My Silver Phantoms one year later

[peramos]

After one year and a couple of months with my pair of silver phantoms, I just want to state they have been one of the best purchases I've made in my life. They are not perfect, they have their flaws, notably software flaws, limited flexibility in some departments, a bit of decoloration of the white near the tweeters, too many reconfigurations needed, etc, ... but when it comes to sound quality I am so very very happy with them. 

There was a huge hype one year back and a lot of talk about what the phantoms could do in comparison with much more expensive equipment. I think this discussion is over now. To get better sound than the phantoms you need to spend over 20.000 euros or way more. This is something most of the hifi dealers I've talked to agree with now  without hesitation. 

This past week-end there's been a hifi fair in my home town. And I've had the chance of auditioning much more expensive configurations. I can say a few at the 30.000+ euros price point or even way beyond (one at least)  sounded clearly worst than my phantoms. 

I am not sure what the gold phantoms would add in terms of refinement and overall sound quality, but I think I will stick with my silvers for a while. They deserve it. I have enjoyed them so much in the past 14 months. Devialet seems to me is the only company presently equipped to keep innovating disruptively in the hifi space. Well done!

[stonedragon]

Peramos I totally agree. I went to the HiFi show in Bristol earlier this year (after a year of ownership) and it is the first time I've come away feeling that there was nowhere else to really go. The Phantoms are so dammed good.    

Are the Phantoms perfect. No. But at this price point and much higher you would be hard pressed to find something better. Because of the sound quality and form factor  it makes them a no-brainer. The only way forward as I see it, is better software. The sound is a killer, they create a sound stage in a way that my B&W 803D's simply could not manage. Except for the most fastidious critic, they are good enough for 99% of people, audiophiles or otherwise in my humble opinion.

Well done Devialet :-)

[angenet]

Peramos I totally agree. I went to the HiFi show in Bristol earlier this year (after a year of ownership) and it is the first time I've come away feeling that there was nowhere else to really go. The Phantoms are so dammed good.    

Are the Phantoms perfect. No. But at this price point and much higher you would be hard pressed to find something better. Because of the sound quality and form factor  it makes them a no-brainer. The only way forward as I see it, is better software. The sound is a killer, they create a sound stage in a way that my B&W 803D's simply could not manage. Except for the most fastidious critic, they are good enough for 99% of people, audiophiles or otherwise in my humble opinion.

Well done Devialet :-)

Totally agree with both post..

I must add that my Phantom truly help me to rediscover my music collection.

Exvellent work Devialet

[trashken]

Phantoms have stopped me from looking at hardware and buying more music instead. Thanks Devialet.

[Johnnydev]

Phantoms have stopped me from looking at hardware and buying more music instead. Thanks Devialet.

By me the same and i think i like the sound of the silvers more then the golds

[JohnnySix]

For me, my White Phantoms didn't convey the vocal reality and venue ambience that my quite modest £5K system could offer (D120+£1K floorstanders). I did a LOT of comparison, listening 3 days with one and then the other for about 2 weeks. Phantoms are MASSIVELY dynamic and impressive at their price point, and magnificent for A/V.
But as I've said elsewhere, I can't help feeling our opinions about their absolute performance are amplified by the novelty of their size. (And yes, I DO treat Phantoms like any other quality speaker, well out into the room on solid Partington stands).

I will say this though - one shouldn't judge them using music piped through the Dialog Optical Input. Annoyingly, I found Spark-source music narrowed the gap in the qualities I described above (i.e. TCP/IP-only audio path), but I hate using that program instead of my JRiver Media Center!

[martinskeem]

Annoyingly, I found Spark-source music narrowed the gap in the qualities I described above (i.e. TCP/IP-only audio path), but I hate using that program instead of my JRiver Media Center!

I fail to understand why music transferred digitally one way would be better than another as long as compression of source material is not involved... ? To my understanding, either the 1s and 0s are transferred or they aren't.



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[MountainGuy]

Martinskeem, as a former EE, I understand your point. However, the reality is that there is a difference for reasons beyond just bits and bytes. Many can hear them.

[martinskeem]

Martinskeem, as a former EE, I understand your point. However, the reality is that there is a difference for reasons beyond just bits and bytes. Many can hear them.

I just don't see where that difference could possibly be introduced and definitely can't tell the difference myself. Would be interesting to see it ABX tested by someone who believes that there's a difference.

[Gremlin]

Agreed, Martin! There can be no difference. Doesn't seem to stop people imagining it though.

A good reason to stop reading people's subjective opinions and look at the measurements, I think.

But where are the independently made and professional measurements for the Phantoms?

After all, Devialet make all sorts of measuremently-ish claims, but there seems to be no follow though in terms of who they get to review them.

Mostly idiots who go on about how loud they go.