28-Feb-2016, 18:45
(This post was last modified: 28-Feb-2016, 19:01 by stonedragon.)
Hi guys I've just come back from the Bristol Hifi show, where Devialet were demonstrating the phantom.
I have good news and bad news for all Phantom owners.
The bad news.
The demonstrations were lack lustre and poorly executed.
I cannot believe a company that can spend so much money on a product, have a marketing department that come up with so hype to fill a stadium, are incapable of putting on a decent show. Okay so it was a small room on the first floor manned by two staff. One on front door duties, giving away leaflets and bags (I imagine a hired hand - pulled in for the event) and the actual organ grinder - a chap very knowledgeable about the product and from HQ in France. My first problem was language. Although he could speak English very well, with the background noise from the music playing, he was very difficult to understand. However, I did manage to ask a few questions about Spark and he reckoned there were 20 developers working on it. I'm inclined to take that figure with a pinch of salt. He also said there would not be a 5.1 setup since the Phantom does not need bass. The final configuration would more likely be 4.0 - make of that as you will. So in the true sense, I doubt the phantom will ever be a purist home cinema option, with a dedicated channel to process the extra bass channel. He also hinted there may be more colour options, black in particular down the line.
As for the actual demonstration, from what I heard, had I been somebody expecting to hear something that is x10 better from the price point, I would have been disappointed. In fact there was nothing in the demonstration that screamed at me, to say it was any better than what was playing in other rooms. Why? Well for starters the music choice was poor. Second the room was claustrophobic. Third, the demonstration was not a solo act. They also had the Expert range demonstrated with some other speakers (forget the brand), so they were switching between the two and you never knew what you were listening to. Fourth, the presentation was not slick or polished. It was very much like all the other rooms (with the exception of B&W, KEF, Wilson Benesch and Arcam) where it was just a farrago of music play back, with people asking questions on the back drop of loud music that didn't sound that good.
For a company of that size, I would have expected a presentation like one of the companies I mentioned or similar but on a larger scale to the demos they had going in Harrods, when I saw them last year. In other words, a formulated presentation. So there should have been a careful selection of music to display the talents of the speakers for all types of music, followed by some home theatre stuff. Finally there should have been a 'quiet' period at the end of each demo, where questions could have been fielded by the actual personnel from France, from the various departments and of course some kind of incentive to buy. That was the format followed by all the 'BIG' boys I've mentioned and it was really effective, slick and polished. But what you had instead, was like some kind of 'cooked up' start up presenting the wares and not a company that spent 20 million in Euros in developing the product and that ships globally. Very disappointing. Even my missus came away with the same impression. Devialet you have to do better!!!
The Good News.
I have no buyers remorse. Despite Devialet's best effort to show the Phantoms in the worse light, there really was nothing at the show that could touch them.
Its the first time that I've been to the HiFi show, and have come away without thinking, I wish I had that bit of so and so kit... I didn't even come away with any brochures. I am and remain very pleased with my purchase.
To give you an example of what I mean. I heard James Blake's 'Limit to your love' on the new B&W 802D, connected to Cabasse monoblocks with a Cabasse source streamer (and not to mention the cables). Total setup circa £35K. All I can say is that the Devialet's would make that setup blush. They had the volume turned up to about -16 (that is from -100) so at a considerable level, although I don't know how that would equate with our volume that goes the opposite way from 0 to 100. In any case, if you know the track, when the bass kicks in, the air should be charged and you should be engulfed by what I can only describe as a 'sonic boom' (although the bass is not boomy - if you know what I mean). What I experienced was £35K of kit struggling. There was absolutely nothing coming out of the 802D approaching anything like that which comes out of the Phantom. The same was true, when I heard the Kef, going through some Moon audio amplification. This time £65K worth of kit using the Kef R series. They were playing some Massive Attack and the 'Angel' track at about -16. By the way KEF had flown the owner of Moon over from Canada to give part of the presentation. Now we only have the English Channel between us and Devialet, so what is the excuse for the representatives of Devialet not appearing at Britain’s biggest hifi show?
O by the way, the single most amazing track I heard of the day was 'Poem of Chinese Drum' by Hok-man Yim. This is Chinese drumming and I reckon THE best demonstration for what the Phantoms are capable of. This is because unlike synthesised music, this is REAL bass from musical instruments - the drums. Oh my!!!. Be ready to literally get assaulted by this piece. I heard them on the B&W's yesterday and as soon as I got home, I listened to them on the Phantoms. This piece sounded fantastic on the B&W's but on our Phantoms, they are literally light years ahead. The power and slam (at 55) is unbelievable.
As a wrap up. Devialet demonstration 3/10. Phantom as Hifi 9/10. On the basis of what I heard yesterday, I don't know how far up in price point you would have to go to match them - but they punch well above their weight and had the demos been set up correctly, they would leave all their competitors thinking 'where do we go from here'?
