Developping a stereo system replacing spark + dialog

[Keind23]

Yes you're right... Although it may not be a big deal for movies, I guess it could be worth buying a Dialog on top, to be fully digital for stereo.

In that case, I would connect the ADC out into the Dialog (and will save some optical cables)? But I guess I would lose the optical direct option? Would that work?

Trickier than I thought in the end...

[ogs]

A: There is a Direct Optical Mode with very low latency, but no control over volume as the operating software is bypassed - the Phantom just plays what it gets in optical input.

Joachim showed me the following procedure to engage this mode:
1: launch Phantom app (not Spark)
2: restart Phantom (3 clicks)
3: pair Phantom with app
4: on app, tap ten times between “mute” and “night” icons
5: select Optical Direct mode
6: select channel (L/R/mix)
7: select max. output level 0dB/-12dB

How do you control the volume at the end ?
Does it disable the Bluetooth ?

This is going to be my test solution using direct optical:

• As I don't have an issue with running cables, both phantoms will be set to L or R using above procedure.
  
• The optical feeds from each Phantom will be fed from an optical splitter (https://www.cablechick.com.au/cables/ave...itter.html)
  
• The input to the optical splitter will be from a Yamaha WXC-50
  

I want to have a go at this solution for a few reasons:

• I'm so over the Spark app
  
• Although input selection is on auto - it often gets confused
  
• Desperately want to get rid of the face cream remote control - on to my second one now which has also had a repair job. They just aren't very robust in a family environment
  
• Speaking of family - they all hate having a second remote for just the Phantom volume management. Constantly get asked why our universal remote wont control them - try explaining that one!!!
  
• I love a good sounding system - but I'm no audiophile - thus I only have the whites and a dialog. System does both music and TV - therefore needs to be family friendly
  
• Because I'm not an audiophile, I'm happy to see how the volume control goes in the digital domain within the WXC-50. They can be set to either a pre-amp mode or player mode. Pre-amp mode gives you 48bit resolution volume control in the digital output.
  

If I had realised how family-unfriendly the Phantom setup was, would have done something else maybe. BUT - I do love the sound quality from such a compact setup.

So waiting on my WXC-50 to arrive. Will let you know how I go.

Great! Please tell us what sample rates the optical splitter supports. As this is an active device it's probably different from the passive (mirror based) two-way splitters which are more common.

[jcd1877]

How do you control the volume at the end ?
Does it disable the Bluetooth ?

This is going to be my test solution using direct optical:

• As I don't have an issue with running cables, both phantoms will be set to L or R using above procedure.
  
• The optical feeds from each Phantom will be fed from an optical splitter (https://www.cablechick.com.au/cables/ave...itter.html)
  
• The input to the optical splitter will be from a Yamaha WXC-50
  

I want to have a go at this solution for a few reasons:

• I'm so over the Spark app
  
• Although input selection is on auto - it often gets confused
  
• Desperately want to get rid of the face cream remote control - on to my second one now which has also had a repair job. They just aren't very robust in a family environment
  
• Speaking of family - they all hate having a second remote for just the Phantom volume management. Constantly get asked why our universal remote wont control them - try explaining that one!!!
  
• I love a good sounding system - but I'm no audiophile - thus I only have the whites and a dialog. System does both music and TV - therefore needs to be family friendly
  
• Because I'm not an audiophile, I'm happy to see how the volume control goes in the digital domain within the WXC-50. They can be set to either a pre-amp mode or player mode. Pre-amp mode gives you 48bit resolution volume control in the digital output.
  

If I had realised how family-unfriendly the Phantom setup was, would have done something else maybe. BUT - I do love the sound quality from such a compact setup.

So waiting on my WXC-50 to arrive. Will let you know how I go.

Great! Please tell us what sample rates the optical splitter supports. As this is an active device it's probably different from the passive (mirror based) two-way splitters which are more common.

Spec sheet states a throughput of 16Mbits/s. I believe 24/192 files run an at 9.6. So plenty of capacity. But will check in the real world when all up and running

[Malmbak]

Hi, this is a great thread. I'm very excited to maybe be able to bypass Spark and my Golds altogether.

Is this possible with the "hidden mode" and the optical splitter: to have a phono preamp with volume control go into a Bluesound Node 2i and connect that to my Golds with an optical splitter? Can I then control the volume of my turntable from the phono preamp and the volume from my streaming via the Node 2i?

I am trying to turn the two Golds into a pair of dumb active monitors with fixed volume....

[Hifi_swlon]

A: There is a Direct Optical Mode with very low latency, but no control over volume as the operating software is bypassed - the Phantom just plays what it gets in optical input.

