Phantom Gold brightness

[ogs]

These measurements are difficult to compare of course, but Acourate is certainly trustworthy. Treble is rising a little from 4-5kHz and flat from there. This will make the speaker sound brighter than neutral. In this respect I'd prefer the response from White. I think the measured bass lift is necessary to achieve a subjectively flat response in the bass. If the response was flat Phantoms would probably sound thin. If this was from 15" bass drivers it would most likely be far too much. I still believe Golds are more transparent and for me that would be the deciding factor. I'd use room correction anyway so the amplitude response is not that important. The raw response of my current speakers is terrible, but they sound very good after correction.

[streamy]

I made with both the Silver Phantoms amd the Gold Phantoms measurements using REW and UMIK-1. The Gold Phantoms at my listening position extend more at the very low end compared to the Silvers and are flat from 1kHz to 18KHz, within 5dB. The Silvers have a 2dB/octave fall slope on frequencies above 2kHz. Then they have strange valleys at 12 kHz and 17 kHz. There is also a hiss on the Silver Phantoms much more than on the Golds. So I assume the 'house curve' on the Silvers eeded to be inttroduced due to the limitations of the ASIC integrated circuit that has been improved in the Golds. Those now can go flat. Of course, some prefer a fall slope in the high frequencies. I prefer neutrality. But equalizing on the Phantoms would be great. Roon can provide this, but often at cost of adding some more headroom compared to bitperfect.

[Cyral]

Here's another review: http://www.lesnumeriques.com/platine-mus.../test.html

It's french however, but fairly interesting measurements. There seems to be quite a bit of distortion below 150hz.

[ogs]

Thanks for the link. A brief look reveals that frequency response is not pretty, but the measurement environment is unknown. I guess they use 1 meter distance, but it is not stated. Seems they are using the impulse response measurement to gauge latency. While this is innovative, I'd prefer the addition of a step response to show time response for the speaker. The Audio Precision measurement system they are using can easily display a step response.
Difficult to say really. It would be easier if they had the same set of measurements for the White Phantom.

[streamy]

Here's another review: http://www.lesnumeriques.com/platine-mus.../test.html

It's french however, but fairly interesting measurements. There seems to be quite a bit of distortion below 150hz.

Can you help me to read the harmonic distortion curve? Reading the text (less than 1% above 150 Hz) I interprete harmonic distortion below 150Hz goes to 4%. This would be extraordinary. Normally speakers have about 30-50% harmonic distortion at these low frequencies. What does the y-scale mean 0-10?

[Cyral]

Here's another review: http://www.lesnumeriques.com/platine-mus.../test.html

It's french however, but fairly interesting measurements. There seems to be quite a bit of distortion below 150hz.

Can you help me to read the harmonic distortion curve? Reading the text (less than 1% above 150 Hz) I interprete harmonic distortion below 150Hz goes to 4%. This would be extraordinary. Normally speakers have about 30-50% harmonic distortion at these low frequencies. What does the y-scale mean 0-10?

I'am afraid I can't help you with that. It looks like a percentage scale to me, but the reviewer and comments state that the distortion is quite significant. I'am no expert myself nor french, so only read the translated tekst.

[alandbush]

Here's another review: http://www.lesnumeriques.com/platine-mus.../test.html

It's french however, but fairly interesting measurements. There seems to be quite a bit of distortion below 150hz.

Can you help me to read the harmonic distortion curve? Reading the text (less than 1% above 150 Hz) I interprete harmonic distortion below 150Hz goes to 4%. This would be extraordinary. Normally speakers have about 30-50% harmonic distortion at these low frequencies. What does the y-scale mean 0-10?

I'am afraid I can't help you with that. It looks like a percentage scale to me, but the reviewer and comments state that the distortion is quite significant. I'am no expert myself nor french, so only read the translated tekst.

I interpreted the translation differently reading the distortion as low.

"We can say without exaggeration that Gold Phantom is the most powerful speaker that has passed through our sound lab, with such a low distortion rate (because otherwise, you could quote the Sony GTK-XB7). Bet won for Devialet on this side so ... from 150 Hz. On this side, the distortion remains despite everything present."

If you select the link to the referenced Sony speaker, used for comparison, then you see the high distortion rate you described as normal.

[Cyral]

Can you help me to read the harmonic distortion curve? Reading the text (less than 1% above 150 Hz) I interprete harmonic distortion below 150Hz goes to 4%. This would be extraordinary. Normally speakers have about 30-50% harmonic distortion at these low frequencies. What does the y-scale mean 0-10?

I'am afraid I can't help you with that. It looks like a percentage scale to me, but the reviewer and comments state that the distortion is quite significant. I'am no expert myself nor french, so only read the translated tekst.

I interpreted the translation differently reading the distortion as low.

"We can say without exaggeration that Gold Phantom is the most powerful speaker that has passed through our sound lab, with such a low distortion rate (because otherwise, you could quote the Sony GTK-XB7). Bet won for Devialet on this side so ... from 150 Hz. On this side, the distortion remains despite everything present."

If you select the link to the referenced Sony speaker, used for comparison, then you see the high distortion rate you described as normal.

Yes, I've also read the review about the Sony speaker. 

What I don't get is, that people seem to bash the Phantom for the distortion it has... Maybe they're just overly critical. ( in the comments )

[streamy]

What I don't get is, that people seem to bash the Phantom for the distortion it has... Maybe they're just overly critical. ( in the comments )

People, mainly French audiophiles do not like the PR of Devialet that advertises 0 noise, 0 distortion... This is understandable, 0 does not exist in these parameters. Then others read and have in mind distortion of Amps that are normally very low, or deliberately (harmonic distortion of tube amps) a bit higher, but never that high as dynamic bass whoofers. In my opinion this is where the Phantoms really excell!

[Cyral]

Someone gave a bit more background info regarding the test on : http://www.lesnumeriques.com/platine-mus.../test.html

I've also listed this test: https://www.computeraudiophile.com/ca/re...view-r654/ on that forum. 


'' The graphs in this article ( Computeraudiphile) are in-room listening curves, which provides very little information as they are heavily tainted by the acoustics of the room. I would not use data of this kind to assess a speaker as it can be deeply misleading and does not translate well to different rooms (especially if there are problems with the off-axis response of the speaker). The article also quotes Toole & Olive in a misleading way, because the research quoted (which is very good research by the way) never suggested that using an in-situ listening curve (which is different from a predicted listening curve, which is derived mathematically from anechoic measurements and is therefore completely consistent and reproducible) is a reasonable way to assess a speaker. It is best to use the graph from Les Numériques since it was at least measured in anechoic conditions (or close enough). Even better would be to have anechoic off-axis response information, but I have yet to see it. 
 
So, yes, we are drawing conclusions based on the best information available, which is the anechoic on-axis frequency response measurement from Les Numériques. The article you linked does not provide any information that we don't already have. (Time domain measurements, like the step response, are not useful when it comes to measuring the performance of a speaker from a perceptual standpoint.) ''

In the test of ''Lesnumeriques'' there is a large dip between 2k-10k hz. I find it odd that in the measurements of ''Computeraudiphile'' this dip isn't there, even while they are only in-room measurements.