I wrote some impressions after comparing my Voyager to the IFI Phantom a person was trying to sell to me. As usual I went on and on in my notes. I'm trying to edit it down today. We used the Playback Designs Dac and the Gold Note DS 10 Plus and EVO power supply. Previously used the Sonnet Morpheus I.
I decided to have a little fun while writing a comparison I made while auditioning an IFI ICan Phantom I almost purchased. My musings:
In the realms of the audibly divine, where serendipity serenades the seekers of sonic sanctity, I found fortune smiling upon me not once, but twice, bestowing upon my auditory keep the company of two illustrious amplifiers and their partnering DACs. It was within the hushed confines of my listening chamber that the
Burson Voyager Deluxe and the
Ifi ICan Phantom, along with the
Playback Designs Edelweiss DAC and the lauded
GoldNote DS-10 Plus and EVO power supply, came into my temporary stewardship.
Such occasions are rare, akin to the aligning of celestial bodies, offering a brief glimpse into the cosmos of sound where the
Voyager and
Phantom serve as twin stars, each casting a distinctive luminescence upon the music they convey. This fortuitous juxtaposition allowed for an exploration of aural landscapes as varied and vast as the universe itself, where each amplifier and DAC pairing spoke in its own unique timbre and dialect in the language of high fidelity.
The ensuing odyssey was less a comparison and more a pilgrimage through the auditory ether, seeking out the holy grail of acoustic truth. With these twin behemoths of sound at my disposal, I embarked upon a journey not just of listening, but of hearing – the kind of deep, attentive hearing where one becomes one with the music. The
Burson, with its warm embrace, and the
Phantom, with its neutral precision, became my guides through the spectral forests of frequency and the cascading rivers of rhythm.
Thus, with anticipation whispering in the silent spaces between notes, I present to you a tale of two systems, a narrative woven from the threads of two extraordinary encounters with the sublime instruments of audio alchemy.
In the hallowed lexicon of high fidelity, where the gossamer wings of nuance flutter against the ear’s inner sanctum, one finds oneself in a sanctified state, questing for the ultimate sonic truth. The
Burson Voyager Deluxe, when married to the
Playback Designs Edelweiss DAC, begets a soundstage that's not merely wide but rife with the intimacy of a confessional. It draws one into the inner circle, into the very breath of the jazz club, a realm where the spatial cues and the air around vocals are as present as the weight of a stare. Within this soundscape, the ZMF Atrium is not just a participant but a conduit to the ethereal, unfurling a holographic tableau that swathes the listener in aural verity.
In contraposition, the
Phantom/Playback alliance yields a tonality of equanimity and poise. Here the soundstage, exacting in its three-dimensional embodiment, is a surgical instrument of auditory introspection. The HE1000 SE's prodigious width pairs with the Susvara's penetrating depth to carve a diorama of sound where each instrument, each breathy pause, is delineated with the precision of a cartographer's pen.
When one then migrates to the confluence of the
GoldNote DS-10 Plus/EVO with the
Voyager, a metamorphosis occurs: the soundstage burgeons, draped in textures as rich as a tapestry in a Medici villa. The warmth of the
Voyager melds with the
DS-10 Plus's detail to weave an expansive musical landscape, an odyssey that takes one through every pluck, every sigh, with a vividness that's as palpable as the humidity of a summer's eve.
Similarly transformative, the liaison between the
Phantom and the
GoldNote components elevates precision to an art form. This configuration doesn’t just sing; it enunciates with the clarity of a glass armonica, placing each tonal fragment in a mosaic that spans the auditory horizon from the granular to the grandiose.
With the
Playback Designs DAC as the common thread and a melodic palette ranging from the intricate latticework of Metheny's strings to the profound emotive piano landscapes of Jarrett, the vocal chameleon-like prowess of Krall, to the idiosyncratic, haunting Björk, one appreciates the distinctive virtues of the
Voyager and the
Phantom. The
Voyager, with its sonic embrace, draws you into the music’s emotional bosom, while the
Phantom lays bare the anatomy of sound with clinical acumen.
This cornucopia of audio splendor, now augmented by the
GoldNote DS-10 Plus and
EVO power supply, not only illuminates the inherent characteristics of the
Voyager and
Phantom but also serves as a grand stage for the musical oeuvre of our curated artists to resonate in all its intricate glory and emotive resonance.
Yet, in the end, as one steeped in the artistry of music rather than the empiricism of engineering, my proclivity gravitates towards the
Burson and
GoldNote amalgamation. It affords me the luxury to become lost in the melody, oblivious to the machinations of the apparatus that delivers it. It is the musical message, not the messenger, that ensnares my senses. Your own predilections may vary, perhaps swaying towards the
Phantom's exacting renditions of sound’s architecture. But rest assured, whether cloaked in the
Voyager's warmth or basking in the
Phantom's analytical glow, each imparts a unique keyhole into the very soul of our auditory canvas. My journey ends with the
Burson and GoldNote ensemble – an alliance that lets the music take center stage, unencumbered by the trappings of the equipment that ushers it forth. Your journey, should you embark upon it, might trace a different route, each step informed by what your ear, attuned to the technical or the transcendental, seeks in the pursuit of acoustic perfection.