Joachim showed me the following procedure to engage this mode:
1: launch Phantom app (not Spark)
2: restart Phantom (3 clicks)
3: pair Phantom with app
4: on app, tap ten times between “mute” and “night” icons
5: select Optical Direct mode
6: select channel (L/R/mix)
7: select max. output level 0dB/-12dB

How do you control the volume at the end ?
Does it disable the Bluetooth ?

This is going to be my test solution using direct optical:

• As I don't have an issue with running cables, both phantoms will be set to L or R using above procedure.
  
• The optical feeds from each Phantom will be fed from an optical splitter (https://www.cablechick.com.au/cables/ave...itter.html)
  
• The input to the optical splitter will be from a Yamaha WXC-50
  

I want to have a go at this solution for a few reasons:

• I'm so over the Spark app
  
• Although input selection is on auto - it often gets confused
  
• Desperately want to get rid of the face cream remote control - on to my second one now which has also had a repair job. They just aren't very robust in a family environment
  
• Speaking of family - they all hate having a second remote for just the Phantom volume management. Constantly get asked why our universal remote wont control them - try explaining that one!!!
  
• I love a good sounding system - but I'm no audiophile - thus I only have the whites and a dialog. System does both music and TV - therefore needs to be family friendly
  
• Because I'm not an audiophile, I'm happy to see how the volume control goes in the digital domain within the WXC-50. They can be set to either a pre-amp mode or player mode. Pre-amp mode gives you 48bit resolution volume control in the digital output.
  

If I had realised how family-unfriendly the Phantom setup was, would have done something else maybe. BUT - I do love the sound quality from such a compact setup.

So waiting on my WXC-50 to arrive. Will let you know how I go.

48 bits of volume should be ample if implemented decently.
Many recording studios run active monitors full power while controlling the input volume digitally (as well as analogue often). Probably many are using 48bit or less. But what’s good enough for the studios that create the master source files, often isn’t good enough for audiophiles.....

Am really interested to hear how this works out.

[andreas]

does this hack make it possible to play multiple golds? Normally optical only allows for 1 gold at a time.

[jcd1877]

How do you control the volume at the end ?
Does it disable the Bluetooth ?

This is going to be my test solution using direct optical:

• As I don't have an issue with running cables, both phantoms will be set to L or R using above procedure.
  
• The optical feeds from each Phantom will be fed from an optical splitter (https://www.cablechick.com.au/cables/ave...itter.html)
  
• The input to the optical splitter will be from a Yamaha WXC-50
  

I want to have a go at this solution for a few reasons:

• I'm so over the Spark app
  
• Although input selection is on auto - it often gets confused
  
• Desperately want to get rid of the face cream remote control - on to my second one now which has also had a repair job. They just aren't very robust in a family environment
  
• Speaking of family - they all hate having a second remote for just the Phantom volume management. Constantly get asked why our universal remote wont control them - try explaining that one!!!
  
• I love a good sounding system - but I'm no audiophile - thus I only have the whites and a dialog. System does both music and TV - therefore needs to be family friendly
  
• Because I'm not an audiophile, I'm happy to see how the volume control goes in the digital domain within the WXC-50. They can be set to either a pre-amp mode or player mode. Pre-amp mode gives you 48bit resolution volume control in the digital output.
  

If I had realised how family-unfriendly the Phantom setup was, would have done something else maybe. BUT - I do love the sound quality from such a compact setup.

So waiting on my WXC-50 to arrive. Will let you know how I go.

48 bits of volume should be ample if implemented decently.
Many recording studios run active monitors full power while controlling the input volume digitally (as well as analogue often). Probably many are using 48bit or less. But what’s good enough for the studios that create the master source files, often isn’t good enough for audiophiles.....

Am really interested to hear how this works out.

Finally got the whole system up and running and all god so far.

I'm experimenting a little with the different volume settings. The direct optical mode has three of which I tried the 0dB initially. Found that the overall volume was a bit too low. Have reset the phantoms to +12dB and this is much better.

At the same time, found the WXC-50 has options to adjust various input volumes, so still a bit of fine tuning to get the right settings in play.

I was also worried about how the active optical splitter would work and if there would be any time differences in the two streams. But all is good with stereo imaging just as good a before 

The best thing is that the wife is happy to finally have all functions back on the one remote!!!

So this solution is great if you have a stereo setup with the ability to run fibre to the Phantoms. Mine is all set up on a long TV cabinet, so an easy install.

All in all, very happy with the final outcome.

[daibaron]

No need to reinvent the wheel.
Great players already exists and cheaper solution around the RPI + Tos-link DAC work quite well.
Spark is not a good player but is indeed required to control the Phantom and i don't see how we can get rid of it.
Specially when you need to switch the audio profile from optical to Bluetooth.
Phantom's DLNA compatibility is not great that why using Tos-link output is needed.