Devialet Classic, Dialog, and Airplay 2

[s3kelman]

Quick feedback on my purchase: 2x Phantom Classic refurbished by Devialet + a Dialog and some things I discovered that doesn't match what I could read on that forum:

Ok so I bought a pair of refurb by Devialet Phantom Classic with Bluetooth but without Airplay. The price was the same as a pair of phantom II so it was a no brainer for me, also I went into a Devialet Showroon which wasn't that bad (not a glass cubicle if you know what I mean) it seem to have a proper room acoustic, and yet the Phantom II was meh, at best, I'm used to separate audio things, I have multiple pair of speakers, not super expensive but really good quality, including a pair of Revel M16 coupled with a Naim XS which is my absolute go-to when listening to good music. Anyway so in comparison to my setup, the  Phantom II was ok-ish, at best, lacking medium. high was ok, it sure is impressive for the size and perfect for lounge / electro type music but that's about it.

In comparison the Phantom 1 was way better, not really awesome either but perfect for my use case: I need a wife-proof small but powerful pair of speakers with minimal cable management to handle a big living room with a really high ceiling.

When I saw an offer for refurbished Classic for the price of the Phantom II I jumped on the occasion, figuring that I will buy a second hand Dialog to get Airplay.

- 1st, I couldn't hear a difference with the Phantom I (silver) I heard in their showroom (given that it was a couple days prior to receiving my Classic ones and my ears are not perfect)
- The sound quality is good, as everyone already know the power coming from these tiny things is just crazy, however they are still good to listen at a low volume.
- the last update gave me the 2 band equalizer, cranking up the medium/high makes a lot of difference and corrects the only concern I had with them

The comes the Dialog
- Second hand, costed me about $40
- got updated to last firmware with no issue
- now that's a big surprise: it seems to be Airplay 2 
It shows up as an airplay receiver in all my apple devices, so far so good, but I get the multiroom and all the goodness as well, I can airplay to it and then add as many speakers as I wish from my home, all works perfectly, which I believe is an airplay 2 only feature, normally I shouldn't be able to airplay to other devices at the same time as the Dialog. it's awesome!
- Now that I can airplay properly I can use Spotify EQ instead of Devialet one, that's a big bonus so I let the Devialet one on Flat and worked with the curves of Spotify (I tried a lot of different sources before, and honestly can't tell much of a difference between Spotify over airplay and a proper CD player, so I stick with Spotify and multiroom and the simplicity that comes with it.

- the Phantoms are running super hot when not in use, I suspect there is no proper automatic standby, but I can't click the back button 5 times  day so I will make some measurement of consumption when not in use and check with their supports

- The phantoms are classic refurb but somewhat have serial number starting by P20 and P21, so I'm not sure if they updated the serial when refurbishing because the serial would mean it's fairly new. If the serial is legit it should have ADH2 but I have no other way to know that I guess

I will keep you posted with my founding, any questions is welcome

[Maeda]

Quick feedback on my purchase: 2x Phantom Classic refurbished by Devialet + a Dialog and some things I discovered that doesn't match what I could read on that forum:

Ok so I bought a pair of refurb by Devialet Phantom Classic with Bluetooth but without Airplay. The price was the same as a pair of phantom II so it was a no brainer for me, also I went into a Devialet Showroon which wasn't that bad (not a glass cubicle if you know what I mean) it seem to have a proper room acoustic, and yet the Phantom II was meh, at best, I'm used to separate audio things, I have multiple pair of speakers, not super expensive but really good quality, including a pair of Revel M16 coupled with a Naim XS which is my absolute go-to when listening to good music. Anyway so in comparison to my setup, the  Phantom II was ok-ish, at best, lacking medium. high was ok, it sure is impressive for the size and perfect for lounge / electro type music but that's about it.

In comparison the Phantom 1 was way better, not really awesome either but perfect for my use case: I need a wife-proof small but powerful pair of speakers with minimal cable management to handle a big living room with a really high ceiling.

When I saw an offer for refurbished Classic for the price of the Phantom II I jumped on the occasion, figuring that I will buy a second hand Dialog to get Airplay.

