My dealer has agreed to lend me his Devialet D-Premier for a few weeks till the 170 comes in, as it looks like it wont happen before the end of July at the earliest. So tomorrow I will be picking it up and and am quite excited. as it will give me a change to evaluate it and see how I like it in my home surroundings. I will post my thoughts on it after a few days as this is going to be very different than other audio stuff that I have had over the years. I really think this dealer with whom I have only dealt for a few months has excellent customer service and needless to say I will probably stick with him for a long time, with this kind of positive experience.
cat3600 said: . . . excellent customer service and needless to say I will probably stick with him for a long time, with this kind of positive experience.
Wonderful on both!
Let us know what you think.
Was packing the PWD this evening, it was a bit emotional moment, I was admiring how well it was made and how much I am going to miss it. Really have never thought I was going to miss this unit so much compared to any other audio equipment I have sold in the past!!
Oh well, a new chapter in my music life is soon starting, so will see how it goes…
Will you not compare PWD with Devialet side-by-side?
Will you not compare PWD with Devialet side-by-side?
No unfortunately I am trading in the PWD so the dealer might not be too happy about keeping both before the new 170 comes in, as he is not charging me a deposit as such to borrow the D-Premier even though its much more expensive!
We will miss you and will be here if you decide to return someday. Have fun and hope you stay part of the community.
Paul McGowan said: hope you stay part of the community.
Please do! Information about other platforms can add value to all our experiences in computer based audio. The Devialet, in particular, is of interest to me because my friend has one. It is also one of the devices that I feel, currently, can be fairly compared to the PWD II in sound quality despite the obvious differences in architecture. They do sound different but are high end devices that don't have a whole lot of peers and fewer betters. Devialet appears to be freeing itself from hardware streaming and entering "Bridge territory," and I am anxious to see how this works out.
We will miss you and will be here if you decide to return someday. Have fun and hope you stay part of the community.
Thank you Paul for your kind words. I will always be part of this community, I have a few other small PS Audio Power products and am planning to pick up a P5, though it is a bit out of my league for the moment, considering the funds are tied up elsewhere. However I see some PPP and P600 for sale and was wondering which one should I choose, if this would be an interim solution.
Best regards,
RL
Have a bit of update as I have not had much of a listen at all, firstly it took me a good couple of hours to set it up, with the wireless as I have the D-Premier on loan so no Ethernet module like the new ones, man was it a pain to set it up! I have been out of the house this whole weekend and also the AIR software just stops working all the time.
Whatever little I have heard, its very clean, different than the PWD will get into the sound later as I have hardly heard it, but bass is very controlled, not lean though, the PWD had a more thump. I have to figure out settings if I can get this AIR software to work.
Also this is the first time using JRiver, so that might have to be optimized as well!
I have not heard the latest software update for the D-Premier which is supposed to improve the wireless sound. The last version was horrible sounding so it looks like they have put a dent in it. We also had trouble getting it “online” Wirelessly. David uses eLyric as a player, MiND streaming software and a MiND hardware streamer over AES/EBU.
I have not heard the latest software update for the D-Premier which is supposed to improve the wireless sound. The last version was horrible sounding so it looks like they have put a dent in it. We also had trouble getting it "online" Wirelessly. David uses eLyric as a player, MiND streaming software and a MiND hardware streamer over AES/EBU.
I have re-booted several times and reloaded the SD card again with my custom software, which one has to create on the Devialet website and did also a firmware update 6.9 which just came out today. Since this morning the unit is running fine streaming music, it has not stopped for 6 to 7 hours. I think reloading the files on the SD card might have fixed it, I had to do it a 2 or 3 times. I don't think it has anything to do with the new 5.9 firmware vs the older 5.8
The sound is different and very clean as I have said before, there are parts of instruments and music which I hear and may not have heard before. The base seems to be ok now, as I was putting the base off via the Devialet remote, as there is an option on the remote to do so. However the bass is different from when I had the PWD Mk II, I cannot say it is for the better or worse.
