19-Oct-2016, 13:39
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!
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!
JRiver v25 (Windows) >> 220Pro/CI >> PMC Twenty5.23 + twin KEF KC62 subs. One White Phantom.
