05-Nov-2016, 19:44
Just brought the December edition of this (UK) magazine home, in which David Vivian has reviewed a pair of Golds.
Its full of the blown-away superlatives that we are used to by now... but he did finish with these qualifications that reflect my own views:
"And yet, there there are things that I miss, and, after a long session sampling everything from Grieg to Go-Go Penguin, I am left feeling strangely fatigued and yearning for the return of the SCM 40 which, going over the same material, fills in the finer micro-dynamics, timbral textures and rhythmic nuances that are the true hallmarks of top-drawer hi-fi. I am shocked and awed by the Gold Phantom, but I never feel relaxed in the same way that I do when listening to a large, three-way floorstander."
I felt that my White Phantoms were about the equal of my D120+£1K floorstanders, but once I had my XTZ's SAMmed and they reached down to 20Hz, they pulled ahead of the Phantoms overall. Better vocals, timbral colour, and atmosphere. Then, with my new £3K PMC Twenty5.23's , that gap has widened further (... and I'm hoping SAM will do the honours eventually).
You have to spend a while getting over the "shock and awe" of Phantoms before you can make a more balanced judgement, and realise that they don't actually do everything that a high-end system does.
Don't get me wrong, I'm still a massive fan of Phantoms. I must emphasise that none of my comments apply to their astounding bass... this part I DO believe falls into the 5-figure category. For A/V they are frightening! (bye-bye to sub-woofers). That's leaving latency issues aside, of course.
Its full of the blown-away superlatives that we are used to by now... but he did finish with these qualifications that reflect my own views:
"And yet, there there are things that I miss, and, after a long session sampling everything from Grieg to Go-Go Penguin, I am left feeling strangely fatigued and yearning for the return of the SCM 40 which, going over the same material, fills in the finer micro-dynamics, timbral textures and rhythmic nuances that are the true hallmarks of top-drawer hi-fi. I am shocked and awed by the Gold Phantom, but I never feel relaxed in the same way that I do when listening to a large, three-way floorstander."
I felt that my White Phantoms were about the equal of my D120+£1K floorstanders, but once I had my XTZ's SAMmed and they reached down to 20Hz, they pulled ahead of the Phantoms overall. Better vocals, timbral colour, and atmosphere. Then, with my new £3K PMC Twenty5.23's , that gap has widened further (... and I'm hoping SAM will do the honours eventually).
You have to spend a while getting over the "shock and awe" of Phantoms before you can make a more balanced judgement, and realise that they don't actually do everything that a high-end system does.
Don't get me wrong, I'm still a massive fan of Phantoms. I must emphasise that none of my comments apply to their astounding bass... this part I DO believe falls into the 5-figure category. For A/V they are frightening! (bye-bye to sub-woofers). That's leaving latency issues aside, of course.
JRiver v25 (Windows) >> 220Pro/CI >> PMC Twenty5.23 + twin KEF KC62 subs. One White Phantom.
