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PLC networking
#31
(22-Apr-2022, 20:15)ogs Wrote: So what you are saying is that in a small-ish room the Phantom II 98 is not that far behind your new Phantom I 103? That is high praise indeed for Devialet!

Yes. I’d say the larger Phantoms might be overkill for a small space. With room correction and eq, and proper placement the sound I derive from the Reactors is really impressive.
2 Channel Power / Signal Path: APC H15 → Mistral Audio W-3900 → Custom Roon Server → Silent Angel Bonn N8 → Silent Angel Forester F1 → miniDSP SHD Studio → Mutec MC-3+ USB → Devialet Phantom I 108dB

Headphone iFi Audio iDSD Signature → Grado GS1000i
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#32
(20-Apr-2022, 22:18)supaDean Wrote: Hey All. Quick update. The replacement phantom premier 103dB arrived in good order. I have now set the pair up in stereo via optical direct mode. Have hard-wired Ethernet and toslink to both on the Tree stands. That’s a bit tricky to do but patience paid off. I acquired an optical toslink splitter which splits the signal to the left and the right channels. Everything works beautifully; no issues.

Next will be to test using Ethernet and wireless to see if dropouts occur. But in any event happy to have solved the dropouts by going optical direct. These phantoms sound fantastic. Everything I throw at them no matter how low, hard hitting or subtle, they handle everything with authority. Very balanced and sweet sounding. No bloat. I can imagine the Golds have a sweeter treble with their titanium tweeter, but then we’d just be nit picking.

I’ll be staying in tonight enjoying a wide variety of tunes.

Enjoy the music.

Hi @supaDean, So if I understand it correctly you have now been able to test as I suggested back here and found that in normal mode fed via Toslink you get dropouts, and in Direct Optical Mode with everything else exactly the same you don't.  Please confirm, because if this is the case I believe it constitutes very strong evidence that the dropouts are caused in some module of DOS that is disabled in Direct Optical Mode and it is unreasonable for Devialet to continue to point the finger of suspicion at the network.

Note that Direct Optical is just that, optical, so even though your Phantoms are connected via ethernet that connection is used for configuration only, the signal must be routed via the Toslink input.

And to answer one of your questions from another post, yes this does marginally increase the effective frequency range of the Phantoms at the top end.  DOS downsamples everything >48kS/s to 48kS/s which involves filtering out all signal above 24kHz. @streamy has tested both Phantom Premier (DOS 1 and 2) and Phantom I (DOS 2) in Direct Optical mode and found that this downsampling does not occur.   Since the tweeter in the 103dB is rated up to 25kHz and that in the 108dB up to 27kHz, the very top end of these ranges become available in Direct Optical mode.  These frequencies are of course inaudible to humans however the the brick-wall filtering at 24kHz causes phase shifts down in the audible frequency range and therefore removing that filtering restores phase integrity resulting in an audible improvement.

Delighted that you have solved your dropout issue and can finally start enjoying the music and really hoping that your test will help Devialet isolate and hopefully solve the root cause!
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#33
Hello @struts.

Yes, that is it exactly. I've posted several times in a couple of different threads so am glad you were able to piece it together.

Interestedly, because I still have the 2 x Phantom Reactor 900 (Phantom II 98db) I have them set up wirelessly in different rooms as mono speakers. I feed them signal via Roon. And yes, they are now prone to occasional audio dropouts! It is not due to a weak wireless signal; I'm confident of this. While trouble shooting I asked myself if is it due to something else router related? I was unsure because I'm not that well versed in networking protocols. But I felt confident with the wireless setup in the house as it is all late model gear, and I've other wireless 2-channel Klipsch "The Three" wireless smart speakers that are Chromecast which are also fed signal via Roon, and they operate flawlessly. I've also an HD TV furthest away from the router which is fed Netflix HD wirelessly with no issues.

I think the Devialet issue is related to the app software version and / or the firmware version in the Phantoms. I can't see why it may be a hardware issue inside the different Phantoms.

