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Devialet Phantom Owner’s Thread


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There are a number of Devialet Phantom owners in the forum.  Thought it would be useful to start an owner’s thread to exchange notes and also, be a good introduction for others.

 

Many people know the Phantom as a lifestyle product with incredible bass but do not realise that a stereo pair makes a good hifi system.  The Phantoms have 2 ranges, the newer, smaller Reactor and the Premier range.  The Reactor is natively compatible with Spotify Connect, Airplay, UPnP and Bluetooth (with more to come) while a Premier has all the streaming connections, see here.

 

The Phantoms are “Roon tested”, which means Roon is accessible via Airplay or via a Roon endpoint feeding the optical input.  Phantoms will be “Roon Ready” when Roon Advanced Audio Transport (RAAT) is implemented; RAAT connectivity is in the works, ETA unknown.  

 

There are some limitations. The DAC is capable of playing up to 24/192 music, no support for DSD/DSF nor MQA.  Roon can compensate by transcoding DSD/DSF and doing first MQA unfold.

 

While the Phantoms are very good out of the box, these things make them even better:

  • Get a stereo pair which is significantly better than one. However, it is not easy to audition them as a pair because most retailers (and Devialet!) position them as a lifestyle product.  Thus, retailers usually set them up as singles in the store. Note that stereo pairing of the Premier range requires a Dialog hub (not needed, not compatible with Reactors).
  • Put Phantoms on speaker stands (e.g. Devialet Tree and Treepod for Premier range, but other stands also work) to elevate them to ear level
  • Pay attention to the position in the room, speaker alignment and toe-in. While the Phantoms are much more forgiving than many speakers, focussing on their placement will improve the sound
  • Use Isoacoustics Aperta 100 aluminium stand.  Putting the Phantom on an Isoacoustics stand reduces smearing of instruments and is particularly effective when the Phantom is sitting on furniture. Note that these stands are usually stocked and sold as black pairs;  to get aluminium coloured pairs, retailer orders from distributor.
  • Apply room correction to improve detail, resolution and bass management.  Options include using miniDSP with Dirac Live, DSpeaker (both via optical input) or Roon room correction. For UPnP, use Minimserver Convolution.

 

Official help on Phantoms installation and usage here. Devialet Chat is the unofficial user forum.

 

Please post your experience with the Devialet Phantoms and suggest other improvements that worked for you.  And questions are most welcome.

 

 

Edited by Snoopy8
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47 minutes ago, Snoopy8 said:

image.png.b7e9c603c3c5964269743418a76df9c2.png

 

There are a number of Devialet Phantom owners in the forum.  Thought it would be useful to start an owner’s thread to exchange notes and also, be a good introduction for others.

 

Many people know the Phantom as a lifestyle product with incredible bass but do not realise that a stereo pair makes a good hifi system.  The Phantoms have 2 ranges, the newer, smaller Reactor and the Premier range.  The Reactor is natively compatible with Spotify Connect, Airplay, UPnP and Bluetooth (with more to come) while a Premier has all the streaming connections, see here.

 

The Phantoms are “Roon tested”, which means Roon is accessible via Airplay or via a Roon endpoint feeding the optical input.  Phantoms will be “Roon Ready” when Roon Advanced Audio Transport (RAAT) is implemented; RAAT connectivity is in the works, ETA unknown.  

 

There are some limitations. The DAC is capable of playing up to 24/192 music, no support for DSD/DSF nor MQA.  Roon can compensate by transcoding DSD/DSF and doing first MQA unfold.

