Will Devialet ever release new Expert features?

[Floyd67]

Some good posts on this thread so far, I agree with much (but not all!) that has been said.  I have reached the point now where I have moved Devialet the company to a special place in my mind.  I thoroughly enjoy my amp for what it is and how it performs now, and any thoughts as to what might happen in the future I use for general amusement, in no way do I worry about it too much.

I do have some thoughts on Hifi_swlon's original question though.  There was a kind of golden period just after the 'Expert' was launched, when every six months or so there would be a firmware update with some new goodies, and roughly once a year there would be something significant, such as SAM, RAM or whatever.  So this lead to the feeling that new goodies would keep on emerging.  Of course, no one needs any new features, but it was nice to think that maybe one day something would come along that would be fun or enhance your enjoyment.  Quite good for those hopeless upgraders too, you could at least resist replacing the amp with the thought that some kind of upgrade or new feature is coming.

Then all this stopped.  There were firmware updates, but no new features of any significance.  At the time many speculated that this was directly related to the Phantom project.  With the new Phantom & SPARK besieged with bugs and issues to fix, clearly the software guys had no time to develop new toys for the Expert, a case of limited resources and clear priorities.  Indeed, it could be argued that this barren phase has simply continued to the present day, due to the focus being on continued work on SPARK etc. and latterly the OS Board.

This takes us to the key element of this thread, predicting the future, or at least predicting what Devialet will do.  One observation I can make is that historically Devialet have proven to be utterly unpredictable.  Indeed, there has been a predictions thread on this forum for a couple of years and every year the result is much the same, we all predict lots of stuff, very little of it happens, Devialet do something else.  The one thing you CAN predict about Devialet is that they will be unpredictable.

So here are my predictions for new features:

Using optimism:  The Phantom / SPARK project is now maturing, when Devialet have finalised the OS Board there will come a period where Devialet have lots of resources available and a lot less bug fixing to do, at this time Devialet will have time to get back to all the little pet Expert projects that they have had in mind for a couple of years or so.  So a new golden age will begin, new TLA's new features, EVO updates will be back like we have never seen them before.  Indeed, we should remember SAM was actually a spin off from the Phantom project, so imagine with Devialet expanding into car audio, TV's and other areas, there could be all kinds of surprising new things that develop from synergies from other projects and can be integrated into the Expert EVO platform.

Using pessimism:  Devialet will never get on top of the bug fixing for SPARK, the OS Board or anything else, so there will never be resources for any EVO related toys or updates.  Furthermore, there is no desire now within Devialet to further develop the Expert anyway, the focus will be on ADH car audio, TV's and many other projects.  The Expert is drifting ever further away from Devialet's main focus.

Meanwhile folks.......   Enjoy the tunes

EDIT:  I have just had a thought....  Regarding SAM, RAM and other fine Expert features, they all appeared absolutely out of nowhere.  As far as I am aware, they were predicted by no one.

As always big money is the IP i.e. Intel inside...or in Devialet's case ADH(D) or (Attention Devialet Under) Hyperactive Disorder).