Has anyone heard the Devialet D-Premier Integrated Amp/DAC

[Kingsrule]

Yes that release is still on the website:

https://help.devialet.com/entries/23419527-How-to-update-the-internal-software-firmware-

5.7.1 or 5.7.3

Though I am not sure why you would want to?

As suggested in an earlier post, Devialet should have described the objectives of 6.0 over 5.7.x.

You could download both 6.0 and 5.7.x and look at the files which may give a clue, although my recollection is that 5.7.x has 11 files whereas 6.0 has (I think) 17.

My listening experience, albeit brief over just a day, and with both software 6.0 and Air 2.0 replacing software 5.7.2b or 5.7.3 (latterly) and Air 1.0, is certainly not a disappointment and the latest stuff could be better.

Certainly Air 2.0 is more stable for me than Air 1.0 (using the same router in the same location) and, were I to suggest anything, I would say that the "dimensional presentation" of the music is better - of course, that could be my imaginary validation of something I want to feel is better - which is why, in part, we need input from Devialet.

So you have actually reverted the firmware in your Devialet?

 

[IanG-UK]

So you have actually reverted the firmware in your Devialet?

I am using software 6.0 and Air 2.0.

For a few reasons. First, I trust Devialet to get these updates right, though they do need to sharpen their strategy here. Second, my sense is that 6.0 is a bit better. Third, 2.0 has greater stability than 1.0, but it is not yet perfect - this may be a limitation of my router and I may switch to an Apple Time Capsule (or Airport Express/Extreme) which Devialet say will improve things.

So I won't be reapplying 5.7.x and certainly not 1.0!

 

[Kingsrule]

I am using software 6.0 and Air 2.0.

For a few reasons. First, I trust Devialet to get these updates right, though they do need to sharpen their strategy here. Second, my sense is that 6.0 is a bit better. Third, 2.0 has greater stability than 1.0, but it is not yet perfect - this may be a limitation of my router and I may switch to an Apple Time Capsule (or Airport Express/Extreme) which Devialet say will improve things.

So I won't be reapplying 5.7.x and certainly not 1.0!

So why did you respond to my original post about installing firmware?

Please read the posts carefully before you respond. Its this kind of frivolous responses that lead to misconceptions and rumors

I didn't ask if older firmware was available. I asked if anyone installed a previous version back into a Devialet........

 

[bernardl]

I did install firmware 6.06, great sound in combination with Audirvana 1.5 through the Weiss Int202. The difference is subtle, but I feel it is even better, though hard to say whether it is Audirvana 1.5 (installed a few days ago) or 6.06. One thing is sure, they work really well together.

I did not intend to move back to wifi anyway, so Air2 is not relevant for me, but I am experimenting problems launching it on my Mac mini running 10.8.3.

Cheers,
Bernard

 

[Daz]

I haven't I'm afraid.

I remember the Devialet people (Mathieu Pernot, their top R&D engineer; and Thierry, who I believe is one of the partners) saying that iTunes (as deployed by Devialet) was "as perfect as it gets" (words to that effect) and so, using Air, I just use iTunes on my MacBook Pro.

My preference is to keep things simple and minimise or eliminate equipment and software choice,

I suppose you have not tried JRemote for controlling your music on a ipad? Having tried JRemote with my beta version of JRiver on the Mac, I can never go back to Apples idea of a remote.

I have not installed the upgrade yet and will do so over the weekend. Hopefully I can get it to work with JRiver on the Mac, but it concerns me about the bit perfect only using itunes? I thought the software was virtual soundcard and if the player outputs bit perfect to then all such player should do this under Air 2? Hopefully it will start to make more sense as time goes on.

Has anyone had success with 24/192 streaming?

 

[Nightmare]

Unfortunately, the new iTunes release has a number of issues. We recommend not t use the bit-perfect transmission with the current version. Version 11.0.2 was more more stable.

Some days ago they informed the users on the website about a bugfix concerning to this problem coming with AIR2/Update6 as I mentioned a couple of days ago.

The 11.0.3 update of iTunes may cause some problems with the Devialet AIR 1.5. We are aware of this. It will be solved by the release of Devialet AIR 2.

Interruptions and instability using AIR resp. WiFi may be caused by that and not by WiFi itself?! An update of this information suggests, that they did not fix the problem at all. Maybe they should have published this informationen on the site with the update 6 and not ´hidden´ within the helpdesk. Now it seems to be up to Apple to solve it:

Update: the new version of iTunes has a bug in switching sample rates, which will result in a total crash of iTunes. So any player working with iTunes will have the same problem. Apple will fix this bug very soon.

Since last night iTunes 11.0.4 is out. Devialet should communicate soon, whether this iTunes update includes the expected fixing or not.

