Latest Firmware Update: How much closer does White/Silver get to Golds

[MountainGuy]

I had a pair of Silver. Never really satisfied because it lacked the resolution and transient speed.  The Gold was a very significant step up and satisfying.   I no longer own the Silver.

However, would like a 2nd pair without the gold price. Some owners of White and Silver report that the latest update made the White really improve in soundstage etc.  I don't need  the loud volume but want the quality.

Anyone with both White OR Silver and Gold?   Any sense of how much closer in tonal quality or timbre does the latest software update get the While or Silver to the Golds?

Thanks.

[njaiswal]

I have both, however my dialog died... I'm waiting for my new one to show up... will post when I'm back up and running. I didn't have much time to compare the SQ between the 2 before the dialog died...

[midi]

I have had the Whites with the update for 2 days, before I have send them for the Gold upgrade to France. I was never really satisfied with the Whites. The update for the Whites improved them a lot, you can hear the difference immediately. For a second I doubt if I should spend a lot of money for the Gold upgrade.

Before I have upgraded I have compared the updated Whites with the KEF LS50w. It was quickly decided that the Kefs would not bring me further.

But after I got the Golds I have forgotten the Whites - the Golds a great and I am happy with them. Although I could not make a direct comparison anymore, I would say that there is still a clear difference. Unlike the whites, I was instantly convinced of the golden ones.

As a first device, I would buy only the golden ones. As a second device, it is ultimately a matter of money.

[streamy]

I had a pair of Silver. Never really satisfied because it lacked the resolution and transient speed.  The Gold was a very significant step up and satisfying.   I no longer own the Silver.

However, would like a 2nd pair without the gold price. Some owners of White and Silver report that the latest update made the White really improve in soundstage etc.  I don't need  the loud volume but want the quality.

Anyone with both White OR Silver and Gold?   Any sense of how much closer in tonal quality or timbre does the latest software update get the While or Silver to the Golds?

Thanks.

Maybe we need a more precise approach to this question: I have currently 2 Gold Phantoms and 1 Silver Phantom from the first produced batch that does not have bluetooth nor airplay. This Silver Phantom still sounds the same from what I can hear. The hiss when you play e.g at a volume of 2 is about 4 times higher than on the Golds, the hights though are reduced, the overall sound is boxier and much less transparent, much more covered/closed in the mids. I attribute most of this to ADH2 in my Golds compared ADH in my Silver Phantom. Clearly, a SW update to ADH2 if this would be possible would have reduced the hissing and increased the hights which to me seems impossible. I have some doubts that Devialet artificially added hissing noise to newer batches of Silver Phantoms but maybe used some EQ to keep the frequency response same for all Silvers. So now they might have changed on those Devices that have ADH2 and are not Golds the EQ settings such that they get closer to the Golds, but definitely not on my 1st gen Silver that still sounds the same as before due to HW limitations. I owned two more Silvers that I gave to my brother. Those are 1 first gen and 1 second gen (bt but no airplay). I would need to check if there is a SQ difference between the two at his place. I might be able to do so over Christmas.
My question is, can anybody confirm that the hissing on a recent Silver or White Phantom is the same as on the Gold? For this you play at very low volume to Gold and Silver and go with your ears very close to the tweeter. Like this you can hear if the hissing is louder on one or the other, which gives some indication on the HW.

[Johnnydev]

I had a pair of Silver. Never really satisfied because it lacked the resolution and transient speed.  The Gold was a very significant step up and satisfying.   I no longer own the Silver.

However, would like a 2nd pair without the gold price. Some owners of White and Silver report that the latest update made the White really improve in soundstage etc.  I don't need  the loud volume but want the quality.

Anyone with both White OR Silver and Gold?   Any sense of how much closer in tonal quality or timbre does the latest software update get the While or Silver to the Golds?

Thanks.

