I have some updates for everyone, as over the past few weeks I had a lot of complaints with the D-Premier and networking and I made a lot of changes to my including buying a new Apple Airport express and setting up a different network only for the D-Premier. This Network had very strong signal of -6 to -10 dBm but there was some issues which never went away. Once in a while I would still get the Sssshhh (white noise) even playing 16/44 files. Sometimes it would play for the whole night and disconnect in the morning, sometimes it would disconnect after an hour. At best either my wireless plug in module might have been defective or something else was going on. Also when I switched inputs, say I wanted to watch TV etc. so I would switch to line one, as my AV Receiver was connected in Bypass mode to the D-Premier and then switched back to AIR I found it was disconnected, even though the music was playing on my JRiver on the PC.
Also I would like to inform everyone that I did get a call all the way from France from Devialet to me (I am in Canada) they were trying to see what the trouble was and did troubleshooting with me for over and hour, I sent them my config file on the SD card, they Pinged my network, looked at my JRiver settings on the PC but did not find anything wrong. However this is what you call top notch customer service, just awesome!!
In the meantime the Devialet 170 which I ordered had arrived at my dealer, I told him to open it and start using it as I was not sure if I would keep the D-Premier (The Dealer was willing to give me a nice deal on it) or go with the 170. The only way to find out which one I wanted was to do a side by side comparison.
So I packed the D-Premier and hauled it to the store (I had the D-Premier for almost a month in my place, so I got to know the sound).
First impression the 170 is a bit smaller and for sure looks it compared to the D-Premier, however the dark chrome finish is awesome and I like the sleek straight top. The display window is reversed as in Dark background with white letters, looks much much better that the D-Premiers and goes well with the Dark Chrome. Also the remote is lighter, smaller and I like the looks a lot but its not as smooth as the bigger older remote.
We were using Kharma speakers and a SimAudio Moon CD player only as a transport, bypassing the Moon's internal DAC. I listened to the 170 for almost an hour and there is no doubt it is a better unit. (before everyone jumps at me I wanted to say that both the Devialets had 6.9 firmware loaded).
170 Sound:
Bass is tight but also plump (more fuller)
Treble is not harsh, very smooth
Mid range is warmer
Dealer and I both agreed the sound is much more balanced and calmer than the D-Premier, it has a sense of over all cohesiveness, by this I mean the sound is as solid a grip as the D-Premier but now it is delicate at the same time. Absolutely non fatiguing, I could listen to it for the whole day. Not that I found the D-Premier fatiguing but there was certain edge to its treble and midrange, almost like a cat waiting to pounce. With the 170 all i can sum it up as that you get best of both.... sharp but liquid at the same time.
So now we put back the D-Premier (same setup) right away the bass was different, good grip but not full as the 170, no way was the treble as smooth as the 170 and the midrange was not as warm as the 170, I listened to it for around 25 mins (I already knew the sound for the past 4 weeks) and had a chat with the dealer.
He said in his own words that right out of the box when they first put on the 170, when it came in he felt the sound of the 170 was smoother, the sound has been tailored to appeal to a wider audience while keeping the same qualities of the awesome D-Premier. We both agreed that the improvements made on this front, it did not make sense to buy the D-Premier. I did try to push him and he was giving me a good deal with the D-Premier, but he advised me to stick to the 170 and if at all I needed to change down the road then I could go with the 240.
The 170 does not pick up wi-fi as strong as the D-premier as keeping the Airport Express at the same exact position the signal is around -20 dBm I moved it around but cant seemed to do better than -19 dBm. HOWEVER the network is very stable, no Ssssshhhh, I can play 24/192 no drop outs, it plays for hours, the only thing is after a few hours it will stop playing, but unlike the D-Premier i don't have to constantly re start it, as its still connected to the wi-fi but AIR on my computer is not, so I just have to re-enable AIR on my PC again. I can live with this without any problem as with the older D-Premier the AIR connection used to go off on the unit itself, and it sometimes required multiple re-starts with the power button.
The only thing is my remote is a bit quirky as at certain times or angles it doesn't connect to the 170, I had absolutely zero issues with the bigger remote and as I have mentioned it is not as smooth and I can hear the knob scraping the inside while I turn it, also the volume changes are not as linear as it was with the bigger remote. I might have to get this remote changed. However I do like the looks of the new remote and its lighter and more comfortable to hold hence!!
Phew!!
