Munich 2018

[Mr_Bill]

Morning all,

Without any of the glib silliness of my previous post, I wanted to post to say that I do, absolutely, believe that there is a sonic difference to my D220 Pro following the installation of the CI board and the current software. I'll try to be clear and direct in this post.

I started listening this morning to one of my favourite albums, Bande A Part, by Nouvelle Vague. A 'go to' track from that album is Dance with Me. I have no doubt that the are acoustic percussion tones, or nuances (etc) that are now apparent that I have not heard before. Both tonally and spatially (in that they had their own 'space'), these miked acoustic instruments are definitely presented differently than they were before. Other parts of the music were also better but I was  first distracted by the acoustic percussion.

As I was distracted by the differences I was hearing, I then played recordings of a previous band I was in. These are studio recordings but live off the floor, with some mixing and light mastering. The point being that I am very familar with the sound of these songs. I heard bass parts- my own bass parts- differently than I have before, including being aware of very small changes in the bass dynamics. And what I am saying is that I heard much more inconsistency in my own playing; the physical inconsistency in my own technique. The bass I used has a funny kind of harmonic resonance that changes as the string is left vibrating on long notes; that too is now apparent and I know, absolutely, that it was not reproduced so clearly before.

For the members here who do not obsess about their own playing, I will say also that the vocal presentation is absolutely  different and improved. More forward, as in more independent space, and more of the nuance. Essentially, all these elements come through more with more ease... that is how I would describe it. These are vocal parts that I have heard hundreds of times; if there is any recorded sound that I feel I know to my core, this is it. 

With the Pro upgrade, I felt I had reached my 'this is enough' point, and I was not expecting or desiring any sound quality change with the CI installation. I still feel that way and I have little interest in other additions to the system. That said, I would not go back to the pre-CI amplification. I don't know if it is a hardware or a software influence, but I do solidly believe that there is a difference, and that for me, in my system, it is gently remarkable.

@Damon  Thank you for your clear, lucid & reliable comments.  Good stuff!  One point to clarify, am I right in assuming that you were listening via 'new' AIR?

I easily second @Damon's comments and observations.  
Had a good chance to listen last night after a couple of days of casual "background" listening and to our ears this is a sizeable upgrade in dynamic contrast, soundstage and low level articulation.  
Our speakers are accurate (delightful) but considered by some to be reticent and lacking in bass energy, and it is often suggested that a subwoofer would complete the mix, but with the Core board they simply just barked with bass energy and definition.  
Very familiar pieces had, as Damon points out above, harmonic resonances not heard before and passages from loud to soft were simply breathtaking.  Listened to the "suite", from Abbey Road starting from "You Never Give Me Your Money" and it was just remarkable.  Ringo's short solo work later in the mix, "Carry That Weight" was just so dam punchy and rhythmic, Paul's bass work far more apparent.  Melody Gardot was spellbinding as was "When I Fall in Love" from Keith Jarrett's, At the Blue Note. 
There is more going on here than I had ever expected.  
Well done Devialet. 
(note: listening via AES from the dCS bridge)

The last time I heard that mentioned was a year ago, maybe two. I wasn't mentioned at all in Munich and with the sense that they now recognised that Expert and Phantom appeal to two distinct populations I'm not sure it is still on the agenda.

Actually the point was made by Devialet about how few people were using Spark to control their Phantoms. 90% prefer to use Spotify and other native apps. 

The same would surely follow with Expert. 

Guillaume

Exactly my experience. Now uPnP works via iOS, OSX and Android using third party apps, and Air works as well (but uPnP via OSX seems better), there is no need for the iOS app. 

All they have to do is sort out the volume control and get it to revert back to the set default level when switching sources. 

However, if they ever get Qobuz onboard, they will need some way of controlling it. Hopefully they will get a modified version of the Qobuz app, but if Qobuz build uPnP into their iOS app, then that will become irrelevant.

Do you have to use the new 12.2.12 beta firmware for UPNP to work??