Upgrade 120

[David A]

Apart from Roon, as far as I understand, the CI upgrade enables streaming of Qobuz and Tidal, among other providers, correct? Is there an app for this? Sorry for all these questions, but Devialet's concept with Core Infinity looks a bit puzzling to me. Others, such as Aurender and Auralic, provide a much clearer concept.

So far the CI board allows streaming Spotify and I understand you use Spotify's own app. I don't use Spotify so I've never looked at how it works. The CI board currently doesn't accept Tidal or Qobuz streams but if and when it does I assume you will use those services own apps. 

I think the concept with Core Infinity is reasonably clear but it's a different concept to that of Aurender and Auralic for a very good reason. The Devialet is a DAC and amplifier and you stream the digital data to it for conversion and amplification. The Aurender and Auralic devices are devices which provide the digital stream to a Devialet or other DAC or amplifier. In effect devices like an Aurender or Auralic, or servers running Roon, or streaming services like Spotify/Tidal/Qobuz are sources for endpoints such as a DAC or devices like the Devialet which is a combination of DAC and amplifier. In other words the Aurender or Auralic, or my Antipodes, are at one end of the signal path and the Devialet with its CI board is at the other end of the signal path. They're doing different jobs and you need devices which do both jobs in your system. One can't be a substitute for the other, they're both necessary and they complement each other. If you're expecting the Devialet to work on a similar concept to a device like an Aurender or Auralic which serves a different function in your system then I think you're making a mistake. 

As far as Tidal and Qobuz go, Roon currently can access and stream Tidal to the Devialet and that works very well in my system. Roon have also announced that they are in discussions with Qobuz about adding similar functionality for that service. I'm not aware of what Devialet's plans in relation to Tidal and Qobuz are but Qobuz doesn't interest me at present because it isn't available in Australia and they don't seem to have any plans to service Australia at present. Even if Devialet did provide Tidal access via the CI board I would stick with using Roon to access Tidal because Roon integrates Tidal access with access to my own music library which is very convenient in several ways. If Roon adds Qobuz to its services in the same way as it included Tidal then Roon would be a better way to access Qobuz if you're using Roon. If you don't use Roon, then having those options with the CI board might be useful to you depending on how you currently access those services. What you have to realise when it comes to streaming services like Spotify/Tidal/Qobuz is that you can already get their streams to your Devialet by at least one method and possibly by several alternative methods. Adding functionality for those streams to the CI board just gives you another alternative way of accessing those services. It probably isn't going to deliver an improvement in sound quality but the interface you use to get the stream to the Devialet will change. That's only of benefit to you if the new interface has an advantage of some kind for you and it may not offer you any advantage. It's up to you to work out whether or not it offers you benefits.