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Is it just me? .... (sound quality)
#21
(03-Oct-2015, 22:29)ChalleB Wrote: Glad to hear that people have another opinion.
But playing large orchestral music on a single phantom still feels very "limited" in my opinion (I wish it didn´t)

I will be keeping my Phantom, for all the other music I listen too, which sound really impressive.

I haven't tried a single Phantom, but I would imagine large scale orchestral music loses quite a bit in mono.
Devialet Original d'Atelier 44 Core, Job Pre/225, Goldmund PH2, Goldmund Reference/T3f /Ortofon A90, Goldmund Mimesis 36+ & Chord Blu, iMac/Air, Lynx Theta, Tune Audio Anima, Goldmund Epilog 1&2, REL Studio. Dialog, Silver Phantoms, Branch stands, copper cables (mainly).
Oxfordshire

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#22
Ian-UK

Your comparison of the Magico Q1 and the Phantom being very close is incredibly high praise for the Phantoms.
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#23
(03-Oct-2015, 22:34)Mr_Bill Wrote: Ian-UK

Your comparison of the Magico Q1 and the Phantom being very close is incredibly high praise for the Phantoms.

Yes - as I said the system price comparison is a ten-fold one. Even more so with Frank ...

"I have 2 silver phantoms in a room 5m x 10m room, well away from the corners. I also have a pair of Goldmund Epilog 1&2 and they are surprisingly close in sound given they are over 30x times more expensive without an amplifier. The Goldmunds are the best speakers I have ever heard too."

... and we listen in different sized (and furnished I expect) rooms though to similar music. But I guess the key is we probably listen in similar ways (which leads us to enjoy the Phantoms with few reservations) and that may not be the same for you and quite possibly for many others!

Which is, amongst other things, good for a diverse hifi industry.
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 Dialog/Phantom Gold/Tree pair
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#24
As said earlier my listening experience of a single Phantom since february is very similar to yours. I find that complex orchestral music is a bit messy.
Am I right assuming you are listening to a single Phantom too ?
I am asking because after digging a bit I found this article that states this :
"Well aware of the difficulty of reproducing the conventional stereo left /right signal in this (single Phantom) configuration, engineers at Devialet have therefore developed a stereo signal remix technology to "reorganize" it in order to provide a coherent image, and expanded space"
Reading that I am under the impression that single Phantom owners are somehow listening to a "different" speaker than stereo Phantoms owners, and that could well be why we have so different listening impressions...
Luckily my second Phantom will arrive on tuesday, so I will be able to report very soon about this possible difference ! Smile

(03-Oct-2015, 22:29)ChalleB Wrote: Glad to hear that people have another opinion.
But playing large orchestral music on a single phantom still feels very "limited" in my opinion (I wish it didn´t)
The quality of the sources are fine and I have also tried the speaker in several positions in several rooms.

I will be keeping my Phantom for all the other music I listen too, which sound really impressive, buts its going to be headphones for Mahler!
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#25
Thanks Phs, that makes sense and might well be the reason.

Look forward to hearing back from you when your second speaker arrives!
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#26
I had a demo of one phantom vs two phantoms, to me it was super clear: get two or get none. And it was also very clear that two white phantoms are way more volume than you will ever need for a big living room, throwing parties scenario included.
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#27
This is quite interesting, and timely to me. Having had about 4 months with two White Phantoms, then returning to my D120+£1k floorstanders for a month, then listening side by side for the last week, I agree with ChalleB.
My curiosity started when I found that my traditional system was nowhere near as inferior to Phantoms as I'd assumed. My conclusion after swapping back & forth was that it was dependent on the music - bassy or dramatic stuff favoured the Phantoms, and stuff which doesn't depend on deep bass fell in favour of my ribbon-tweetered speakers.
Unfortunately, BOTH are brilliant... and I'm going crazy deciding which to keep as my main system...
- Phantoms are an astonishing performance/size ratio, but are a pain to integrate into an A/V setup
- Traditional system has far more flexibility but cannot match the Phantom bass and discretion.

I have mentioned elsewhere that I've tried a hybrid system using 1 phantom, but this is the hardest for A/V, trying to get Phantom as Centre+Subwoofer!
JRiver v25 (Windows) >> 220Pro/CI >> PMC Twenty5.23 + twin KEF KC62 subs. One White Phantom.
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#28
Hi!

I'm waiting for my 2nd silver to arrive, so, I will not give any opinion yet...

(03-Oct-2015, 22:14)f1eng Wrote: Good recordings sound extremely realistic.
Could you please give a few examples of some good recordings which sound extremely realistic? A very sad thing in these times is that recording quality seems to get worse by the day!... Sad Try to listen some Taylor Swift, for example! So many millions, and probably they only make recordings to sound good on a portable mp3 player!...  This makes me wonder if it is worth it spending this much on a pair of phantoms just to listen to garbage recordings... Sad

(03-Oct-2015, 22:25)f1eng Wrote: I have 2 silver phantoms in a room 5m x 10m room, well away from the corners.
Could you please tell us how do you have them positioned? Distance between them and from the back/side walls?
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#29
(03-Oct-2015, 22:29)ChalleB Wrote: I will be keeping my Phantom for all the other music I listen too, which sound really impressive, buts its going to be headphones for Mahler!

Headphones for classical music?

I think that's a fine alternative if you want to listen under circumstances where headphones are needed -- on the go, or when you can't turn up your speakers too loudly.

But they would hardly be my first choice for critical listening. No matter how good the headphones, unless special techniques are used in the recording of a large, live ensemble, you will end up with a much less convincing soundstage and stereo image (or none at all) using headphones. To me, that is an essential part of enjoying large scale orchestral music (and even chamber consorts, for that matter). If you really don't like the Phantoms on classical music (and you should try a pair, for very similar reasons, as opposed to one), I'd hope you'd consider another pair of loudspeakers, and not listen exclusively through headphones.
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#30
"Could you please give a few examples of some good recordings which sound extremely realistic? A very sad thing in these times is that recording quality seems to get worse by the day!... Sad Try to listen some Taylor Swift, for example! So many millions, and probably they only make recordings to sound good on a portable mp3 player!...  This makes me wonder if it is worth it spending this much on a pair of phantoms just to listen to garbage "

I'm not sure about that! I'm not a fan of Taylor but my daughters love her and actually I think her albums are very well produced. Having listened to new music year by year for 25 years I would say the quality is mostly better. Yes there were some shitty sounding albums, especially in the 90s, but for the last 10years especially I think the range of really well recorded music is wider than ever.

Sorry - just a rant!

Some realistic sounding things on the phantoms: Lianne La Havas sounds great. The Brandt Brauer Frick ensemble have a couple of great albums. Julia Holters last 3 albums all sound good.

Well produced electronica is great too. Chuck on some Kraftwerk...bliss!


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