Should I buy a pair of phantom golds??

[Johnnydev]

Seems a lot of money to pay out if you are ‘strangling’ the sound by using bluetooth and also introducing an equaliser to compensate which in itself also downgrades the sound. Obviously a personal opinion and it is your money. I have had Silvers for close to three years and they have been rock solid and dropouts are very rare. However the dialog is connected directly to my router and it is only 14 feet away with no line of sight issues. The software is pretty rubbish although it works and Devialet seem to have dumped existing owners whilst they promote the Reactor which again isn’t a finished product having no stereo ability. The issue of not being repairable is a big one especially as their extended warranties are expensive. Whilst you may have consumer protection if they go pear shaped it is a concern. If my Silvers break I would not buy anymore due to the lack of product support although I believe they may replace them if you are firm enough.

I don't feel like Id be strangling the sound. Like I said, it sounded better through Bluetooth with an equaliser then via wifi spark with no equaliser. The technical jargon is irrelevant when I can clearly hear  a more dynamic and pleasing sound through Bluetooth.

I'm reading more and more about phantoms breaking down and being unable to be repaired. I'm getting worried and sad that I may infact not buy a pair.

You have posted many concern in many threads here on Devialetchat. When you want something like the Phantoms it is like you want as sports car, light weight, fast, expensive. The same with repairability, parts are like out of carbon, glue will not fix them, you need full replacement. As for sound: you will get something that no one can deliver in the same form factor. The combo two or more Phantoms with Dialog works well when you have the possibility to power them from the same power line. BT input, optical input, and lan input to Dialog works for me since 2015 well. Spark is ok for changing the volume on I-devices also from Mac and PC and Androids. Airplay and Spotify connect are very stable, no dropouts. For music library management I recommend you to use Roon, it includes all sorts of equalizers, great management of local libraries, streaming from Tidal and Qobuz hopefully soon. In my case 100% stable, hires compatible, better and snappier than any upnp system I ever used. Of course you can always wait. Waiting means you will not be outdated, always cheaper, but the performance of the hypothetical system really sucks, as it is non-existential, virtual.

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