Optical dropouts

[mtvanc]

I had the same thing. Plugging it into the speaker seems to have fixed it as of two weeks ago

[njaiswal]

I just submitted a ticket.  I am also experiencing drop outs when listening through the optical port on the dialog... :-(  My dropouts occur with only one speaker at a time.. meaning the right channel or left channel will drop out.  I haven't experienced a situation when they both drop out.

[ThorH]

Hi all,
Got the same drop outs on optical/airplay/bluetooth

Proud new owner og a pair of Phantom Gold and a dialog ... or so I thought.
Been having dropouts since day 1!
Got a new Dialog, but no luck.
Bought new Access point, cisco switch, toslink cables, power cables, network cables, ferrite cores, UPS and even a transformer 110V to 230V ... still got the dropouts
Devialet has been VERY fast and kind to anwser my mails, but we are still looking for a solution.

The problem is that I LOVE the sound they make, even if it is only for 5 min at a time, so I'm hoping sombody can help me in here!
Has anybody got the specific eletrical needs for the phantoms?
I know they can do 90-230V 50/60Hz but has anyone had any luck with a Power Conditioner or transformer?

I'm glad to hear that I'm not alone, but It would be nice to hear if you guys found some solutions?

Thor

[Jamington2004]

Try setting up with Ethernet cables and it should be rock solid

Even if you can't keep it like that for some reason it will prove that is is some network issue causing the drop outs

[streamy]

Hi all,
Got the same drop outs on optical/airplay/bluetooth

Proud new owner og a pair of Phantom Gold and a dialog ... or so I thought.
Been having dropouts since day 1!
Got a new Dialog, but no luck.
Bought new Access point, cisco switch, toslink cables, power cables, network cables,  ferrite cores, UPS and even a transformer 110V to 230V ... still got the dropouts
Devialet has been VERY fast and kind to anwser my mails, but we are still looking for a solution.

The problem is that I LOVE the sound they make, even if it is only for 5 min at a time, so I'm hoping sombody can help me in here!
Has anybody got the specific eletrical needs for the phantoms?
I know they can do 90-230V 50/60Hz but has anyone had any luck with a Power Conditioner or transformer?

I'm glad to hear that I'm not alone, but It would be nice to hear if you guys found some solutions?

Thor

Check in Spark setup how they connect with Dialog. Best connection is with PLC. As trial plug both Phantoms and Dialog to the same power plug. Don‘t use any power conditioners, no ferrit cores, no transformers or so. These things are all enemies of PLC, the network the Phantoms by default use as preference. Or as Jamington2004 suggests connect both Phantoms with wired etherent to your router/switch. Then the Phantoms use ethernet to connect to Dalog.

[meeotch]

After a year of back and forth with tech support on this issue, a Devialet rep told me that Wifi connections "are not meant to be used as the primary connection - it's just a fallback in case PLC or Ethernet fails." (Someone really should tell their marketing and sales people, I think.)

So unless you've got a wired connection (PLC or Ethernet), don't expect perfect operation. I've found that if you run optical into one of the Phantoms (not the Dialog), and move your own Wifi network away from whatever channel the Dialog has picked for itself, that's about the best you can do for a wireless setup. Dropouts aren't gone, but they're at least reduced somewhat.

[ThorH]

Hi Jamington2004, streamy and Meeotch
Thank you for your anwsers.
Just to clarify.
I have connected my Phantoms with RJ45, and they are on the same power strip, so PLC is working also.
I've just bought a linksys WRT 3200ACM acces point, so wifi shuld be covered also.
My phantoms prefer the RJ45 connection in spark.

Devialet just wrote me, that My power supply is the reason of my problems.
Now this makes me sad, as I have NO problem running any other device in my house.
But hey, the Phantoms are on the edge of what's possible, so that might cause some delicate needs.
Anyways ... I hope to find the magical grail in a powerline conditioner.
If you guys have any advise on models, types or think that I shuld just give up, let me know

I would REALLY like to get them up and running.

[meeotch]

ThorH - Definitely *don't* just shut up. It seems that insisting that faults in their equipment are somehow the user's fault is pretty much par for the course for Devialet. At least they seem willing to send replacement Dialogs, so I guess it could be worse.

Have you tried running your audio into one of the Phantoms optical ports, bypassing the Dialog's audio section? At least that would narrow the problem down to the sourcing side of the equation, rather than the Dialog->Phantom communication side.

My personal theory: the Dialog is an underpowered & poorly designed piece of shit. Taking it out of the equation completely would be my preference. I may look into a dual-direct-to-Phantom optical solution, though I don't know if an "optical channel splitter" is a device that actually exists.

[ogs]

@meeotch unfortunately I do not think 'an "optical channel splitter" ' exists. I researched this less than a year ago. This device would have to split L and R to two separate toslink outputs. Vincent Brient of TotalDac was very helpful and gave me a quote for a modified d1-digital reclocker with the correct outputs. I did not act on this offer, first of all because it is impossible to know what Devialet will do in the future. Imagine owning a useless TotalDac d1-digital...
Secondly there is the issue of the safety start-up volume of 35 on Phantoms. You'd have to use Spark to set the volume to a useful value on every power-up. I do not own Phantoms so I do not know if the remote could deal with volume when connected this way..
I also checked with Mutec if they could fit two toslink outputs to the MC-3 +USB (instead of one input and one output) serving L and R. The answer was negative.

[meeotch]

@ogs - thanks for the info. I suspected it would be a rare beast. (Incidentally, the same customer service manager who suggested that Phantoms use non-Dialog Wifi also suggested that a split channel optical setup would be an obvious workaround for the unreliable wifi problem. So a lot of bad info floating around at Devialet.)

Since my audio source is a computer, I could presumably connect two USB dongles, and mute one channel each. Not sure if that's guaranteed to be 100% in sync, though.

You're right about the "35 volume on power-up" thing as well. Not only that, but it will reset the volume to 35 whenever you change sources, and whenever it decides your source has been idle for too long. If you turn on Auto-switch, it will detect the source (sometimes) when it returns, but the volume will be back at 35. (An audio system that can't remember volume settings, srsly?) I actually had to write a little program to send inaudible audio bleeps to the Dialog every five minutes to ensure that it never went to "sleep". When I asked Devialet what the heck they were thinking, I was told it was "for your protection" - for the imaginary case where you pause a source, forget you paused it, crank up the volume to max wondering what happened, and then unpause it, blowing your unblowable Devialet speakers.

Maddening. All I want is to be able to set the input & volume once, and never touch it again. That can't be too much to ask.