And lastly, pickup that track I mentioned and be prepared to really show off what the Phantoms are all about!!
I have good news and bad news for all Phantom owners.
The bad news.
The demonstrations were lack lustre and poorly executed.
I cannot believe a company that can spend so much money on a product, have a marketing department that come up with so hype to fill a stadium, are incapable of putting on a decent show. Okay so it was a small room on the first floor manned by two staff. One on front door duties, giving away leaflets and bags (I imagine a hired hand - pulled in for the event) and the actual organ grinder - a chap very knowledgeable about the product and from HQ in France. My first problem was language. Although he could speak English very well, with the background noise from the music playing, he was very difficult to understand. However, I did manage to ask a few questions about Spark and he reckoned there were 20 developers working on it. I'm inclined to take that figure with a pinch of salt. He also said there would not be a 5.1 setup since the Phantom does not need bass. The final configuration would more likely be 4.0 - make of that as you will. So in the true sense, I doubt the phantom will ever be a purist home cinema option, with a dedicated channel to process the extra bass channel. He also hinted there may be more colour options, black in particular down the line.
As for the actual demonstration, from what I heard, had I been somebody expecting to hear something that is x10 better from the price point, I would have been disappointed. In fact there was nothing in the demonstration that screamed at me, to say it was any better than what was playing in other rooms. Why? Well for starters the music choice was poor. Second the room was claustrophobic. Third, the demonstration was not a solo act. They also had the Expert range demonstrated with some other speakers (forget the brand), so they were switching between the two and you never knew what you were listening to. Fourth, the presentation was not slick or polished. It was very much like all the other rooms (with the exception of B&W, KEF, Wilson Benesch and Arcam) where it was just a farrago of music play back, with people asking questions on the back drop of loud music that didn't sound that good.
For a company of that size, I would have expected a presentation like one of the companies I mentioned or similar but on a larger scale to the demos they had going in Harrods, when I saw them last year. In other words, a formulated presentation. So there should have been a careful selection of music to display the talents of the speakers for all types of music, followed by some home theatre stuff. Finally there should have been a 'quiet' period at the end of each demo, where questions could have been fielded by the actual personnel from France, from the various departments and of course some kind of incentive to buy. That was the format followed by all the 'BIG' boys I've mentioned and it was really effective, slick and polished. But what you had instead, was like some kind of 'cooked up' start up presenting the wares and not a company that spent 20 million in Euros in developing the product and that ships globally. Very disappointing. Even my missus came away with the same impression. Devialet you have to do better!!!
The Good News.
I have no buyers remorse. Despite Devialet's best effort to show the Phantoms in the worse light, there really was nothing at the show that could touch them.
Its the first time that I've been to the HiFi show, and have come away without thinking, I wish I had that bit of so and so kit... I didn't even come away with any brochures. I am and remain very pleased with my purchase.
To give you an example of what I mean. I heard James Blake's 'Limit to your love' on the new B&W 802D, connected to Cabasse monoblocks with a Cabasse source streamer (and not to mention the cables). Total setup circa £35K. All I can say is that the Devialet's would make that setup blush. They had the volume turned up to about -16 (that is from -100) so at a considerable level, although I don't know how that would equate with our volume that goes the opposite way from 0 to 100. In any case, if you know the track, when the bass kicks in, the air should be charged and you should be engulfed by what I can only describe as a 'sonic boom' (although the bass is not boomy - if you know what I mean). What I experienced was £35K of kit struggling. There was absolutely nothing coming out of the 802D approaching anything like that which comes out of the Phantom. The same was true, when I heard the Kef, going through some Moon audio amplification. This time £65K worth of kit using the Kef R series. They were playing some Massive Attack and the 'Angel' track at about -16. By the way KEF had flown the owner of Moon over from Canada to give part of the presentation. Now we only have the English Channel between us and Devialet, so what is the excuse for the representatives of Devialet not appearing at Britain’s biggest hifi show?
O by the way, the single most amazing track I heard of the day was 'Poem of Chinese Drum' by Hok-man Yim. This is Chinese drumming and I reckon THE best demonstration for what the Phantoms are capable of. This is because unlike synthesised music, this is REAL bass from musical instruments - the drums. Oh my!!!. Be ready to literally get assaulted by this piece. I heard them on the B&W's yesterday and as soon as I got home, I listened to them on the Phantoms. This piece sounded fantastic on the B&W's but on our Phantoms, they are literally light years ahead. The power and slam (at 55) is unbelievable.
As a wrap up. Devialet demonstration 3/10. Phantom as Hifi 9/10. On the basis of what I heard yesterday, I don't know how far up in price point you would have to go to match them - but they punch well above their weight and had the demos been set up correctly, they would leave all their competitors thinking 'where do we go from here'?
And lastly, pickup that track I mentioned and be prepared to really show off what the Phantoms are all about!!