Or some users might do ;-)

 

[Nightmare]

Concerning the last question (and some of the - maybe related - disappointed comments here) see this site:

https://help.devialet.com/entries/2...Tune-11-0-3-for-now-if-you-did-read-more-here

ITunes 11.0.4 seems to fix the described problem:

Just updated on mac to iTunes 11.0.4. It seems to work incredibly, even with the bitperfect option on !

 

[IanG-UK]

Concerning the last question (and some of the - maybe related - disappointed comments here) see this site:

https://help.devialet.com/entries/2...Tune-11-0-3-for-now-if-you-did-read-more-here

ITunes 11.0.4 seems to fix the described problem:

Same for me. Just downloaded iTunes 11.0.4 (4) and using with software 6.0 and Air 2.0. Seems to work whether Bit Perfect is on or off and whether Disable EQ is on or off - and the switching is gapless. Can also switch from 16 bit to 24 bit and from 44.1kHz to 96kHz albeit with a slight switching gap. Cannot try 192kHz as I don't have any.

 

[Ekmanc]

Same for me. Just downloaded iTunes 11.0.4 (4) and using with software 6.0 and Air 2.0. Seems to work whether Bit Perfect is on or off and whether Disable EQ is on or off - and the switching is gapless. Can also switch from 16 bit to 24 bit and from 44.1kHz to 96kHz albeit with a slight switching gap. Cannot try 192kHz as I don't have any.

Are you on mac or pc? and how do you switch from 16 to 24bit and so on??
My amp if I hold down the source button on the remote just says 44.1kHz regardless of what file I play.

 

[Petter]

Dont you only go to the air button and press settings,then go to My Devialet Air,there you can change preferred format etc ??

 

[gatomusik]

Devialet allows me to enter email address and log-in I had previously registered to download updates, but when I use the same information to add comments to helpdesk pulldowns, Devialet reports no knowledge of my registration. Is this another disfunction that Devialet has not caught up with, or am I not understanding something?

 

[IanG-UK]

Are you on mac or pc? and how do you switch from 16 to 24bit and so on??
My amp if I hold down the source button on the remote just says 44.1kHz regardless of what file I play.

Just go to the Devialet symbol on your taskbar (or wherever), then Settings, then you have General Settings and My D-Premier and in the latter you can set your preferred format (bits and Hz) and whether you want autoswitching. At least that's how it works on my Mac.

 

[IanG-UK]

Devialet allows me to enter email address and log-in I had previously registered to download updates, but when I use the same information to add comments to helpdesk pulldowns, Devialet reports no knowledge of my registration. Is this another disfunction that Devialet has not caught up with, or am I not understanding something?

It was a dysfunction for me too. I had to reregister and reregister again but now it seems ok. There seem to have been quite a few things not fully tested/critiqued before release but they seem to be on top of it now, apart from (IMO) the disappointing revised website.

 

[gatomusik]

Thanks for the advice. What makes you confident that "they seem to be on top of it now"? I've seen nothing on the Devialet site to instill such assurance. Is there better information on the French version of the site?

 

[IanG-UK]

Thanks for the advice. What makes you confident that "they seem to be on top of it now"? I've seen nothing on the Devialet site to instill such assurance. Is there better information on the French version of the site?

Sorry -badly expressed. Just meant to cover the fact that 6.0 and 2.0 have been released - at last - and the website login works. IMO still more to do on the website (navigation, information) and possibly on 2.0 but that might be down to less than ideal routers (perhaps mine is one of them).

 

[gatomusik]

Sorry -badly expressed. Just meant to cover the fact that 6.0 and 2.0 have been released - at last - and the website login works. IMO still more to do on the website (navigation, information) and possibly on 2.0 but that might be down to less than ideal routers (perhaps mine is one of them).

On the matter of routers: Devialet suggests in the help page subject labelled "How to set-up an optimized network to stream" that Apple devices are the routers of choice. Well, yes and no. I purchased and installed a new Airport Extreme just before the introduction of 6.0 and 2.0. The new router worked perfectly with the previous version of Air, but is now troublesome with Air2.

The long-promised 24/192 wifi simply does not work, nor does the 24/176 wifi. There's a few seconds of clear sound, then everything collapses into crackle and rasp--and strangely, multiple presses on the iTunes remote app on iPad are necessary before the stop button works. Clearly some nasty wifi interactions here. 24/96 is mostly good at the beginning of play, with occasional dropouts, as is 16/44, which also suffers dropouts. The Air2 settings pull-down reports good strength, always around -31dBm. (I have upgraded iTunes to 11.0.4; the dysfunctions are the same as with iTunes 11.0.2.) Also, it seems that the longer the music plays the more frequent the dropouts, so that 10 minutes on the interruptions are too distracting for pleasurable listening--yet the signal strength of the wifi remains constant.

