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[David A]

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@David A - it’s clear they want to sell as many Experts as they can - why not, the R&D is done. I just find it telling that they are pushing them with no new features. I am used to audio companies coming out with new models and features and promoting them - not the same model from years ago. Guess we’ll have to agree to disagree. I’m happy to be proven wrong.

I don't disagree with you on Devialet wanting to sell as many Experts as they can but I think you're wrong about the reason. It's not because the R&D is done, it's simply because companies stay in business by selling as many of their products as they can.

Products actually tend not to come on the market before the R&D is done. Usually if you're still researching and developing you don't have the product in shape to put on the market. The one exception to that is software and really that's what we're talking about here.

My post was in response to your comment that we had seen the last of "new features, fixes, and firmware upgrades". Firmware upgrades aren't something different from new features and fixes, firmware upgrades are the way that new features and fixes get delivered to us. If we've seen the end of firmware upgrades then that's because Devialet have decided not to deliver any new features or fixes. You can't decide to stop delivering firmware upgrades but keep on delivering new features and fixes. On the other hand, once you decide not to deliver any new features or fixes you don't have to decide not to deliver firmware upgrades, there simply won't be any firmware upgrades to deliver once you rule out new features and fixes. It's a pedantic point but it is relevant.

My view is that Devialet are contractually obligated to deliver at least one more firmware upgrade. The reason for that is that they sold the Expert Pro/CI board models with promises of particular features and one of those features was Bluetooth capability. They acknowledged in the firmware update last February that it was still outstanding. At the very least my view is that they are legally obligated to deliver the functionality they promised for these amps when they started selling them and I think they will deliver on that obligation. I think it's disturbing and disgraceful that two and a half years after they released the CI board they still haven't delivered on all of the promised functionality and even more disgraceful that it's now been a year and 3 months since they delivered an "instalment" on the fulfilment of those promises. I also believe companies have a legal obligation to provide bug fixes because a general principle in a lot of consumer law is that products must be fit for purpose and bugs in software is evidence that the product isn't yet completely fit for purpose. If they don't deliver Bluetooth capability and bug fixes then they're going to get a reputation for failing to deliver what they've promised which isn't good for business. At present I think they've got a reputation for mildly buggy software and incredibly slow fixes for their bugs which isn't a good reputation to have but it's not as bad a reputation as one for simply failing to deliver and leaving the customer with permanent problems. You can argue that after the length of time we've been waiting that I'm splitting hairs and I'll say you may well be right but I think we will get at least one more firmware release which will attempt to fix all of the outstanding issues and I'll stick my neck out and say I think we'll see it this year. I hope to see it much earlier than on December 31 but I'm not all that hopeful about seeing it within the next week.

Finally, when it comes to audio companies and the frequency of new models, my experience is that things fall into two groups. There are the companies which release new models on an annual basis and those which work on longer product cycles. My general impression is that those who release new models annually tend to only provide firmware support for a very limited period and that any bugs which haven't been fixed with a firmware release by the time the next model comes out get the bug fixed in the next model and you pay for the new model as the price of your bug fix. I tend not to be impressed by companies who work on that kind of product cycle and I think they also tend to produce products which may be good but never reach the very good to excellent level. The companies who do produce very good to excellent products tend to spend a lot more time on research and development and keep their models current for two to three years at the very least and often for much longer, especially if they can introduce new features and performance improvements by firmware. I think Devialet fall into that group although their firmware support is nowhere near the quality of some other companies in that group. Even so, I'd rather buy a current model Expert Pro than a current model amp from another company which I know will be superseded sometime in the next 12 months by a new model which fixes outstanding problems in the current model and which itself will be superseded by a subsequent model 12 months later. When it comes to hardware I definitely prefer products which are intended to remain current for several years and which can continue to deliver good performance for much longer than that. I used my previous amp for 13 years and my previous speakers for 15 years. I hope I will be still using my 140 Pro, purchased in 2017 as a 130 Pro without the CI board, in 2027 and if I'm not then it will almost certainly be because I changed my speakers and needed a different amp to drive them successfully or because of some new development in audio which I wanted to get which required a change of amp. Good hardware is too expensive to replace annually in my view.