So, yesterday I took the Deva II out to a local benefit show to see how it was going to work as a standalone unit. I brought my DA-P1 as a backup, but really didn't want to use it.
I setup the deva, plugged in all mics and powered the unit up. The lights came on, but the display was unreadable. I unplugged one mic and the display lit up a little more, unplugged another mic and the display came back to normal. I tried various configurations and none seemed to work. I pressed the X4 back into service and fed two mics to it, and two straight into the Zaxcom. This worked fine and still kept the tracks separate on the drive.
Monitoring: Monitoring is going to be tough with this unit. Not because there aren't a ton of options, but because you're not mixing any channels it simply combines the channels you specify, or monitor a single channel in mono. Overall I think it's a wash because as long as they sound good in mono, you're going to do your combining later in a DAW.
The mic situation has me more concerned than anything else right now. According to the private Deva list I'm on one person said "If I remember right, they all are that way.", which if true is a huge thumbs down. I'm going to call Zaxcom today and see what they have to say about it.
Sound quality: I imported the sound files this AM and previewed the tracks in Digital Performer and they sounded great considering the enviroment (the outdoor venue is next to a very busy intersection and the traffic can be heard throughout). Over the next day or so, I'll have to find a place to put up some of the sample recordings so folks can do some comparisons.
Wayne