Maybe we need a more precise approach to this question: I have currently 2 Gold Phantoms and 1 Silver Phantom from the first produced batch that does not have bluetooth nor airplay. This Silver Phantom still sounds the same from what I can hear. The hiss when you play e.g at a volume of 2 is about 4 times higher than on the Golds, the hights though are reduced, the overall sound is boxier and much less transparent, much more covered/closed in the mids. I attribute most of this to ADH2 in my Golds compared ADH in my Silver Phantom. Clearly, a SW update to ADH2 if this would be possible would have reduced the hissing and increased the hights which to me seems impossible. I have some doubts that Devialet artificially added hissing noise to newer batches of Silver Phantoms but maybe used some EQ to keep the frequency response same for all Silvers. So now they might have changed on those Devices that have ADH2 and are not Golds the EQ settings such that they get closer to the Golds, but definitely not on my 1st gen Silver that still sounds the same as before due to HW limitations. I owned two more Silvers that I gave to my brother. Those are 1 first gen and 1 second gen (bt but no airplay). I would need to check if there is a SQ difference between the two at his place. I might be able to do so over Christmas.
My question is, can anybody confirm that the hissing on a recent Silver or White Phantom is the same as on the Gold? For this you play at very low volume to Gold and Silver and go with your ears very close to the tweeter. Like this you can hear if the hissing is louder on one or the other, which gives some indication on the HW.

I had no hissing on my silvers and have it also not on my golds !

[streamy]

I had no hissing on my silvers and have it also not on my golds !

Call it noise or call it hiss. When I play a track with Spark at a volume of 2 (of 100) and put my ear a few mm from the tweeter I can barely hear the track playing and burried in noise. Others and also I reported this as hissing in the past. It is the noise from the DAC, preamplifier and power amplifier that every sound system has and under this extreme condition (ear close to the speaker and extremely low volume from the DAC/preamplifier) it is audible. Now it is even specified by Devialet, but was not in the beginning when the Phantoms came on the market. At that time only the ad ‘zero noise’ (which is untrue) was claimed and of course upset the audiophile community. I can hear this noise, both on the Silver and on the Gold, and on my Silver this noise is much louder. I attribute it largely to the ADH circuit that according to Devialet has been implemented on a mixed analog/digital integrated circuit. Integrated mixed analog/digital circuits are generally less performant than discrete circuits that offer material choices compared to ASICs. That I hear less hiss or call it noise on the Golds I attribute to the ADH2 circuit. Recall that ADH stands for analog digital hybrid. How could this be digital i.e. software only?

[MountainGuy]

Thanks for all the replies. Much appreciated. Will wait for you guys who own both to follow-up...

[midi]

Spark with volume of 2 - noise or hiss ? I would say no with the Golds - but if someone is 20 years younger and has the ultimate golden ears perhaps (but I was in the first quarter of the Philips Golden Ears test ;-))...

[kmjy]

I just don’t understand why people assume the Silver Phantom got an update too just because the White Phantom did? There was and isn’t a single mention of Silver Phantom.

That firmware update was EXCLUSIVELY for the White Phantom and alter absolutely nothing to do with the Silvers in terms of sound, power, or quality. The firmware had solved other general issues with all Phantoms. While enhancing White Phantom.

The same kind of update will launch for Silver later. White was priority as there is A LOT more untapped potential there to work with.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[streamy]

I just don’t understand why people assume the Silver Phantom got an update too just because the White Phantom did? There was and isn’t a single mention of Silver Phantom.

That firmware update was EXCLUSIVELY for the White Phantom and alter absolutely nothing to do with the Silvers in terms of sound, power, or quality. The firmware had solved other general issues with all Phantoms. While enhancing White Phantom.

The same kind of update will launch for Silver later. White was priority as there is A LOT more untapped potential there to work with.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The answer to your question is simple. On their website Devialet changed the specs sheet for the Silver Phantoms on both parts ADH2 and DAQ to the same specifications as the Gold Phantoms and the White Evolution. These changes in the specs are significant and should result in much better performance you experience with your white Phantom. So speculation is not that much that the Silver Phantoms should have audible improvements from these changes in hardware. I cannot hear any improvements in my silver that has the old hardware (as expected). So the question here is if anybody with the new Silver hardware got better SQ? It’s not about more ‘watts’, but about less noise and better hifi.