 

While the Phantoms are very good out of the box, these things make them even better:

  • Get a stereo pair which is significantly better than one. However, it is not easy to audition them as a pair because most retailers (and Devialet!) position them as a lifestyle product.  Thus, retailers usually set them up as singles in the store. Note that stereo pairing of the Premier range requires a Dialog hub (not needed, not compatible with Reactors).
  • Put Phantoms on speaker stands (e.g. Devialet Tree and Treepod for Premier range, but other stands also work) to elevate them to ear level
  • Pay attention to the position in the room, speaker alignment and toe-in. While the Phantoms are much more forgiving than many speakers, focussing on their placement will improve the sound
  • Use Isoacoustics Aperta 100 aluminium stand.  Putting the Phantom on an Isoacoustics stand reduces smearing of instruments and is particularly effective when the Phantom is sitting on furniture. Note that these stands are usually stocked and sold as black pairs;  to get aluminium coloured pairs, retailer orders from distributor.
  • Apply room correction to improve detail, resolution and bass management.  Options include using miniDSP with Dirac Live, DSpeaker (both via optical input) or Roon room correction. For UPnP, use Minimserver Convolution.

 

Official help on Phantoms installation and usage here. Devialet Chat is the unofficial user forum.

 

Please post your experience with the Devialet Phantoms and suggest other improvements that worked for you.  And questions are most welcome.

 

 

I have heard of them, but not heard them.

 

Don't know if these will get much love on this site. I imagine they would be great in an office or bedroom situation. 

 

I believe they are quite expensive too?

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1 hour ago, needlerunner said:

I have heard of them, but not heard them.

 

Don't know if these will get much love on this site. I imagine they would be great in an office or bedroom situation. 

 

I believe they are quite expensive too?

There are at least 4 owners of a stereo pair of Phantom Gold, at least 1 with pair of Silver and many more with single on SNA.  Yes, many of the Phantoms are in the office or bedroom as a lifestyle product but I am looking to change that perception.  Not cheap, but I replaced a more expensive and complex setup with a pair of Golds and it is now my main stereo system.

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An update on my stereo pair of Phantom Gold. 

 

Spent a lot of time positioning the speakers in the open plan family room, but still not compromising the room’s everyday use. For those who have read my journey, the Golds have been rotated 90 degrees from its previous orientation, now facing the length of the room.  This has resulted in a more even response between the left and right speakers and more flexibility (but not total flexibility) to position them for optimal sound.

 

image.png.3cdf71466820a5acb99b44fd88c805ef.png

 

The Golds are on Triangle S04 speaker stands and Isoacoustics Aperta 100 stands.

 

image.png.348b235e60b029051208e28f3d842e00.png

 

For the keen eyed, the smallest Ikea bamboo chopping board made it easier and more consistent for the Golds to sit on the Aperta stands.  Together, both stands isolated the Golds from vibration and allowed them to be positioned at ear level. The Golds are steady on those stands, but not recommended when there are young children or pets who love a chase! 

 

Still using UPnP to connect to the Golds, with BubbleUPnP on a Samsung tablet controlling the music from a NAS. BubbleUPnP also provides access to Tidal.  

 

Decided not to adopt Roon because UPnP’s wider and fuller sound stage was more compelling for me. However, other Phantom owners like Roon for the metadata management, music recommendations and Tidal integration. Roon can also overcome some of the Phantom’s limitations (see first post in this thread).  These Roon advantages were not enough to convince me, but your use case may be different.

 

Setting up room correction took time and effort. Had to learn how to use REW and rePhase to do impulse and phase correction and am still refining the process.  Running the convolution files using Minimserver on an Intel NUC with SnakeOil OS.

 

The end result is a superb stereo system with a wide and full sound stage with lots of detail and good resolution. Delighted with the sound stage where it is possible to tell each musician's "space". Instruments and voices sound natural with good tonal balance between the bass, mids and highs. While it is best in the main listening position, the Golds perform well off axis with the music filling the room.  It has clearly surpassed my previous set up.

 

For people looking for a simple setup that can produce music comparable to a high-end conventional system, I strongly recommend a stereo pair of Devialet Phantom Gold.

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@Snoopy8The system looks very tidy and neatly placed compared to your previous system with many boxes.  I understand the appeal of less boxes and have gone the Devialet Le 200 Blusound Node route in the living area.

 

Also pleased to hear it is sounding great as well.

