New Phantom II's or used Silvers (stereo)?

[njaiswal]

Thanks, interesting responses!

@Snoopy8, provided that the used ones have been updated to Dos2, and they were in pristine condition, would you still go for new Phantom II's instead? If so, I gather you are of the opinion that the difference in sound quality isn't dramatic?

@njaiswal, the list of your Phantoms is quite impressive   and I understand you think the gain in sound quality would making it worth getting the Silvers. Can you elaborate a little on why you think it's important to run them in optical direct and use an external streamer?

As for placement, unfortunately, I'll probably have to place them closer to the wall than I would prefer, maybe even on Geckos. (I have two toddlers running around...) I'm hoping to run Dirac (windows 10 - DLNA - Phantom) to take care of the worst issues from the room.

The biggest reason I suggested optical direct mode is that you wouldn't need to worry about upgrading the silvers to DOS2.  You can keep them as is and not worry about if they are upgradeable to DOS2.  The second reason is that in optical direct mode you don't have to worry about sync issues between video and audio when watching TV.  And lastly, (depending on your setup) you can use an existing remote to control the volume of the phantoms.  

My brother was able to integrate my Savant remotes with the Symetrix so now I'm able to use that to control the volume in every room I have the phantoms.