I'm not sure what you mean. I don't see anything in the article that would indicate that his, if that is still his opinion, had changed. The Phils weren't mentioned at all, and the reference speakers he mentioned are, I believe, the one's he built.
This just looks like a good review of a pair of speakers. Not an these vs anything else piece. Even if he did say anything of that nature, I'm sure it would have been quashed before publishing.
Several weeks back, over at the Steam Vent section, Gene started a thread indicating he'd been unable to contact GranteedEV, who had had these speakers for review for some time. A situation like this can have consequences for a business looking for products to review. Eventually GranteedEV responded and provided explanations or excuses, you take your pick, for why he hadn't responded or completed the review in a timely fashion. In I believe his initial reply he stated that the XTZ speakers were sonically inferior to the Phil 3's. Later he stated he'd do an all nighter and knock out the review.
That thread was subsequently deleted but the memory of those who read it not so much. Juxtapose what I just wrote with the review. Should the review be considered quite positive or one that's cautionary? While you can say the speaker has characteristics that are comparable to those twice its price or more, by the same token there seems to be at least one speaker that thumbs its nose at any sonic superiority.
Now for comments about the review itself. I find the mention of the Accuton driver representing 1/4 the price of the speaker misleading. XTZ is not paying consumer retail nor is it going to be 10% off. If you want to part it out then you might as well determine the retail costs of everything else. How are warranty issues handled? Where can it be heard? What does the inside of the speaker look like? Where was the speaker made, i.e. country of origin sticker somewhere? In the past, XTZ sold amps that were pretty similar to Emotiva who at that time sourced their amps from ToneWinner in China. The warranty was much worse.
Sure one can say we all hear differently and have different priorities. A position like that also provide cover and be looked at as a politically correct view that seeks to offend no one.