I enjoy the optical direct mode, aside from its stability and sound quality, because with the app now no longer part of the audio signal or info path, I don't need to use it. I simply use my preamp with its remote. Also, with wireless no longer in the picture, television audio fed to the Phantoms has zero latency issues.

-------------------

As an aside, I am curious as to how serviceable the Phantoms are and how they are covered under their 2-year warranty. This curiosity evolved out of all the issues trying to get a stable signal, and realizing it is a software issue. What if a Phantom were to be bricked because of a software issue? A 2-year warranty seems, well, very little. Purchasing additional warranty doesn't seem like a fair proposition when it comes to software-related issues. So, I started a separate DC thread asking for user's experience with Devialet warranty and servicing their Phantoms. Not one reply to date. But it is an interesting topic. Devialet claims Phantoms are built to last, so what happens as Phantoms start to age? The earliest Phantom hit the market 2015, so we're coming up to a 10 year milestone in 3 years. As I purchased refurbished Phantom I 103db, I'm not even sure what year they were manufactured... I know you've a separate thread on this. I did post my serials on there, including the Phantom I which was replaced by Devialet.

I can see why a manufacturer may offer a short warranty period... I've seen images of what some Phantoms have been subjected to by their owners. But for those of us who own our gear for many years and take care of it, it seems to be a short end of the stick. Perhaps Devialet would offer a repair based on a software issue vs physical damage out of warranty. I've found Devialet to be very responsive with items under the warranty period. But that chat is for another thread.
2 Channel Power / Signal Path: APC H15 → Mistral Audio W-3900 → Custom Roon Server → Silent Angel Bonn N8 → Silent Angel Forester F1 → miniDSP SHD Studio → Mutec MC-3+ USB → Devialet Phantom I 108dB

Headphone iFi Audio iDSD Signature → Grado GS1000i
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#34
[quote pid="106032" dateline="1651754361"]
 HI supaDeanRE:  I am curious as to how serviceable the Phantoms are and how they are covered under their 2-year warranty. 
[/quote]

FWIW: had a DOS1-Dos2 update problem that bricked a otherwise perfectly good 2015 phantom device in 2020 and was exchanged. I did not have the extended warranty.   this act ultimately convinced to stick with the program double down pick up another pair. 

Which in another way opened up a whole new experience for me - they were really good before - but -- it ultimately got me to go from the trees to the geckos which put them in a better spot on the wall from the floor, and experience first hand how placement can make such an enormous difference. Which took it from really really good to double awesome. or was it the hardware? ;-) IT WAS THE PLACEMENT or was it? ;0  lol

regards
scott-
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#35
(06-May-2022, 07:47)scotthar Wrote: [quote pid="106032" dateline="1651754361"]
 HI supaDeanRE:  I am curious as to how serviceable the Phantoms are and how they are covered under their 2-year warranty. 

FWIW: had a DOS1-Dos2 update problem that bricked a otherwise perfectly good 2015 phantom device in 2020 and was exchanged. I did not have the extended warranty.   this act ultimately convinced to stick with the program double down pick up another pair. 

Which in another way opened up a whole new experience for me - they were really good before - but -- it ultimately got me to go from the trees to the geckos which put them in a better spot on the wall from the floor, and experience first hand how placement can make such an enormous difference. Which took it from really really good to double awesome. or was it the hardware? ;-) IT WAS THE PLACEMENT or was it? ;0  lol

regards
scott-
[/quote]

It's good to hear Devialet stood by its product! Because they exchanged it it leads me to believe it may be easier to do the exchange vs repair the bricked Phantom. 

Regarding speaker placement, that's an entirely different story, and one which I've talked about at length in other threads. Add in physical and digital room correction to really make music playback in a listening space shine. Cheers.
2 Channel Power / Signal Path: APC H15 → Mistral Audio W-3900 → Custom Roon Server → Silent Angel Bonn N8 → Silent Angel Forester F1 → miniDSP SHD Studio → Mutec MC-3+ USB → Devialet Phantom I 108dB

Headphone iFi Audio iDSD Signature → Grado GS1000i
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