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Newbie Q on Phantom Optical Input
#1
Newbie here, first post, recently acquired stereo pair of Phantoms.  Would like to use optical from Oppo BD player to the Phantom. Some questions:
  • Is connecting to Dialogue still slower (24/96) than the Phantom (24/192)?
  • Are there still issues with crackling on the Dialogue?
  • Are there optical cables with smaller plugs for the Phantom (access is awkward and tight)
  • With input to 1 phantom, are there still delay issues with playing stereo between left and right?
  • Any difference between using plastic or glass cables?
  • Any cable recommendations...
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#2
Hmmm... Looks like not many people use optical?   Confused Sad
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#3
(25-Feb-2019, 14:19)Snoopy8 Wrote: Hmmm... Looks like not many people use optical?   Confused Sad

I believe quite a few Phantom owners connect optical direct to a Phantom in a stereo pair, but you pose many questions. Many will skip answering because of that...


  • Is connecting to Dialogue still slower (24/96) than the Phantom (24/192)?
  • No, both supports 192kHz
  • Are there still issues with crackling on the Dialogue?
  • Yes
  • Are there optical cables with smaller plugs for the Phantom (access is awkward and tight)
  • See below
  • With input to 1 phantom, are there still delay issues with playing stereo between left and right?
  • No, no issues between L and R
  • Any difference between using plastic or glass cables?
  • See below
  • Any cable recommendations...

If you go to Blue Jeans Cable https://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/dig.../index.htm you'll find info on optical cables. If you specify a small connector for use with Phantom I'm sure they know what to do.
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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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#4
(25-Feb-2019, 16:11)ogs Wrote: [*]Is connecting to Dialogue still slower (24/96) than the Phantom (24/192)?
[*]No, both supports 192kHz

Can you really stream 24/192k to the Dialog. I could do it some years ago, but then after a firmware update maybe in 2016 or 2017 the Dialog got limited to 24/96k in my case. Ihave the latest fw on my Dialog and can’t get 192k playing.
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#5
(23-Feb-2019, 10:43)Snoopy8 Wrote: [*]With input to 1 phantom, are there still delay issues with playing stereo between left and right?

I’m having Phantoms since 2015 and never experienced delays between left and right on any input used. This includes airplay, upnp, optical on Dialog, optical on any Phantom, Spotify connect, or any other streaming service.
You have a delay, but this delay is the same for left and right and is something most if not all streaming systems have. But most system correct for this overall which comes from buffering, i.e. they also delay e.g. the video output or sync multiple paths as e.g. Roon is doing to stay in sync. Only professional systems can keep delays in digital streaming systems very close to 0. They use proprietary network protocols and often need special hw chips like Dante.
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#6
(25-Feb-2019, 19:15)streamy Wrote: Can you really stream 24/192k to the Dialog. I could do it some years ago, but then after a firmware update maybe in 2016 or 2017 the Dialog got limited to 24/96k in my case. Ihave the latest fw on my Dialog and can’t get 192k playing.

I wasn't aware of that. Sorry for misleading... direct to a Phantom is still 192kHz?
Let's hope RAAT is coming to Dialog. If Devialet can fix a few bugs at the same time as they release the RAAT firmware....
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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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#7
(25-Feb-2019, 20:19)ogs Wrote: I wasn't aware of that. Sorry for misleading... direct to a Phantom is still 192kHz?
Let's hope RAAT is coming to Dialog. If Devialet can fix a few bugs at the same time as they release the RAAT firmware....
Yes, 24/192k works well on the optical input of the Phantoms. The optically fed in signal is then sent to the Dialog and from there distributed to all the chosen Phantoms in the generated configurations (left, right, or mix) of the different ‘rooms’. That is the name for what in Roon for example is called ‘zones’. This transfer and distribution takes about 160ms in time due to bufferings, which I consider very performant compared to the recommended buffering of 500ms in Roon or the 2s in Apple’s airplay or in Spotify connect. But we have many here in this forum that complain about this delay, I think mainly due to missing technical understanding of how packet transmission of data and reception acknowledgment works in digital systems.
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#8
Thank you for your replies. Good to get a better understanding of the ins and outs of using optical cabling.

It is a pity that the Dialog can only do 24/96 because it seems to be logical connection point, without the tight access like into the phantoms. Has Devialet ever explained why they throttled back the Dialog? While I would prefer it was 24/194, I suspect that the quality of the cable has a more material impact on the audio quality than the higher resolution.
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