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Gold Phantom review - Steve Huff
#1
http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2016/12/01...ir-review/

Enjoy guys! Tongue
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#2
Great review. I feel the same as Steve does. He is a great camera reviewer also by the way.
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#3
why you really advice to use it as a PAIR, can you explain ?
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#4
If it is true that the golds are so much better than the other phantoms (and I'm not saying they aren't) then Devialet are guilty of some serious misselling of the others.

And given that they still can't get their networking working together, I don't think that my dialogue with them will last much longer.

They still haven't sorted the networking on their much more expensive Expert stuff.

They're selling the dream, but have forgotten about reality.

Smile
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#5
I would not be that hard to Devialet. The main difference between the first generation Phantoms and the 2nd generation is ADH2, SAM2 and Devialet DAC and the titanium dome driver. I think the ADH2 and SAM2 ASIC implementation makes the difference. Of course Devialet could tune the first gen Phantoms a bit to get closer to the 2nd gen. This would most probably raise the hiss noise level of the tweeters a bit and slimmer down the low end. This is what it does when I do some digital room correction to my Silvers. But would everybody accept a new firmware that changes the sound you love and are used to? And as we know Devialet doesn't like choice in their apps. So no eq or alternative lookup-tables that colour your Phantoms to different tastes. This all could be done. Maybe, one day Devialet offers in its online shop a special sw upgrade to trim the 1st gen Phantoms closer to the 2nd gen. I foresee a 3rd generation of Phantoms with new Silvers (new ASIC of the Golds) and a new Phantom Diamond (beryllium tweeters) in maybe 2 years.
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#6
It would be very interesting if someone would do some blind level matched ABX tests with a wide audience of the different iterations (white, silver, gold) and see if anyone could reliably tell the difference. My money would be on no.

Not if you believe any of Devialet's original blurb, anyway.
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#7
(03-Dec-2016, 09:12)Gremlin Wrote: It would be very interesting if someone would do some blind level matched ABX tests with a wide audience of the different iterations (white, silver, gold) and see if anyone could reliably tell the difference. My money would be on no.

Not if you believe any of Devialet's original blurb, anyway.

I don't know if I would hear any difference between White and Silver at normal listening levels, but the treble in the Gold is so different from the rest that it stands out.
Living room: Kii Three/BXT with Control.
Den: Tannoy Precision 8 iDP with TS112 iDP subwoofer.
In the cupboard, waiting for a sibling: 1st gen. Phantom Silver running DOS1
My Phantom Voyage
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#8
(03-Dec-2016, 09:12)Gremlin Wrote: It would be very interesting if someone would do some blind level matched ABX tests with a wide audience of the different iterations (white, silver, gold) and see if anyone could reliably tell the difference. My money would be on no.

I do not think this is correct. First of all ABX is flawed. Especially comparing loudspeakers. How would you compensate for the obvious problem of placing three pairs of speakers in the same room? Then the amplitude response of Golds is different. You'd hear it immediately. White and Silver is similar so at a normal listening level they might sound about the same, but I believe there is an audible difference there too.
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Devialetless!
Roon, ROCK/Audiolense XO/Music on NAS/EtherRegen/RoPieee/USPCB/ISORegen/USPCB/Sound Devices USBPre2/Tannoy GOLD 8
250 Pro CI, MicroRendu(1.4), Mutec MC-3+USB
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#9
(03-Dec-2016, 04:34)xga Wrote: why you really advice to use it as a PAIR, can you explain ?

The article describes this quite well I think. Most music is produced for stereo. Audiophiles use a two channel setup most of the time (or a main two channel combined with multi channel for movies and surround sound music). The Phantom itself does a good job playing mono, but music recordings sound better and more true to the artist/producer's intent with a pair of speakers.
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Devialetless!
Roon, ROCK/Audiolense XO/Music on NAS/EtherRegen/RoPieee/USPCB/ISORegen/USPCB/Sound Devices USBPre2/Tannoy GOLD 8
250 Pro CI, MicroRendu(1.4), Mutec MC-3+USB
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#10
(03-Dec-2016, 11:20)ogs Wrote:
(03-Dec-2016, 09:12)Gremlin Wrote: It would be very interesting if someone would do some blind level matched ABX tests with a wide audience of the different iterations (white, silver, gold) and see if anyone could reliably tell the difference. My money would be on no.

I do not think this is correct. First of all ABX is flawed. Especially comparing loudspeakers. How would you compensate for the obvious problem of placing three pairs of speakers in the same room? Then the amplitude response of Golds is different. You'd hear it immediately. White and Silver is similar so at a normal listening level they might sound about the same, but I believe there is an audible difference there too.

I disagree. An ABX could be arranged. By stacking the phantoms on on top of each other the delta in placement would be no more than the delta between drivers of a regular speaker. So unless you are able to distinguish by ear the angular difference between two drivers of a speaker which is very unlikely I think the room can be made out of the equation. 

Concerning your second point about the difference of amplitude, this is exactly the kind of difference that you would be expected to be able to pick reliably in an ABX test provided of course that they are level matched, otherwise this is not proper ABX test.

Jean-Marie
MacBook Air M2 -> RAAT/Air -> WiFi -> PLC -> Ethernet -> Devialet 220pro with Core Infinity (upgraded from 120) -> AperturA Armonia
France
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