23-Oct-2015, 13:45
Hello all,
My first post so thought I would share my Phantom experience.
I currently have a Lyngdorf TDAI2200 with RoomPerfect playing through two KEF Q11s. They are fed AIFF and FLAC files on my NAS via a wired Squeezebox Touch. I have been looking for some new speakers for a while, not that the KEFs are bad but I feel they aren't showing the full potential of the Lyngdorf. I may be wrong. Anyhow, my local dealer had the Phantoms in stock and I picked up two Silvers and a Dialogue with a week of testing time. Not 45 days but there you go. Additionally the Mrs would like to see all my amps and cables and whatnot consigned to the past so the all-in-one model was a win-win on paper. What could possibly go wrong?
Packaging was impressive, as was the weight (since I carried the buggers home).
Style - Don't ask the Mrs. She doesn't like the look and I have to say they can be a difficult fit. Can't we have them in black?
Set up was easy via Spark. One Phantom was a bit shy at first but finally joined the party.
Optical setup was just a button push.
Spark is limited. Can't save Playlists, no details on the music playback, no internet radio. LMS/iPeng really raised the bar on streaming interfaces.
NAS connection - well we know the uPnP story. "We just want to have the right version of it as the current UPnP protocol isn't appropriate.", they say on the site. But I'll even take an inappropriate solution for 4K Euros.
So I put NAS on hold. A non-functioning USB port was also a nuisance. I set up the optical from the SBT to the Dialogue, coax digital to the Lyngdorf and played some tunes as people showed up to see the future of sound. And hear it, of course.
So I quickly discovered that the Phantoms can do bass. Rather too well, in fact. The room shook as did several heads around me. I appreciate the mind-bending science involved but can't say I've ever wanted my internal organs to shake to the music. Were there an equaliser I could perhaps have mitigated the issue but beyond "night mode" there is none. Some tunes ended to what sounded like a helicopter trying to land on the roof.
The A/B testing showed the Lyngdorf was more enjoyable on the ear. There was detail and soundstage and warmth and all the other cliches. The Devialets had power, but the bass was killing the mids and highs. I gave up and drank a lot of beer.
Next day I registered on the Devialet site and was led to a page that told me about AIR. I then had to run some errands and when I came back the iPad page had gone. No worries, I'll just log back in on the laptop. But no way would they let me back in using the password I used. So I reregistered, logged in. Logged out. Tried to login again and had the same error. This has happened each and every time since. And this is the only site it happens on so I doubt it's any cookie settings. I also found what looked like a great installation guide in pdf format. But it was in French. Trying to find the software download page took an age. Surely there should be a direct link?
Anyway, I finally installed AIR on the MacMini. It shows up in the top bar and when I click on it it has a tick next to "Disable". But I suppose that's normal as it worked and I could stream from the NAS. Funnily enough, it even worked after I Exited it the utility. So what does it actually do that allows it to still work when not running?
I added my NAS paths and off we went. The sound was a lot better than over the optical. That was a relief. Perhaps the optical cable was bad or the SBT optical port was bad but things were now sonically moving in the right direction. Until the drop-outs started. Two or three good songs and then fzzzzt, one speaker gone, a stutter and then back. Then it happened again. And then all you're listening for is the next drop. So I guess playing music across three wireless networks isn't a sure thing. Maybe if the Dialogue could talk to my NAS over the wired LAN it would be better but apparently that's not "appropriate" yet. The drop-outs, as I have read, are common but this isn't what you'd expect for the money.
While the playback was working as it should I did get the chance to hear the quality. It was very good but honestly not the knee-trembling, life changing quality I was expecting based on the specs and marketing blurb (yes, I know...). The main reasons, I believe, are the lack of equaliser and, primarily, room correction. The Lyngdorf has convinced me of the benefits of the latter. Ten minutes with a microphone on a tripod pointing at the floor and curtains and there's no going back. It plays to your room and it's oddities and you can feel the difference when you turn it off. Some kind of eq to tame the bass would have helped in the meantime. I seriously believe that deep inside these are amazing amplifier/speakers but they just haven't had the inner beast unleashed yet.
I will put them on a pair of old Atacama stands tonight and try some room placement but unless a miracle happens they will go back tomorrow. Maybe I'll try again in a few code revisions when Devialet have stabilised the network issues and maybe added room correction or something to tame the bass.
Sorry for the long read but thought I would share as maybe someone has been through the same and then discovered a hidden button that made it all work.
