Phantom I deal

[kradzero]

Hi everyone, thinking of buying a pair of Phantom Silver I (EW02) and a Dialog, barely used.

I would appreciate your feedback on:
1. Is this a model/ serial with known issues?

2. Does it have Airplay? (I read that it does not, just double checking)
3. Is it worth / possible to upgrade to DOS 2?
4. Overall is this a good deal at ~€2000, in 2022?

Thank you

[ragwo]

Hi everyone, thinking of buying a pair of Phantom Silver I (EW02) and a Dialog, barely used.

I would appreciate your feedback on:
1. Is this a model/ serial with known issues?

2. Does it have Airplay? (I read that it does not, just double checking)
3. Is it worth / possible to upgrade to DOS 2?
4. Overall is this a good deal at ~€2000, in 2022?

Thank you

Hi. 
If you could post the first four digits/letters of the serial number we can determine their manufacturing date, and then it's easier to know if they are up gradable to DOS2. If the Dialog has AirPlay, it will enable us AirPlay for the speakers too. What is the model number of the Dialog? Please bare in mind that Phantom Silver has been sold as factory refurbished earlier, do you know if the pair you're considering are refurbished? If they are not, they might be over 7 years old. If they are refurbished they have been tested and inspected at a later date and that adds value in my opinion. I bought a pair of new Phantom Silver for about €3000 including Dialog and remote back in July 2015, and the refurbished has been sold for about €3000 a pair both in 2019 and 2020 as far as I recall. If the speakers are refurbished and in mint condition they might be worth €2000 in my opinion. If they are from 2015 I would not pay that kind of money.

[kradzero]

Hi everyone, thinking of buying a pair of Phantom Silver I (EW02) and a Dialog, barely used.

I would appreciate your feedback on:
1. Is this a model/ serial with known issues?

2. Does it have Airplay? (I read that it does not, just double checking)
3. Is it worth / possible to upgrade to DOS 2?
4. Overall is this a good deal at ~€2000, in 2022?

Thank you

Hi. 
If you could post the first four digits/letters of the serial number we can determine their manufacturing date, and then it's easier to know if they are up gradable to DOS2. If the Dialog has AirPlay, it will enable us AirPlay for the speakers too. What is the model number of the Dialog? Please bare in mind that Phantom Silver has been sold as factory refurbished earlier, do you know if the pair you're considering are refurbished? If they are not, they might be over 7 years old. If they are refurbished they have been tested and inspected at a later date and that adds value in my opinion. I bought a pair of new Phantom Silver for about €3000 including Dialog and remote back in July 2015, and the refurbished has been sold for about €3000 a pair both in 2019 and 2020 as far as I recall. If the speakers are refurbished and in mint condition they might be worth €2000 in my opinion. If they are from 2015 I would not pay that kind of money.

Hi and thanks for the feedback. I know these are not factory refurbished and were bought as new, had the same owner since new and have had minimal use. 

How will I know if not upgradable? Would the speakers not accept the firmware update / error message? I would not want to upgrade and brick / have to downgrade after.

Also, if I understand you correctly, since this serial (ew02) was sold with the Dialog, there is no way that the Dialog can no longer be used after upgrading to DOS 2. Had this been a newer model (ew08) that would not be the case, right? It makes sense to conclude that the Dialog has to continue to be used when set up as a stereo pair, even after an upgrade  to DOS 2? 

if I located a “newer” Dialog with Airplay, would this solve the issue of no Airplay?

Lastly, assuming the price is right and I do not upgrade to DOS 2, I noticed you run a pair with DOS 1: is the Spark app still good with Tidal/spotify/amazon music/qobuz/deezer and streaming via bluetooth? Are you missing out on anything sound quality wise or just “tech”?

I suppose I would just use a streamer to send the feed via Optical, that would solve everything.

Thanks a lot for your time

[ragwo]

@kradzero
If the Phantom has Bluetooth it's upgradable to DOS2. You can't downgrade from DOS2 to DOS1. I've upgraded almost 10 Phantoms to DOS2 without any problems, so I wouldn't be too worried about problems. The reason I use Spark with one of my speakers is that it's not upgradable to DOS2 as it's too old. Streaming services don't work with Spark anymore, so I use a Chromecast Audio. The Dialog is not needed for the stereo pairing in DOS2 but could be used as an extra optical input if needed. If the Dialog supports AirPlay, connecting it to your LAN will enable AirPlay for the Phantoms.

I would recommend upgrading to DOS2. The software is more stable, the latency is lower, the speakers are Roon Ready and you get a rudimentary but working EQ.