Phantom Gold - valve like treble

[Jamington2004]

Had my first good listening session for a while and am in love with the treble on vocals  / cymbals etc. It sounds so smooth and silky the only way I can think to describe it is “valve / tube like”

But no vinyl / tube stage / valve anything here - just streaming through a shed load of digital cables and into the phantoms!!  (iPhone to chromecast audio into optical switch out to Dspeaker Anti-Mode our to dialogue, power line to Phantoms)

Not had extensive valve experience would anyone agree with that description of the wonderful treble these speakers have?

Cheers
Jamie

[antilles]

The term that always comes to mind with them for me is ‘etched’. ‘Valve-like’ is probably more how I would think of Dynaudio: smooth, musical but with a tendency towards the ‘dark’ end of things.

One thing the Golds’ possess is an exceptionally smooth frequency response all the way up the curve. The absence of harsh ‘glaring’ peaks could be what you’re enjoying so much.

[Jamington2004]

Interesting reply thanks. Yes definitely only the upper edge I was trying to compare with valves. I just remember years back having a wow moment with vinyl through a tube phono stage and hybrid amp and seem to remember it was a similarly smooth silky sound with cymbals and giving voices a sparkly edge

Thanks for the explanation on frequency response - makes sense

But yes overall the golds are as far from dark or laid back as you can get IMHO

I don’t care for reviews these days but it made me laugh when I read the golds compared to Bose / lifestyle toys for rich people in a discussion about Kii 3 / Dutch & Dutch. Quite possibly they aren’t quite as good as kii three but hundreds of other hifi products aren’t either but doesn’t mean they aren’t still great hifi

I guess Devialet have their styling and marketing to blame for the impression a lot of people have. Plus most of the reviews out there are for single speakers and in computer / gadget magazines

[Snoopy8]

I guess Devialet have their styling and marketing to blame for the impression a lot of people have. Plus most of the reviews out there are for single speakers and in computer / gadget  magazines

I agree that Devialet carry a lot of blame for not marketing the stereo pair enough; seems like an after thought.  There are not many reviews that look at the stereo pair.  The third problem is the retailer.  Most have a single one, my auditon was tucked into a corner.  When I asked the shop that I bought from why there was no stereo setup, the answer was that they had one, but customers usually look for one, which points back to poor Devialet's marketing.

Back to topic, previously I had a valve preamp feeding active speakers.  The valves added warmth.  The Golds provide a similar sound but with a superb sound stage.  The pair of Golds are set up on stands and positioned correctly in room and running Minimserver with convolution.  I despair when I see photos of Phantoms sitting on a bench, table or tucked into a corner which do not allow them to shine.  Another fail for Devialet's marketing...

[Jamington2004]

Nice so not just me feeling the tubiness then

Yeah I guess position is key with all that bass bouncing off to both sides and the rear

I use mine through a Dspeaker Anti-Mode which calms down a massive bass hump at about 50hz - I don’t have much choice on placement (not that I know it’s due to that - could just be the room in general)

[ragwo]

I don’t care for reviews these days but it made me laugh when I read the golds compared to Bose / lifestyle toys for rich people in a discussion about Kii 3 / Dutch & Dutch. Quite possibly they aren’t quite as good as kii three but hundreds of other hifi products aren’t either but doesn’t mean they aren’t still great hifi

I guess Devialet have their styling and marketing to blame for the impression a lot of people have. Plus most of the reviews out there are for single speakers and in computer / gadget  magazines

I totally agree with you. Comparing Kii Three and Phantom Gold is like comparing apples and oranges. A pair of Kii Three's is double the price of a pair of Gold's and you need a streamer and preferably the Control to get the same usability. A decent streamer and the Control is at least another €2000. In my opinion the Kii Three beats the Gold hands down in every way except for sheer volume. The Gold's are still exceptional value for money and I definitely don't regret buying them. I don't regret buying the Kii Three's either.

A single Gold Phantom review in a gadget magazine is not worth reading and has no credibility in my opinion. Why Devialet allows such reviews is beyond my imagination.

[Jamington2004]

Wow you lucky boy! I also read you have to connect the Kii together with an Ethernet cable? Another plus for the connectivity / wizardry of the Phantom and dialogue

Plus of course the Star Wars good looks which is the only thing that got me considering them in the first place as I had been looking for some space age spherical speakers for years! Well that and Devialets outrageous marketing claims - I am sucker for fancy looks and good marketing

I saw an old ad for half price kii three with controller - I would have been sorely tempted at that price, but zero chance in the next few years of me spending another £8k on top of the what I would get for the Phantoms

Wow just saw the Kii Three BXT as well. Shame I need a house.... 

Bloody kids!

[Snoopy8]

Yeah I guess position is key with all that bass bouncing off to both sides and the rear

I use mine through a Dspeaker Anti-Mode which calms down a massive bass hump at about 50hz - I don’t have much choice on placement (not that I know it’s due to that - could just be the room in general)

Changing the position of the speakers and listening position can help reduce some small humps. Your big hump is a room mode due to the physical dimensions of the room.  I did look at the DSpeaker X4 but found that optical input on the Golds was not as good as UPnP. Am using Minimserver with convolution.

A single Gold Phantom review in a gadget magazine is not worth reading and has no credibility in my opinion. Why Devialet allows such reviews is beyond my imagination.

Unfortunately, most people buy them as lifestyle singles.

[eniriop]

Had my first good listening session for a while and am in love with the treble on vocals  / cymbals etc. It sounds so smooth and silky the only way I can think to describe it is “valve / tube like”

But no vinyl / tube stage / valve anything here - just streaming through a shed load of digital cables and into the phantoms!!  (iPhone to chromecast audio into optical switch out to Dspeaker Anti-Mode our to dialogue, power line to Phantoms)

Not had extensive valve experience would anyone agree with that description of the wonderful treble these speakers have?

Cheers
Jamie

 I agree with this. My old system is a tube amp with two tall high efficiency horn speakers with big dual boomers. 
When I listen to it on the same source (spotify connect high quality) the sound of the phantom golds, when playing them side by side playing the same music is strikingly similar: smooth and silky, as you say, never aggressive or tiring even at high frequencies.
It can sound aggressive if the source is low quality in the first place, though...
The difference is I don't have to mess with tube swapping, or cable swapping. I have the tube sound without the tube worries.
And the bass has even more muscle with the phantoms. Plus, it seems that the longer you use them, the better they seem to sound. Now most of the time the old tube system is collecting dust...

[Jamington2004]

Ah very interesting thanks