- 1st, I couldn't hear a difference with the Phantom I (silver) I heard in their showroom (given that it was a couple days prior to receiving my Classic ones and my ears are not perfect)
- The sound quality is good, as everyone already know the power coming from these tiny things is just crazy, however they are still good to listen at a low volume.
- the last update gave me the 2 band equalizer, cranking up the medium/high makes a lot of difference and corrects the only concern I had with them

The comes the Dialog
- Second hand, costed me about $40
- got updated to last firmware with no issue
- now that's a big surprise: it seems to be Airplay 2 
It shows up as an airplay receiver in all my apple devices, so far so good, but I get the multiroom and all the goodness as well, I can airplay to it and then add as many speakers as I wish from my home, all works perfectly, which I believe is an airplay 2 only feature, normally I shouldn't be able to airplay to other devices at the same time as the Dialog. it's awesome!
- Now that I can airplay properly I can use Spotify EQ instead of Devialet one, that's a big bonus so I let the Devialet one on Flat and worked with the curves of Spotify (I tried a lot of different sources before, and honestly can't tell much of a difference between Spotify over airplay and a proper CD player, so I stick with Spotify and multiroom and the simplicity that comes with it.

- the Phantoms are running super hot when not in use, I suspect there is no proper automatic standby, but I can't click the back button 5 times  day so I will make some measurement of consumption when not in use and check with their supports

- The phantoms are classic refurb but somewhat have serial number starting by P20 and P21, so I'm not sure if they updated the serial when refurbishing because the serial would mean it's fairly new. If the serial is legit it should have ADH2 but I have no other way to know that I guess

I will keep you posted with my founding, any questions is welcome

Hello,

Can you tell me what is the serial number / reference of your dialog ? 
I'd like to build the same config than you

Thx !

[s3kelman]

Quick feedback on my purchase: 2x Phantom Classic refurbished by Devialet + a Dialog and some things I discovered that doesn't match what I could read on that forum:

Ok so I bought a pair of refurb by Devialet Phantom Classic with Bluetooth but without Airplay. The price was the same as a pair of phantom II so it was a no brainer for me, also I went into a Devialet Showroon which wasn't that bad (not a glass cubicle if you know what I mean) it seem to have a proper room acoustic, and yet the Phantom II was meh, at best, I'm used to separate audio things, I have multiple pair of speakers, not super expensive but really good quality, including a pair of Revel M16 coupled with a Naim XS which is my absolute go-to when listening to good music. Anyway so in comparison to my setup, the  Phantom II was ok-ish, at best, lacking medium. high was ok, it sure is impressive for the size and perfect for lounge / electro type music but that's about it.

In comparison the Phantom 1 was way better, not really awesome either but perfect for my use case: I need a wife-proof small but powerful pair of speakers with minimal cable management to handle a big living room with a really high ceiling.

When I saw an offer for refurbished Classic for the price of the Phantom II I jumped on the occasion, figuring that I will buy a second hand Dialog to get Airplay.

- 1st, I couldn't hear a difference with the Phantom I (silver) I heard in their showroom (given that it was a couple days prior to receiving my Classic ones and my ears are not perfect)
- The sound quality is good, as everyone already know the power coming from these tiny things is just crazy, however they are still good to listen at a low volume.
- the last update gave me the 2 band equalizer, cranking up the medium/high makes a lot of difference and corrects the only concern I had with them

The comes the Dialog
- Second hand, costed me about $40
- got updated to last firmware with no issue
- now that's a big surprise: it seems to be Airplay 2 
It shows up as an airplay receiver in all my apple devices, so far so good, but I get the multiroom and all the goodness as well, I can airplay to it and then add as many speakers as I wish from my home, all works perfectly, which I believe is an airplay 2 only feature, normally I shouldn't be able to airplay to other devices at the same time as the Dialog. it's awesome!
- Now that I can airplay properly I can use Spotify EQ instead of Devialet one, that's a big bonus so I let the Devialet one on Flat and worked with the curves of Spotify (I tried a lot of different sources before, and honestly can't tell much of a difference between Spotify over airplay and a proper CD player, so I stick with Spotify and multiroom and the simplicity that comes with it.

- the Phantoms are running super hot when not in use, I suspect there is no proper automatic standby, but I can't click the back button 5 times  day so I will make some measurement of consumption when not in use and check with their supports

- The phantoms are classic refurb but somewhat have serial number starting by P20 and P21, so I'm not sure if they updated the serial when refurbishing because the serial would mean it's fairly new. If the serial is legit it should have ADH2 but I have no other way to know that I guess

I will keep you posted with my founding, any questions is welcome

Hello,

Can you tell me what is the serial number / reference of your dialog ? 
I'd like to build the same config than you

Thx !

