Phantom white vs silver + general impressions

[EvPa]

The main advantage of Silver Phantom over regular Phantom is that the Silver's stainless steel plates are not bright.

[JohnnySix]

Yes ... I often get "light spots" on the wall from the reflection of my TV backlight through the Phantom's silver backplates!

[Paul @ HiFi Lounge]

I've just got my Silver Phantom Stock with my White Phantom's arriving early next week so I be comparing both side by side asap, but from what I have heard previously is that the extra power isn't about more volume but a more refined sound with better seperation and dynamics, I guess I will find out once and for all very shortly :-)

[f1eng]

There is actually no difference except the peak power, so as long as the max volume is less than 70, which is I believe full power for full modulation, there is no way that they can sound any different to a silver up to a volume of 64, although the extra price may well have a marked placebo effect!

[Novak]

I recently read the same, Devialet did a demo with one channel in white and one in silver, stating there's no audible difference unless you are maxing out the volume. Anyway, haven't heard either of them, but will be receiving a white one very soon. I'm not one to play loud, so hopefully it will be just fine. Looking forward to getting started.

[Dvlt PhD]

There is actually no difference except the peak power, so as long as the max volume is less than 70, which is I believe full power for full modulation, there is no way that they can sound any different to a silver up to a volume of 64, although the extra price may well have a marked placebo effect!

 If this is accurate, it's great news. Because that way, one could get a Silver, just for future-proof, without having to worry about volume differences.

Do you mean I could do a blind test with standard and silver, with specific volumes between 0 and 64, and it would be like using a white silver, because it would show that using the same volume level in both, would give the same dB level?


You mentioned in another thread that you haven't listened to Standard Phantom. How can you be so sure? Have somebody confirmed this for you?

Thanks.

I recently read the same, Devialet did a demo with one channel in white and one in silver, stating there's no audible difference unless you are maxing out the volume. Anyway, haven't heard either of them, but will be receiving a white one very soon. I'm not one to play loud, so hopefully it will be just fine. Looking forward to getting started.

 Did you keep a link, please?


Thanks.



Dvlt PhD

[Vince_JP]

Well, as I understand f1eng and Jean-Marie, power consumption isn't a real issue in differenciating white and silver... for most users (see michirishi detailled post). As to SQ below 64, noone seems by now to have a clear opinion. Reading from Devialet about the genesis and development of Phantom, I couldn't really figure out why they decided to bring 2 Phantoms. Was Silver the first  and they wanted to have a "budget" white Phantom (though the price difference isn't really big), or did they have first the white and wanted to bring an "ultimate" for show purpose (in which case any cooling/over-heating issues since they were born in a 'white' body sized for 750W?)? Anyone informations about that?
Surely Devialet has first to sort out/improve their software and organize their distribution policy, but I would love to see in future a "mini phantom" or a "black matt edition" or or or...

[Jean-Marie]

Well, as I understand f1eng and Jean-Marie, power consumption isn't a real issue in differenciating white and silver... for most users (see michirishi detailled post). As to SQ below 64, noone seems by now to have a clear opinion. Reading from Devialet about the genesis and development of Phantom, I couldn't really figure out why they decided to bring 2 Phantoms. Was Silver the first  and they wanted to have a "budget" white Phantom (though the price difference isn't really big), or did they have first the white and wanted to bring an "ultimate" for show purpose (in which case any cooling/over-heating issues since they were born in a 'white' body sized for 750W?)? Anyone informations about that?
Surely Devialet has first to sort out/improve their software and organize their distribution policy, but I would love to see in future a "mini phantom" or a "black matt edition" or or or...

Knowing Devialet and how they work, I would be extremely surprised that they would have done the design for 750W and kind of turbo charged to 3kW for the silver. I'm absolutely convinced that they did the design the other way round: Engineering everything for 3kW and they creating a more affordable version by reducing the power, exactly as they did on the expert line: They first created the D premier (equivalent to the 250 now) and they created more 'budget versions' not compromising the SQ but only with less power: the D200 and the D120.

[DSJ]

Current Audio Mag with Phantom Review and Phantoms on the cover (can't remember the mag name) has one of the Devialet team stating that the 3000 watt Silver Phantom does indeed have an upgraded woofer and internals to deal with the extra thermal load and power produced by the Silver Version.

[f1eng]

There is actually no difference except the peak power, so as long as the max volume is less than 70, which is I believe full power for full modulation, there is no way that they can sound any different to a silver up to a volume of 64, although the extra price may well have a marked placebo effect!

 If this is accurate, it's great news. Because that way, one could get a Silver, just for future-proof, without having to worry about volume differences.

Do you mean I could do a blind test with standard and silver, with specific volumes between 0 and 64, and it would be like using a white silver, because it would show that using the same volume level in both, would give the same dB level?


You mentioned in another thread that you haven't listened to Standard Phantom. How can you be so sure? Have somebody confirmed this for you?

Thanks.

I recently read the same, Devialet did a demo with one channel in white and one in silver, stating there's no audible difference unless you are maxing out the volume. Anyway, haven't heard either of them, but will be receiving a white one very soon. I'm not one to play loud, so hopefully it will be just fine. Looking forward to getting started.

 Did you keep a link, please?


Thanks.



Dvlt PhD

Same tweeter, same mid unit same sized (but higher power handling) bass units, same technology amplifier. By what mechanism could they possibly sound any different whilst operating below the limit of the amplifiers?
The difference between a silver Phantom and a white is unlikely to be greater than the general sample variation in production.

And anyway that is what Devialet said originally the only difference in spec is the maximum possible SPL.

I would imagine that if max power at full modulation is at volume setting 70, and if the volume level is calibrated in dBs then the silver Phantom at 64 will be the same loudness as a white at 70. If using an unmatched pair perhaps Spark/Dialog compensates for this difference if you define them as a stereo pair during the setup procedure, but I don't know for sure.