After seeing in a newsletter that “Plays With Audirvana” certification was coming for the Devialet Phantom Ultimate I decided to upgrade my Phantom II (98 dB) to the Phantom Ultimate (98 dB) for my office. Loved the SQ of the Phantom II’s but niggles meant I could only use them with AirPlay with Audirvana. When using UPnP I suffered with intermittent play back stops mid queue and a frequent failure to record a track as played in the playback history of Audirvana (multiple times in a play queue despite each track playing flawlessly).
The change of hardware coupled with an upgrade from DOS 2 to DOS 3 with the Phantom Ultimate’s and the adoption of the “Plays with” programme has worked wonders for me. After setup of the stereo pair with the Devialet app, AS (beta 2.99.15) immediately popped up the “Plays With” dialog box. Clicked OK and 4 hours later every play queue has flawlessly played with all tracks recorded as played (would not have managed more than 30 minutes before an unwanted playback stop or failure to record a track as played with the Phantom II’s over UPnP). Thanks to both Devialet and Audirvana I can fully enjoy faultless playback of lossless /hi res music with my Phantoms!
Update:
After 24 hours with the Phantom Ultimate stereo pair over UPnP feel totally confident that all my niggles are resolved. Played all combinations of file types that would trip up the Phantom II in probably 20-30 play queues and no issues. The SQ is significantly different as well. Have seldom been happier with upgrading a product as this upgrade. Wow……..
Spoke too soon. I have come across one issue with the Phantom Ultimate’s 98 dB.
When playing long play queues incorporating songs from 16/44.1 to 24/192 there are never any issues. Playback is faultless.
When playing 24/192 albums however playback starts stuttering after 20-30 minutes of continuous playback sending the 24/192 file to the Devialet’s (I have a lot of classical albums at this resolution).
This is not to my mind a network issue. My MBP connects wirelessly to a satellite Zenwifi BQ16 WiFi 7 router in my office. The Devialet’s are connected via Ethernet to the same router. Also connected to this router via a 10m Ethernet cable is a Chord 2Go/Hugo2 on my desk. I can upsample to 24/768 with AS to this combo with zero playback issues so it is not a latency/bandwidth issue.
I resolved the issue by overriding the Plays With Audirvana settings and just setting the maximum sample rate to 96 kHz. After doing so I can play 24/192 files endlessly for hours without any issues. As the Phantom Ultimate’s 98 dB speakers modulate all incoming files to 24/96 this is not an issue. It seems to my mind likely to be a DOS3 firmware issue in the 98dB’s as it is only triggered when the speakers are downsampling 24/192 files to 24/96 files internally…. Possibly a memory management issue. Obviously downsampling the 24/192 files to 24/96 files in Audirvana and then sending them to the speakers has no effect on SQ as the speakers would do this anyway.
I have alerted Devialet to this issue through a support request but not heard anything back yet. I assume it does not affect the 108 dB Phantom Ultimate’s as they support 24/192 file playback.
What you are describing, does certainly allude to a DAC topology concern… What I don’t understand is, what compelled you to send 192kHz files to a DAC that supports up-to 96kHz? I would have thought by now you’ve read enough of my posts regarding offloading DSP operations from the DAC architecture, to have factored this into your Audirvāna configuration… This would include using ‘Power of Two’ up-sampling strategy so to produce the logically correct result, and converting all DSD files to PCM in Audirvāna …
The stated file compatibility is up to 24/192, but internally everything is modulated to 24/96. The plays with Audirvana default setting is max PCM 192 khz
To my mind the plays with Audirvana settings for the 98 dB phantoms should be set at 96 kHz max PCM setting.
Think the manufacturers accept higher frequency files as a selling point irrespective of what they ultimately re-sample to. In a similar vein the Plays with Audirvana settings for the KEF LS 50 II is 384 kHz but internally they down sample to 24/192 for a wired interspeaker connection and 24/96 for the wireless connection.
This is from the Devialet webpage for the Phantom Ultimate 98dB…
Full Body Sound Technology.
Devialet Phantom 98 dB speaker transforms sound into a full-body experience in an ultra-compact form. Every Devialet innovation is driven by the will to connect body, mind, and music. Featuring Devialet’s latest-generation Analog Digital Hybrid (ADH®) amplification and improved bandwidth, Devialet Phantom Ultimate 98 dB is able to reproduce music with the utmost precision—free from distortion, saturation, or background noise. With 32 bit / 96 kHz audio processing and a 18 Hz - 25 kHz frequency range, every detail—from ethereal whispers to electrifying basslines—resonates in the body.
It looks as though the 108dB version is the same DAC topology, but maybe with a beefier amp and larger low/mid driver… It looks like the Devialet DSP is the limiting factor…
Yes the DSP in the specs is listed at 32/96 but the input states up to 24/192 as per the attached speaker comparison on the Devialet web site.
I assume that’s why the Plays with manufacturers settings are set to max PCM of 192 kHz. They do indeed accept 24/192 files from AS, the stuttering only seems to occur after 20 -30 minutes of playing 24/192 tracks one after another
Very misleading… especially if they jam-up when receiving 192kHz data… my guess is there is a data accumulator/register that is being over-run or under-run and/or affected by latencies with all of their proprietary DSP functions… However, in my mind, you are doing the right thing… Your diligent experimentation and some gut insight, has saved the day it seems…
I think you are probably correct on the cause. They are still a significant enhancement over the Phantom II’s which I could only get to work with AS perfectly over AirPlay! The sound signature is also significantly better in my personal perception.
Elegant and technologically advanced… I don’t doubt they sound wonderful… just feed them compatible sample-rates and hopefully you can relax and enjoy!
Since overriding the default Plays with Audirvana setting of max PCM of 192 kHz down to 96 kHz they have played all files flawlessly and I am as chilled as possible when sitting in my home office. Absolutely wonderful speakers in such an aesthetically unusual yet compact design form!
