Gold Phantom review - Steve Huff

[MountainGuy]

A reviewer who is using spotify and sonos connect and make then a judgement ???

Yes, good enough for evaluation that is valid. There's enough resolution in Spotify's stream to do that.   It may not be the highest resolution but it is enough resolution to easily discern system differences.

[ogs]

What I got from the review is that the guy is over the moon about how much fun he had listening to the Golds.

This is exactly the impression I had when I read it the first time. I read the piece once more and have the same understanding now. He simply loves the sound from Phantom Golds.

[Plainview]

The point is, if it is not done, we won't know, as there is no other way to tell, and tales of "extended highs" etc, will only exist as legend.

The difference between the Silver and Golds doesn't need a double blind... it's so obvious even my Dad could hear it and he's about as far from an audiophile as you'll find! All you have to do is play some Joni Mitchell or something, the speakers sound totally different. 

Personally think Steve's review is spot on. Similar to Steve (though at an admittedly lower price point), I've sold about €15,000 of hifi gear and replaced it with a couple of Golds... and I could not be more happy. The fact is the Golds sound better than my old kit and better than any other system I've heard (though that admittedly tops out at probably a €20k system in my local hifi shop).

[Gremlin]

Yes it does. That's because there are otherwise too many compounding variables. Human hearing is fickle at best, as is memory, and expectation bias can be huge. Even if you know about expectation bias you (and all of us) will still be subject to it. Level matched ABX blind testing is the only way to tell.

Those really are facts.

[Pim]

Yes it does. That's because there are otherwise too many compounding variables. Human hearing is fickle at best, as is memory, and expectation bias can be huge. Even if you know about expectation bias you (and all of us) will still be subject to it. Level matched ABX blind testing is the only way to tell.

Those really are facts.

Gremlin, you seem to be quite obsessed with blind ABX testing so I want to ask you a question; When you went out to buy your audio gear did you:

A. Have a listen with your own music on different systems at a dealer. Maybe pick a few and try them at home to make sure they were fit for purpose.

B. Have a listen with your own music on different systems at a dealer. Then organise a blind ABX test at home with some of the chosen gear and then picked what you thought was best.

C. Picked what you bought by reading reviews from people who do ABX tests for everything they review and then told you that that was the best gear to buy.

The point I'm trying to make here is that when you are crossing a road and you hear a car coming from your left you jump out of the way because your left ear warned you there's a car coming. Why would you rely on just your left ear that, by your reasoning is totally unreliable, in a life and death situation but need a blind ABX test to hear the difference between two pieces of audio equipment? Please enlighten me because you make absolutely no sense to me whatsoever.

Cheers,

Pim

[Gremlin]

I read the specs.

[NickB]

That's it? You don't listen as well?

[thumb5]

...
The point I'm trying to make here is that when you are crossing a road and you hear a car coming from your left you jump out of the way because your left ear warned you there's a car coming. Why would you rely on just your left ear that, by your reasoning is totally unreliable, in a life and death situation but need a blind ABX test to hear the difference between two pieces of audio equipment? Please enlighten me because you make absolutely no sense to me whatsoever.

That's an interesting comparison Pim, but I think it actually undermines your own argument.  Human hearing has evolved (at least partly) to detect danger and in the case of crossing the road, it's an intuitive reaction to stop if you hear something unexpected, dangerous, loud, etc.  On the other hand hearing has not evolved to detect subtle differences between presentation of "the same" audio signals, the result of which depends on many other complicated processes happening in the brain.

On that basis a blind ABX test seems to me to make good sense if you want a reasonably repeatable way to determine whether you (or anyone) can hear differences between two pieces of audio equipment.  Whether it's a good way to choose what you prefer and want to buy is a different question entirely, of course.

[Plainview]

They sound different... the silvers and the golds.
It's like saying you need to ABX the Golds against a set of B&W 802's or something to be sure they sound different..... they sound totally different! You don't need to double blind 'em!

I'm open to the idea that the Silver might be a preferable choice for some, but that's a different point.

[Gremlin]

Two pairs of gold, silver or vanilla speakers will sound different (and I mean will, not might) if they are not level matched. Full stop and end of.