the Phantom in DAR

[Hifi_swlon]

I actually had heard a pair of Phantom Silvers at a local Devialet distributor's showroom and the result wasn't very convincing. I couldn't hear what DAR had claimed pinpoint clarity and better soundstage. Yes, the bass performance was impressive. A lot of my friends are discouraging me to take this path. The main reason if I choose to go this way is to simplify further of my hifi setup: one less amp and speaker cabling. I'm half-hearted is because I like AIR very much, which is working well for me on my current NUC/Win10/Roon, and I think I will sorely miss it if I go Phantom's way.

Unfortunately, in China, there's no 45-day trial for Phantoms.

If you want help being talked out of it, technically you'll be adding complexity - assuming you go stereo you'll have two amps and two DACs, as well as a Dialog unit, two mains cables, etc, and by the sounds of it no ability to play gapless, do room correction, and a few other things I'm sure. And you'd have to use Spark rather than Roon, unless you want to shoe-horn it in.

For a lot of those reasons I opted not to do it, even though from the limited sessions I've heard, the sound would suit me - those issues/limitations alone would drive me nuts.

Shame there's no 45 day trial there. Do you have an online return guarantee like in the EU? If so, you can still try them without much risk?