On the whole the sound is very good and I am getting used to it. Is there a substantial improvement from my previous setup, I don't think so and neither is it a downgrade, just different. The key benefit here is that someone looking to simplify their setup can do so easily without any fear of thinking that the sound will be degraded by reducing the no of super expensive components into one unit. This I assure you will not be the case, the benefit of reducing to only one set of speaker cables and one power cable, can be a huge plus point as well.
The way one can configure the unit on line and load the config on to the SD card is simply outstanding and I have not seen this before. I have configured 2 inputs as analog for home theater bypass with unity gain, so people who have an AV receiver need not fear as that option exists as well!
This type of audio gear is not for someone who is regularly fussing over cables or power cords etc. and doing constant tweaking or has to have valves etc. But as a one box solution the compromises are very minimized and probably one of the best solutions out there!
Yes it is a beautiful piece of equipment to look at as well ast to appreciate sonically. I will be heading over to David’s house this evening to get the new firmware installed. Thanks for the tips! Do you have plans to wire it via ethernet or AES/EBU?
Yes it is a beautiful piece of equipment to look at as well ast to appreciate sonically. I will be heading over to David's house this evening to get the new firmware installed. Thanks for the tips! Do you have plans to wire it via ethernet or AES/EBU?
The whole idea was to simplify and reduce the no of equipment's, so no AES/EBU as I don't want to use any additional equipment (server etc) sitting next to it and feeding it through the AES/EBU. I used to strictly stream with my PWD and will do so with the Devialet too.
Ethernet is an option for the future, but now the wireless is working very fine and stable and as Devialet claims: No cable is better than any cable:)
In the middle of FW upgrade. So, as I understand it, the D-Prem needs to use iTunes as the server. Is this correct? I cannot get iTunes to add the FLAC files to the library which I assume is the result of iTunes not being able to play FLAC. How are you set up?
In the middle of FW upgrade. So, as I understand it, the D-Prem needs to use iTunes as the server. Is this correct? I cannot get iTunes to add the FLAC files to the library which I assume is the result of iTunes not being able to play FLAC. How are you set up?
No not at all as I don't even have iTunes on my Win 8 computer as I hate iTunes. The new AIR 2.1 is basically a virtual soundcard so you can play it also through JRiver, Foobar etc.
I am using JRiver on my main Windows 8 machine and controlling the JRiver through the iPad mini.
Also have dropped issues in the evening, what a pain. I think when everyone is back in the evening (I live in a condo) the 2.4 spectrum is overloaded. There are ways to fix that but haven't done it yet.
would it help to go to a 5Ghz or is that not supported?
I agree about your remark about itunes - the latest ‘upgrades’ have made the programme worse!
2.4 only 5 not supported
@cat3600 I love how companies borrow each others words: and clearly these guys have lifted ours about “there’s no preamp like no preamp” to their advantage about wireless. However, I would have to disagree. And forgive me, but I am only being argumentative and not based on any experience.
But wireless isn’t “no cable” it’s just a different cable. When we invented the terminology of “there’s nothing better than nothing” that only works when there actually is nothing. In the case of our lack of a preamp, it refers to to removing a piece of gear - so there’s one less object in the path.
You can’t expect to replace a cable with a wireless version and call it the same as removing the path entirely.
Just my two cents.
Ah, now there is an interesting thought.
What if the “nothing” is the removal of the cable.
We know that cables do sound different.
If a “super” wireless connection is achieved, might it not be better and more consistent?
This is by the way, the same “air” that is the connection between our speakers and our ears.
I’ll see your 2 cents and raise you 2.
Paul McGowan said: these guys have lifted ours about "there's no preamp like no preamp" to their advantage . . .
It is hard to blame them; it is a great phrase.
Paul McGowan said: But wireless isn't "no cable" it's just a different cable.
An excellent analysis.
Gordon said: If a "super" wireless connection is achieved, might it not be better and more consistent?
Perhaps, once this "super" level is reached. As we know from the experience of many here, even a decent, reliable wireless connection is elusive.
As a separate observation, if hardwire ethernet connections sound different because of the wire used, the same issue are likely to exist with wireless with the choice of transmission, receiver, objects between the units, etc. Wireless is an analog signal just as is wired.