 

[Daz]

The long-promised 24/192 wifi simply does not work, nor does the 24/176 wifi.

I installed the new firmware and Air 2 today. I feel the new firmware is a sonic improvement on the last. Happy about the sound improvement.

Air 2 is working for me using JRiver on Mac. I am relieved as I did not want to be tied into itunes and the crappy remote software if I can avoid it. JRemote on the ipad absolutely kills apples attempt. I am streaming 24/192 without any drop out or issues at the moment - knock on wood. The recordings are 24/192, the Air 2 output setting is 24/192 and the read out on the D-Premier is 192khz, so looks all good. I have tried the DSP options in JRiver and these work well. I have not compared the sound with itunes where there is a bit perfect option. Does this mean that the output from other players (no DSP) is not bit perfect? I will have to do comparisons to work this out.

Off to a good start so far and will keep testing over the weekend ...

 

[Togil]

I installed the new firmware and Air 2 today. I feel the new firmware is a sonic improvement on the last. Happy about the sound improvement.

Air 2 is working for me using JRiver on Mac. I am relieved as I did not want to be tied into itunes and the crappy remote software if I can avoid it. JRemote on the ipad absolutely kills apples attempt. I am streaming 24/192 without any drop out or issues at the moment - knock on wood. The recordings are 24/192, the Air 2 output setting is 24/192 and the read out on the D-Premier is 192khz, so looks all good. I have tried the DSP options in JRiver and these work well. I have not compared the sound with itunes where there is a bit perfect option. Does this mean that the output from other players (no DSP) is not bit perfect? I will have to do comparisons to work this out.

Off to a good start so far and will keep testing over the weekend ...

What are the output options on JRiver for Mac ?
In any case this is what it says on the website : It is always possible to play in bit perfect mode manually by adjusting the sampling frequency in the Devialet AIR application’s settings as needed for the format of the files you want to play.

 

[Daz]

What are the output options on JRiver for Mac ?
In any case this is what it says on the website : It is always possible to play in bit perfect mode manually by adjusting the sampling frequency in the Devialet AIR application’s settings as needed for the format of the files you want to play.

The D-Premier virtual sound device becomes an output option on JRiver Mac (and presume same with windows). I presume the same options would be available for other audio players. I am aware that JRiver output is bit perfect, but I am not sure what is going on with the Devialet air software when it intercepts the output. I do notice that the volume control works for both itunes (bit perfect mode) and JRiver. I seem to recall that under Air 1 the volume on the software side was not active and always controlled by the D-Premier. That does not sound like it is bit perfect, but possibly it is when volume is max on the software player?

After trying the latest itunes 11.0.4 and version 3 of remote I have to take back some of my comment regarding the apple remote v's JRemote. I see that Apple remote now has the ability to create playlists on the fly which is nifty and something that JRemote does very well. I still prefer JRemote a lot more as it has a better interface and some more features but Apple is also improving.

I have noticed a small drop out that lasts for maybe half sec every few minutes. It is hardly noticeable but annoying when it happens. I need to see if it is possible this is due to my configuration or not. I will do a few tests of some possible causes i.e internet plugged into the router playing the music etc... to see if I can get rid of it.

I would be interested to hear others feedback on sound quality differences when using other software players compared to itunes.

 

[IanG-UK]

I have noticed a small drop out that lasts for maybe half sec every few minutes. It is hardly noticeable but annoying when it happens. I need to see if it is possible this is due to my configuration or not. I will do a few tests of some possible causes i.e internet plugged into the router playing the music etc... to see if I can get rid of it.

I would be interested to hear others feedback on sound quality differences when using other software players compared to itunes.

I'm using software 6.0, Air 2.0, iTunes 11.0.4 and (as recommended by Devialet) an Airport Express (well, a Time Capsule just for its Arport Express bit) with wifi on, connected to my BT Home Hub 4 with wifi off.

I get small drop outs too.

If I fix the wifi channel in Airport Express as "auto" I get a strong signal but lots of drop outs, with frequency increasing as listening time extends.

If I fix the wifi channel in Airport Express as fixed (I've tried 4, 6, 8 and 10) I get a less strong signal (this does not seem to matter) with fewer drop outs, again with frequency increasing as listening time extends.

The former set-up is not listenable. The latter is, just, but it is far from ideal.

From what I have heard a few people are experiencing the same drop out behaviour.

I've not tried other software players as I think Devialet has initially designed things around iTunes so I'm wanting them to get that right first.