29-May-2019, 06:03
I took a plunge and got 1 Phantom White and 2 Reactor 600. I will be keeping one of the combination.
#A - One Phantom Classic 1200W.
#B - Two Reactors 600W
Here are my observations (facts with opinions)
1. I feel #A is better than #B in stereo mode. I have been playing audio through Airplay and switching the devices. I feel that in stereo mode the vocals are not as crystal clear in #B compared to #A. I am wondering if that is because one Reactor gets the audio bitstream and then sends one channel to the other speaker over PLC. The audio coming from the 2 speakers might not be 100% synchronized and probably that results in the slight drop in clarity (think of slightly out of focus photograph). If I were to listen to #B without ever listening to #A, I would never have figured that out since our brains would adjust to it. I also noticed that in stereo mode the Reactors would produce more bass. #A as a device produces more bass, but it knows when to produce and and when not to produce.
2. I then switched off one Reactor and started playing #B in mono. I see that excessive bass has disappeared. Comparing audio quality I see that pure tones like guitar etc are reproduced similarly on both devices. However, there is a subtle softening of male vocals in #B. I am wondering if lack of mid range driver causes Reactor to use its Bass drivers for some mid range. I also change the position of the Reactors and did not see any appreciable change.
3. Stereo #B show advantage over #A where there is strong stereo component in audio. But this advantage over #A is squandered with less than stellar vocals.
4. #B does produce good bass and meets my requirements.
Me and my spouse both listened to various tracks and came to same conclusion. In fact after some blind testing my spouse could identify if it was #A or #B-stereo.
Now, I am in a dilemma.
1. Devialet might improve stereo quality with firmware drops, but I have only 14 day window to make my decision.
2. I noticed that Classic, Silver and Gold share the same specifications with respect to hardware (except Gold has titanium tweeter). Knowing how industry typically operates, the Phantom Premiers could be sharing the same electronics to keep inventory cost low and devices might be artificially crippled by firmware. The Phantom Premiers contain FPGAs which means Devialet can do over-the-air FPGA changes and change some Digital Signal Processing (speculation) which cannot be done in Reactors as they lack FPGA.
I will continue more testing next few days.
#A - One Phantom Classic 1200W.
#B - Two Reactors 600W
Here are my observations (facts with opinions)
1. I feel #A is better than #B in stereo mode. I have been playing audio through Airplay and switching the devices. I feel that in stereo mode the vocals are not as crystal clear in #B compared to #A. I am wondering if that is because one Reactor gets the audio bitstream and then sends one channel to the other speaker over PLC. The audio coming from the 2 speakers might not be 100% synchronized and probably that results in the slight drop in clarity (think of slightly out of focus photograph). If I were to listen to #B without ever listening to #A, I would never have figured that out since our brains would adjust to it. I also noticed that in stereo mode the Reactors would produce more bass. #A as a device produces more bass, but it knows when to produce and and when not to produce.
2. I then switched off one Reactor and started playing #B in mono. I see that excessive bass has disappeared. Comparing audio quality I see that pure tones like guitar etc are reproduced similarly on both devices. However, there is a subtle softening of male vocals in #B. I am wondering if lack of mid range driver causes Reactor to use its Bass drivers for some mid range. I also change the position of the Reactors and did not see any appreciable change.
3. Stereo #B show advantage over #A where there is strong stereo component in audio. But this advantage over #A is squandered with less than stellar vocals.
4. #B does produce good bass and meets my requirements.
Me and my spouse both listened to various tracks and came to same conclusion. In fact after some blind testing my spouse could identify if it was #A or #B-stereo.
Now, I am in a dilemma.
1. Devialet might improve stereo quality with firmware drops, but I have only 14 day window to make my decision.
2. I noticed that Classic, Silver and Gold share the same specifications with respect to hardware (except Gold has titanium tweeter). Knowing how industry typically operates, the Phantom Premiers could be sharing the same electronics to keep inventory cost low and devices might be artificially crippled by firmware. The Phantom Premiers contain FPGAs which means Devialet can do over-the-air FPGA changes and change some Digital Signal Processing (speculation) which cannot be done in Reactors as they lack FPGA.
I will continue more testing next few days.