Cheers,
Nick
My first post so thought I would share my Phantom experience.
I currently have a Lyngdorf TDAI2200 with RoomPerfect playing through two KEF Q11s. They are fed AIFF and FLAC files on my NAS via a wired Squeezebox Touch. I have been looking for some new speakers for a while, not that the KEFs are bad but I feel they aren't showing the full potential of the Lyngdorf. I may be wrong. Anyhow, my local dealer had the Phantoms in stock and I picked up two Silvers and a Dialogue with a week of testing time. Not 45 days but there you go. Additionally the Mrs would like to see all my amps and cables and whatnot consigned to the past so the all-in-one model was a win-win on paper. What could possibly go wrong?
Packaging was impressive, as was the weight (since I carried the buggers home).
Style - Don't ask the Mrs. She doesn't like the look and I have to say they can be a difficult fit. Can't we have them in black?
Set up was easy via Spark. One Phantom was a bit shy at first but finally joined the party.
Optical setup was just a button push.
Spark is limited. Can't save Playlists, no details on the music playback, no internet radio. LMS/iPeng really raised the bar on streaming interfaces.
NAS connection - well we know the uPnP story. "We just want to have the right version of it as the current UPnP protocol isn't appropriate.", they say on the site. But I'll even take an inappropriate solution for 4K Euros.
So I put NAS on hold. A non-functioning USB port was also a nuisance. I set up the optical from the SBT to the Dialogue, coax digital to the Lyngdorf and played some tunes as people showed up to see the future of sound. And hear it, of course.
So I quickly discovered that the Phantoms can do bass. Rather too well, in fact. The room shook as did several heads around me. I appreciate the mind-bending science involved but can't say I've ever wanted my internal organs to shake to the music. Were there an equaliser I could perhaps have mitigated the issue but beyond "night mode" there is none. Some tunes ended to what sounded like a helicopter trying to land on the roof.
The A/B testing showed the Lyngdorf was more enjoyable on the ear. There was detail and soundstage and warmth and all the other cliches. The Devialets had power, but the bass was killing the mids and highs. I gave up and drank a lot of beer.
Next day I registered on the Devialet site and was led to a page that told me about AIR. I then had to run some errands and when I came back the iPad page had gone. No worries, I'll just log back in on the laptop. But no way would they let me back in using the password I used. So I reregistered, logged in. Logged out. Tried to login again and had the same error. This has happened each and every time since. And this is the only site it happens on so I doubt it's any cookie settings. I also found what looked like a great installation guide in pdf format. But it was in French. Trying to find the software download page took an age. Surely there should be a direct link?
Anyway, I finally installed AIR on the MacMini. It shows up in the top bar and when I click on it it has a tick next to "Disable". But I suppose that's normal as it worked and I could stream from the NAS. Funnily enough, it even worked after I Exited it the utility. So what does it actually do that allows it to still work when not running?
I added my NAS paths and off we went. The sound was a lot better than over the optical. That was a relief. Perhaps the optical cable was bad or the SBT optical port was bad but things were now sonically moving in the right direction. Until the drop-outs started. Two or three good songs and then fzzzzt, one speaker gone, a stutter and then back. Then it happened again. And then all you're listening for is the next drop. So I guess playing music across three wireless networks isn't a sure thing. Maybe if the Dialogue could talk to my NAS over the wired LAN it would be better but apparently that's not "appropriate" yet. The drop-outs, as I have read, are common but this isn't what you'd expect for the money.
While the playback was working as it should I did get the chance to hear the quality. It was very good but honestly not the knee-trembling, life changing quality I was expecting based on the specs and marketing blurb (yes, I know...). The main reasons, I believe, are the lack of equaliser and, primarily, room correction. The Lyngdorf has convinced me of the benefits of the latter. Ten minutes with a microphone on a tripod pointing at the floor and curtains and there's no going back. It plays to your room and it's oddities and you can feel the difference when you turn it off. Some kind of eq to tame the bass would have helped in the meantime. I seriously believe that deep inside these are amazing amplifier/speakers but they just haven't had the inner beast unleashed yet.
I will put them on a pair of old Atacama stands tonight and try some room placement but unless a miracle happens they will go back tomorrow. Maybe I'll try again in a few code revisions when Devialet have stabilised the network issues and maybe added room correction or something to tame the bass.
Sorry for the long read but thought I would share as maybe someone has been through the same and then discovered a hidden button that made it all work.
Cheers,
Nick