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just curious......are the phantoms front heavy? in the pictures, it looks like the Aperta stands are compressed more in the front

 

Nice simple system, BTW. Been following your simplification journey in the other thread; good to hear that the new system is working out for you.

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47 minutes ago, anandpkumar said:

just curious......are the phantoms front heavy? in the pictures, it looks like the Aperta stands are compressed more in the front

The slope was deliberate to allow the Phantoms to align to ear level.  The Aperta stands can be adjusted to do just that.

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9 hours ago, Marc said:

@Yamaha_man recently joined this club too. Thoughts Joe?

I have a stereo pair of silvers.

Great party speaker and highly recommended for the bedroom.

As for a main system or critical listening , certainly not for me.

My SGR’s kill them in all areas.

 

 

Edited by Yamaha_man
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15 hours ago, Yamaha_man said:

I have a stereo pair of silvers.

Great party speaker and highly recommended for the bedroom.

As for a main system or critical listening , certainly not for me.

My SGR’s kill them in all areas.

Thank you.  I heard a single Silver, sound profile not for me, definitely preferred the Gold.  Therefore, not surprised that your SGR CX4F's beat the Silver Pair.  As you know, my Gold pair replaced the SGR CX3B Mk II but the trigger for change was not dissatisfaction with the SGRs but the complexity especially at the streamer to DAC end. I would be lying if I said that I was 100% confident at the beginning that the switch would be better.  With the additional work and fine tuning since purchase, I am now sure. 

On 09/07/2019 at 12:45 PM, PKay said:

@Snoopy8The system looks very tidy and neatly placed compared to your previous system with many boxes. 

  Was my old setup that untidy ???  ?  ?

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At the end of the day mine were purchased as a tv sound bar and/or Bluetooth streaming solution, for this they excel.

Sometimes it’s a TAD LABorious to turn on the other systems. ?

Edited by Yamaha_man
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We have a single Phantom White in ourMaster bedroom fed by optical cable from Sonos Connect through which I generally run via Roon.  Works well for the room, more than enough quality bass and volume but not the last word in upper end detail. A good product for how we use it and we enjoy the aesthetic v our traditional Hi-Fi gear (though we also liked the Zepplin Air it replaced). 

 

Definitely accept a stereo pair would be an improvement (and again no doubt with the higher models). Once our family heard 5 Phantoms in Singapore at the Adelphi Hi-Fi Emporium driven by Devialet amplifiers.  Needless to say the sound was amazing. 

 

 

AB7BF9B3-B18A-4AC3-9093-7CDA545B590F.jpeg

07F7F3C5-BA61-4C14-B272-B153EB659960.jpeg

Edited by KRSDarwin
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  • 3 months later...

For those considering the Phantom Reactor, there is now a matte black version. John Darko produced an excellent review of a stereo pair of Reactor 900 which he had many months.

https://darko.audio/2019/08/a-short-film-about-the-devialet-phantom-reactor-900/

 

A pair of Reactor 900s is half the price of a pair of Golds and said to perform very well. In my opinion, a value for money option.

 

Added *

For people in Melbourne wanting an audition, suggest Sight & Sound Galleria in Camberwell. They have Reactors on display,  Classic set up as an individual on a table top, Silvers set up as a stereo pair, mounted on a wall and Golds set up as a stereo pair mounted on Floor Stands. Plus a pair on Reactor 900s on low cabinet.

 

Edited by Snoopy8
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  • 2 weeks later...

For Phantom Premier owners, DOS2 is out, Dialog not required for stereo pairing and can use better Devialet app.  Please read docs to decide whether you want to migrate now or wait until all capabilities become available.

 

Main doc

https://help.devialet.com/hc/en-us/artic...om-Premier

Migration guide
https://stonly.com/explanation/devrai-je...Steps/4404

 

Lots of fuss on DevialetChat

https://devialetchat.com/Forum-Phantom-Premier-Classic-Silver-Gold

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