Hi, sure, the dialog model is the VY104

[Jann]

Quick feedback on my purchase: 2x Phantom Classic refurbished by Devialet + a Dialog and some things I discovered that doesn't match what I could read on that forum:

Ok so I bought a pair of refurb by Devialet Phantom Classic with Bluetooth but without Airplay. The price was the same as a pair of phantom II so it was a no brainer for me, also I went into a Devialet Showroon which wasn't that bad (not a glass cubicle if you know what I mean) it seem to have a proper room acoustic, and yet the Phantom II was meh, at best, I'm used to separate audio things, I have multiple pair of speakers, not super expensive but really good quality, including a pair of Revel M16 coupled with a Naim XS which is my absolute go-to when listening to good music. Anyway so in comparison to my setup, the  Phantom II was ok-ish, at best, lacking medium. high was ok, it sure is impressive for the size and perfect for lounge / electro type music but that's about it.

In comparison the Phantom 1 was way better, not really awesome either but perfect for my use case: I need a wife-proof small but powerful pair of speakers with minimal cable management to handle a big living room with a really high ceiling.

When I saw an offer for refurbished Classic for the price of the Phantom II I jumped on the occasion, figuring that I will buy a second hand Dialog to get Airplay.

- 1st, I couldn't hear a difference with the Phantom I (silver) I heard in their showroom (given that it was a couple days prior to receiving my Classic ones and my ears are not perfect)
- The sound quality is good, as everyone already know the power coming from these tiny things is just crazy, however they are still good to listen at a low volume.
- the last update gave me the 2 band equalizer, cranking up the medium/high makes a lot of difference and corrects the only concern I had with them

The comes the Dialog
- Second hand, costed me about $40
- got updated to last firmware with no issue
- now that's a big surprise: it seems to be Airplay 2 
It shows up as an airplay receiver in all my apple devices, so far so good, but I get the multiroom and all the goodness as well, I can airplay to it and then add as many speakers as I wish from my home, all works perfectly, which I believe is an airplay 2 only feature, normally I shouldn't be able to airplay to other devices at the same time as the Dialog. it's awesome!
- Now that I can airplay properly I can use Spotify EQ instead of Devialet one, that's a big bonus so I let the Devialet one on Flat and worked with the curves of Spotify (I tried a lot of different sources before, and honestly can't tell much of a difference between Spotify over airplay and a proper CD player, so I stick with Spotify and multiroom and the simplicity that comes with it.

- the Phantoms are running super hot when not in use, I suspect there is no proper automatic standby, but I can't click the back button 5 times  day so I will make some measurement of consumption when not in use and check with their supports

- The phantoms are classic refurb but somewhat have serial number starting by P20 and P21, so I'm not sure if they updated the serial when refurbishing because the serial would mean it's fairly new. If the serial is legit it should have ADH2 but I have no other way to know that I guess

I will keep you posted with my founding, any questions is welcome

Very interesting read, thanks for posting.

Particularly interesting to me is what you posted about the comparison of Phantom I vs Phantom II. Before buying my pair of Phantom II 98dB I visited the nearest Devialet reseller that had demo units twice before making my decision. And after that, I could only agree with what many on this forum have said about the apparent lack of midrange on Phantom II. Which is that it's a really not that bad. Some even compared a pair of Phantom Golds vs a pair of Reactor 900s and found the difference to be almost not noticeable when listening with closed eyes.

I listen to all types of music, including electronic genres which is what you mentioned. But I also regularly listen to Jazz, Soul, Rock, sometimes Classic and find my Phantom IIs highly enjoyable no matter what genre. And I like to think that I know how good soundstage, imaging and detail should sound like, since I own a few pairs of reference IEMs and a good pair of cans.

Still, if I would have been able to buy 2x Phantom Classic/103 dB for the same price (2 x 1290€), I would have went with that. 
Which leads me to my question, where have you found that awesome deal? 

If I go to Devialets "Last Chance" program, they are asking 1790€ for a single Phantom Classic, which is a huge premium over Phantom II 98dB...

[s3kelman]

A hifi store in my country France) still had some stock of "refurbished by devialet" but it went fast, not available anymore.
the Phantom II was sure nice for the size, but even with close eyes the difference was really obvious, at least in the store, the sound is not bad, but stereo scene is not as defined, for example the intro of "Money for Nothing" when the drum kicks in, on great speakers all kicks are spreaded between left and right precisely, with the phantom it's not as precise, it's basically left and right and nothing in between, still, that was at the store