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Jeff Fritz on Phantom @ CES
#11
(09-Jan-2015, 12:42)Jean-Marie Wrote: Therefore yes, I would not be surprised that people having to choose between an Ensemble and a pair of Phantom would actually choose the Phantoms from a pure SQ perspective.

Wow! Things are starting to get interesting...  Big Grin 

Guillaume
Industry disclosure: UK distributor for Shunyata Research

220 PRO, totaldac d1 server with additional external power supply, totaldac d1-seven, Echole PSU for Totaldac, Wilson Audio Sasha 2, Shunyata Research cables, Shunyata Hydra Alpha A10 + DPC-6 v3, Various Entreq ground boxes and cables, Entreq Athena level 3 rack, 2 X SOtM sNH-10G with sCLK-EX + 10MHz Master Clock input + sPS-500 PSU, i5 sonicTransporter w/ 1TB SSD

UK
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#12
That is interesting - says my Ensemble system of Hampshire..

If I can push TV audio into it then I may consider selling.

Rik
Devialet Ensemble

Hampshire, UK
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#13
Photo 
(09-Jan-2015, 13:32)GuillaumeB Wrote:
(09-Jan-2015, 12:42)Jean-Marie Wrote: Therefore yes, I would not be surprised that people having to choose between an Ensemble and a pair of Phantom would actually choose the Phantoms from a pure SQ perspective.

Wow! Things are starting to get interesting...  Big Grin 

Guillaume
[Image: 6802655619_94bfb76881_b.jpg]

Sonos Connect (W4S) > DSpeaker Antimode 2.0 > Sanders Magtech > Martin Logan Montis
Sonos Connect (W4S) > Devialet 200 > Vivid V1.5
Silver Phantoms (just the two)
London
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#14
(09-Jan-2015, 15:02)Jwg1749 Wrote:
(09-Jan-2015, 13:32)GuillaumeB Wrote:
(09-Jan-2015, 12:42)Jean-Marie Wrote: Therefore yes, I would not be surprised that people having to choose between an Ensemble and a pair of Phantom would actually choose the Phantoms from a pure SQ perspective.

Wow! Things are starting to get interesting...  Big Grin 

Guillaume
[Image: 6802655619_94bfb76881_b.jpg]

Brilliant Matt!  Big Grin Big Grin Big Grin Tongue 

Guillaume
Industry disclosure: UK distributor for Shunyata Research

220 PRO, totaldac d1 server with additional external power supply, totaldac d1-seven, Echole PSU for Totaldac, Wilson Audio Sasha 2, Shunyata Research cables, Shunyata Hydra Alpha A10 + DPC-6 v3, Various Entreq ground boxes and cables, Entreq Athena level 3 rack, 2 X SOtM sNH-10G with sCLK-EX + 10MHz Master Clock input + sPS-500 PSU, i5 sonicTransporter w/ 1TB SSD

UK
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#15
It is nothing out of the ordinary for the new product to be cheaper and better than the old product. The thing is, the Ensemble is still a very new product?
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#16
(09-Jan-2015, 14:20)rik Wrote: That is interesting - says my Ensemble system of Hampshire..

If I can push TV audio into it then I may consider selling.

Rik

Yes, you can "push TV" through the toslink optical input.

Connectivity (from the Phantom white paper)
---------------------------------------------------
Dual-band Wi-Fi (a/b/g/n 2.4 GHz & 5 GHz)
Ethernet RJ-45 10/100/1000 Mbps (Gigabit)
PLC Homeplug AV2
Toslink optical input (TV, blu-ray, video games console, ...)
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#17
I think I would be tempted to keep my Ensemble for a year or two. It is a very competent system, and no doubt Phantom #2 and #3 will be out soon with vast improvements......

Or to put it another way, I'd let the early adopters of Phantom work through any bugs or reliability issues, whilst enjoying glorious music on my Ensamble.
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#18
Sharing a few photos: https://flic.kr/s/aHsk6VNVV6

Sorry, not sure how to embed/upload here.
Devialet 1000 Pro Core Infinity, Magico M3, Nordost Frey 2 speaker cable, PS Audio P15 Power Plant, Shunyata Alpha EF AC cable, Mac Mini running ROON.
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#19
Sad 
Sorry, but I think the stands are... terrible. They don't look exclusive at all, rather like something IKEA would come up with. [Image: huh.gif]

But thanks for the upload...
Devialet Expert 1000 Pro CI / Magico A1 / ROON Nucleus w Farad Super 3 / Innuos Phoenix NET / Torus RM 16 / Acrolink Mexcel 7N-S 9000
Wireworld digital and power cables / Harmonix tuning feet / SMT acoustic 
treatment
- SWEDEN -
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#20
(09-Jan-2015, 05:22)flohmann Wrote: I stopped by at CES today and spent a few minutes listening to the Phantoms. My impressions:

#1: They are beautiful. Like few other high-end audio items, these are really beautiful objects. But, thanks to the shape and brilliant white and chrome color scheme, they won't suit every interior. Like some other European speakers (some of which I have owned), these are better suited to a more modern and minimalist aesthetic. That's not a criticism, merely an observation.

#2: They sound very good. I heard them both with music and in a home theater set up, but not with familiar program material. As everyone has said, the sound is very full, with truly impressive bass (wow, the woofer covers really dance around in a very visible way!). On the one hand, there are several speakers that sound better at the $4k price point. But, of course, those speakers require amplifiers, DACs, and cabling. Once you start trying to compare system cost, well, the whole thought experiment begins to fall apart. Once you imagine an integrated/DAC (perhaps something from Peachtree or Hegel) plus pair of speakers (PSB? GoldenEar?), you're talking about something that seems altogether different from a pair of Phantoms, likely to appeal to very different listeners.

#3: It's a luxury lifestyle product. Now, before you all get upset, I don't mean that as an insult. But this product really isn't for traditional high-end audio customers. To put it plainly, it's more like the original B&W Zeppelin or Sonos than it is like Joseph Audio or DeVore (to name two great sounding speaker demos I heard at CES). And that is probably a good thing, because it should open up the hobby and industry to new customers (altho very well-heeled customers -- how many non-audiophiles consider spending $4k for speakers plus $700 for stands?).

#4: Integration and UX is hard to demo. Even after talking to the very helpful staffers at the demo, I must admit I don't really understand how all the pieces fit together -- Phantom, Dialog, existing digital sources (NAS, cloud, iTunes), and control interfaces (Spark, Sonos, other existing Android and iOS music apps, etc). Devialet is not to be blamed for this -- it's simply a mess out there, and very hard to predict how it will all integrate in your house and with your existing sources. This really strikes me as the weak link in the value proposition -- who will want to spend $10k to outfit a house with multiple Phantoms without knowing how all the past, present, and future digital music offerings will work together, and whether it will be fun an easy (as opposed to troubleshooting your PC at work)?

Thank you for great input! [Image: smile.gif]
Devialet Expert 1000 Pro CI / Magico A1 / ROON Nucleus w Farad Super 3 / Innuos Phoenix NET / Torus RM 16 / Acrolink Mexcel 7N-S 9000
Wireworld digital and power cables / Harmonix tuning feet / SMT acoustic 
treatment
- SWEDEN -
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