Devialet AIR 3.0.4 official release

Audio Gear Talk Devialet
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Well, it finally came out, no doubt thanks to a little Twitter help from @DrTone :slight_smile:

I said I’d never bother to try AIR again, but curiosity got the better of me - maybe this will be the one that works!!

No crackles so far (20 mins) and that’s a pretty good sign because highres would have bought issues pretty quickly previously. Still, I won’t be thinking seriously about it until it’s been crackle free for a few weeks.

DSD doesn’t work (static) which was reported months ago during the betas. Maybe it’s something I’m doing?

Ultimately, if it works, I think I’m going to revert to Ethernet via AIR, so I can use Dirac again. But that’s a way off, let’s see if it’s actually reliable or not.

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Nothing a good old twitter tirade to the CEO won’t fix. :angry:

@danny if they still aren’t talking to you guys give it a try!

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Will update to the new AIR - the beta for us worked fine for Ethernet and had some dropouts on wifi - thanks

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I have to say I’m amazed!

High-res playing all night, and music still sounds like music this morning!

No crackles. I don’t think that’s ever happened to me.

Early days but it’s promising.

Shame they broke DSD though and seem unable to fix it. Their software QA still seems a bit iffy, but it’s baby steps in the right direction.

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Still going!

I’m amazed.

I had something which may have been a single brief dropout last night, but I can’t say 100%. Other than that, still running fine with no hint of crackles or sound falling apart.

In my setup, this may finally be the one that works (DSD aside).

It’s been a long wait…

I also used the group sync delay that was added in 1.3. With a 500ms AIR buffer my grouped zone was now out of sync with my kitchen zone - putting negative 500ms in the Devialet setup bought them back bang in sync.

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Well this is my first Post on Roon Community, so be gentle!

I am in process of “trialling” Roon with my Devialet D1000Pro and AIR 3.0.4. It has been running for a full day and a bit and so far no hiccups at all (I am touching a piece of wood as I make this pronouncement!). I originally downloaded Roon to help me demo a dCS Network Bridge which has now been collected (oh dear) - more on that experience later, as this is about AIR and Roon integration with my Devialet.

I am currently running Roon Core on my home, Windows 10, PC and controlling the music using Roon Remote on an Android Tablet (Samsung Tab S). I have given Roon control over AIR and all works well. I have tried streaming a wide range of music, in a variety of forms, both 16 and 24bit - from “redbook” ripped CDs, through 96Khz, 192KHz, to DSD 64 - and all play fine. I have checked the display on the Devialet and all show the correct resolution figure being played, so Roon is handling that fine. My music is held on a 2TB, USB 3.0, WD My Book Essential, so nothing fancy, plugged into a spare USB port on my Computer.

I am fully Ethernet connected from my Hub (a Virgin Media Superhub - actually nothing really super about it at all!) to a TP 8way switch, then to my Devialet - no fancy Ethernet cables in Network, but to cat 6 level. From the switch to Devialet I use an Audioquest “Forest” cable, so again, nothing esoteric!

I must add that the PC has seen some heavy routine work by both myself and my wife, including a lot of Printer use, and during that time there has not been the hint of a glitch, stutter, or drop out (again I am touching the wood!) from the system.

My usual system is a Wyred4Sound Music Server > USB > Devialet. and I must admit that Roon with AIR compares in SQ more than favourably with that system. I will continue to use Roon over the next few days and if the system continues to behave then I can see myself converting from Roon Trial to Full Roon membership! Will continue to experiment with the settings and learn what they do - maybe back for help and guidance from those more knowledgeable than me in the use of Roon, but so far so good!

I have read many horror stories about AIR on the Devialet Chat Forum, but I must admit that I have not experienced any issues with any of the latest AIR versions, and certainly not with 3.0.4. But that use has previously been limited to playing iTunes using the iTunes Remote I my ancient iPad (so ancient I could not download the Roon Remote on it - hence use of Samsung!) so the chance to try streaming more HiRes material using AIR has been a welcome experience.

Will keep you posted if things change.

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Have hit my first snag using AIR in grouped zones, and annoyingly I think there’s only one workaround.

It seems that despite matching my Roon sync offset to the inverse of the AIR buffer (500ms) things aren’t always perfectly synced. Initially I assumed this was some processing overhead for AIR so managed to get a sync by adjusting 5-10ms either way. That was perfect sync. BUT it appears to be sample rate dependent. So since I was upsampling to max x2 it depends what I’m playing, and can end up with a very slight echo/reverb sound. It never slips so must be along these lines.

So I think the only solution is upsampling everything to 192. It’s not what I’d planned to do but will test and see if it stays perfectly synced. If not then my guess would be AIR has an inconsistent delay time to become operational, which would rule it out with grouped zones. That would be annoying since I’ve now sold my RoonReady device!