29-Nov-2020, 14:21
[quote pid="97809" dateline="1606397796"]
Fast forward to 9 months later and still no sign of Roon Ready status at Hegel, so I sold the Hegel and bought the Devialet.
[/quote]
I am still rather amazed that Roon and Devialet were able to work collaboratively to achieve Roon certification. Granted, it took a fair bit of time but given the experience of other mainstream manufacturers, who have struggled for months going into seemingly years without gaining certification, it's all the more stunning. I have been critical of Devialet for their lackluster customer service, poor communications and head-scratching updates (sorry, but Sweet Room is a hot mess for those of us who don't have degrees in physics), but I must give them high marks for Roon certification.
I moved progressively from a Devialet Expert 180 (subsequently a Devialet Expert 200 via firmware update) to a Devialet Expert 220 Pro, with a slight detour to a Lyngdorf TDAI-3400, which incidentally could not hold a candle IMHO SQ-wise to Devialet; with each platform, first with Roon and its implementation of Devialet AIR on the 200, and then subsequently with full Roon certification for the Expert Pro platform, the Roon experience has been sweet.
One caveat to all of this: one serious hiccup along the way between Roon and Devialet has been the problem many experienced with gigabit streaming. I had the issue until I moved to an etherREGEN switch, which promotes a 100mbps connection to the Devialet platform, which eliminated the problem for me. I know that Devialet has issued a fix during its most recent firmware update but it has not worked as advertised for everyone.
Bottom line: I will continue with my Devialet Expert 220 Pro but am keeping my eye on the NAD Masters M33, as it has a user-friendly room correction utility that I would quite like to have. Whether it would match or exceed the Devialet Expert Pro platform in SQ remains to be seen.
Fast forward to 9 months later and still no sign of Roon Ready status at Hegel, so I sold the Hegel and bought the Devialet.
[/quote]
I am still rather amazed that Roon and Devialet were able to work collaboratively to achieve Roon certification. Granted, it took a fair bit of time but given the experience of other mainstream manufacturers, who have struggled for months going into seemingly years without gaining certification, it's all the more stunning. I have been critical of Devialet for their lackluster customer service, poor communications and head-scratching updates (sorry, but Sweet Room is a hot mess for those of us who don't have degrees in physics), but I must give them high marks for Roon certification.
I moved progressively from a Devialet Expert 180 (subsequently a Devialet Expert 200 via firmware update) to a Devialet Expert 220 Pro, with a slight detour to a Lyngdorf TDAI-3400, which incidentally could not hold a candle IMHO SQ-wise to Devialet; with each platform, first with Roon and its implementation of Devialet AIR on the 200, and then subsequently with full Roon certification for the Expert Pro platform, the Roon experience has been sweet.
One caveat to all of this: one serious hiccup along the way between Roon and Devialet has been the problem many experienced with gigabit streaming. I had the issue until I moved to an etherREGEN switch, which promotes a 100mbps connection to the Devialet platform, which eliminated the problem for me. I know that Devialet has issued a fix during its most recent firmware update but it has not worked as advertised for everyone.
Bottom line: I will continue with my Devialet Expert 220 Pro but am keeping my eye on the NAD Masters M33, as it has a user-friendly room correction utility that I would quite like to have. Whether it would match or exceed the Devialet Expert Pro platform in SQ remains to be seen.
Devialet Expert 220 Pro Kinki EX-M7 power amp tethered to a fiber-fed Lumin X1 streamer via Grimm XLRs, Vivid B1 Decade speakers in Rosso Barchetta red (only 200 produced in a limited edition), Roon Nucleus with a Samsung 860 EVO 2TB SSD, etherREGEN switch fed by a Sonore opticalModule (and Sonore-supplied transceivers and 1M optical cable) with a SOtM dCBL-Cat7 cable to my Nucleus and a DH Labs Reunion Cat8 to my Lumin T2 streamer, Keces P8 linear power supply feeding a (to come) NUC and EtherREGEN switch with an external AfterDark OCXO clock., and opticalModule (5V/1A), AudioQuest Niagara 1000 power conditioner, ASI LiveLine loom (purchased directly from Franck Tchang when I lived in France), Less Loss Firewall for Speakers and Roon lifetime license with Tidal streaming.
