldac d1-seven, Echole PSU for Totaldac, Wilson Audio Sasha 2, Shunyata Research cables, Shunyata Hydra Alpha A10 + DPC-6 v3, Various Entreq ground boxes and cables, Entreq Athena level 3 rack, 2 X SOtM sNH-10G with sCLK-EX + 10MHz Master Clock input + sPS-500 PSU, i5 sonicTransporter w/ 1TB SSD

UK
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#5
(07-Jul-2016, 10:08)GuillaumeB Wrote:
(07-Jul-2016, 09:47)Confused Wrote: 'Under the personal supervision of Pierre-Emmanuel Calmel, Devialet's top engineers have created an exclusive and ultimate limited edition of 100 units only of the Expert amplifiers'

Sounds clear enough to me......

This is exactly why IanG-UK is right to say that Calmel should have written to all Od'A owners explaining what was going on. That would have been a nice touch and defused any tension at the time. Instead...

Anyway I am delighted to report that Mathieu Pernot has agreed to answer our questions next Wednesday, as penned by IanG-UK himself (and already sent to Mathieu). On top of a number of questions aimed at understanding the evolution from 800 to O d'A to 1000 Pro, you'll be pleased to hear that these also include AIR, Roon and MQA.  Smile

Guillaume

Roon and MQA? really? If that's the case, and they get it right, then I think they're on a winner!  Smile
                                                    Lifetime Roon, Mac mini, int. SSD, ext. HDD, tv as monitor, key board and track pad on bean bag as remote,Devialet 200, Od'A #097, Blue jeans speaker cable,                                     
                                                                                                                                                                            Dynaudio C1 MkII.
                                                                                                                                                                              Jim Smith's GBS.
                                                                                                                                                                        Northern NSW Australia.
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#6
(07-Jul-2016, 10:31)Pim van Vliet Wrote:
(07-Jul-2016, 10:08)GuillaumeB Wrote:
(07-Jul-2016, 09:47)Confused Wrote: 'Under the personal supervision of Pierre-Emmanuel Calmel, Devialet's top engineers have created an exclusive and ultimate limited edition of 100 units only of the Expert amplifiers'

Sounds clear enough to me......

This is exactly why IanG-UK is right to say that Calmel should have written to all Od'A owners explaining what was going on. That would have been a nice touch and defused any tension at the time. Instead...

Anyway I am delighted to report that Mathieu Pernot has agreed to answer our questions next Wednesday, as penned by IanG-UK himself (and already sent to Mathieu). On top of a number of questions aimed at understanding the evolution from 800 to O d'A to 1000 Pro, you'll be pleased to hear that these also include AIR, Roon and MQA.  Smile

Guillaume

Roon and MQA? really? If that's the case, and they get it right, then I think they're on a winner!  Smile

Hang on that's not what I said... Ian has questions regarding Roon and MQA which they will answer. That doesn't mean they will adopt these... 

Guillaume
Industry disclosure: UK distributor for Shunyata Research

220 PRO, totaldac d1 server with additional external power supply, totaldac d1-seven, Echole PSU for Totaldac, Wilson Audio Sasha 2, Shunyata Research cables, Shunyata Hydra Alpha A10 + DPC-6 v3, Various Entreq ground boxes and cables, Entreq Athena level 3 rack, 2 X SOtM sNH-10G with sCLK-EX + 10MHz Master Clock input + sPS-500 PSU, i5 sonicTransporter w/ 1TB SSD

UK
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#7
Bugger!
                                                    Lifetime Roon, Mac mini, int. SSD, ext. HDD, tv as monitor, key board and track pad on bean bag as remote,Devialet 200, Od'A #097, Blue jeans speaker cable,                                     
                                                                                                                                                                            Dynaudio C1 MkII.
                                                                                                                                                                              Jim Smith's GBS.
                                                                                                                                                                        Northern NSW Australia.
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#8
Really hope this will finally give us a clear answer on an AIR fix.

My new robot vacuum cleaner really love chewing on my 5m USB cable though!
He doesn't want an AIR fix it seems...
Devialet Expert 200 (FW 7.1.3) / Magnepan 1.7i / Rel T5 / Foobar (WASAPI event 24bit) / AIR 3.0.1 public beta (best Air 3.x.x SQ by far)
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#9
Given the circumstances, I would suggest that we grant a Copper Plated award to this post, dated 22-11-2015 :

(22-Nov-2015, 10:04)ozthepoz Wrote: Knowing Devialet, they would let you blow circa 25k gpb on this and then announce it as a free upgrade to everyone else a couple of months later!

The upgrade will not be free, but the blow to the image of the OdA still the same.
Great prediction ozthepoz. All OdA owners have been stupid enough to trust Devialet, ie not to read you with enough care Smile
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#10
(08-Jul-2016, 08:09)SwissBear Wrote: Given the circumstances, I would suggest that we grant a Copper Plated award to this post, dated 22-11-2015 :

(22-Nov-2015, 10:04)ozthepoz Wrote: Knowing Devialet, they would let you blow circa 25k gpb on this and then announce it as a free upgrade to everyone else a couple of months later!

The upgrade will not be free, but the blow to the image of the OdA still the same.
Great prediction ozthepoz. All OdA owners have been stupid enough to trust Devialet, ie not to read you with enough care Smile

Sorry, but I think this is a touch unfair. I agree that, with the benefit of hindsight, it was a misjudgement to launch an Od'A with a marketing fanfare saying that "a new audiophile icon is born" - only then to undermine that six months later. Probably poor planning and certainly poor marketing, exacerbated by one or more dealers probably breaching their NDAs, which is a big breach of trust.

Moving forward in these circumstances, Devialet has to consider carefully how to treat Od'A owners decently, along with recent and longstanding owners of 800s, particularly if they want to convert; and how to treat brand new Devialet owners of the 1000 Pro decently too.

Whatever they do, there will be complaints, absolute or relative, about timing, pricing, different approaches in different locations, dealer discounts, and so on.

We should just reflect on the fact that most manufacturers do not produce such groundbreaking products and do not offer upgrades. That Devialet do so should be welcomed - recognising that there will be irritations along the way which Devialet should plan for and address, I suggest, more proactively than has been the case in the past. 

But I do not regard myself, as an Od'A owner, as being stupid for trusting Devialet since I cannot consider that until I get the full picture as to the options and prices open to me.
Innuos Statement 2TB SSD with Next-Gen PSU (with Roon lifetime)
MacBook Pro (with Air)
Draytek Vigor 2860v-Plus/Devialet Original d'Atelier CI Nos. 54A&B/Magico M3 pair
Shunyata cables (digital/interconnect/loudspeaker/power)/Shunyata power units (Triton/Typhon)

 Dialog/Phantom Gold/Tree pair
Missing Link cables (power)
England
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