Devialet PHANTOM Ships, Becomes Fastest-Selling Product in High-End Audio

mauidan

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Aug 2, 2010
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http://www.theabsolutesound.com/art...es-fastest-selling-product-in-high-end-audio/

Owners of the first production run of PHANTOMs (made through a precise and exacting manufacturing process entirely in France) include many “A-List” celebrities and tech pioneers, including:
  • Jay-Z
  • Beyoncé
  • Jared Leto
  • Will.I.Am
  • Marc Benioff (Founder and CEO of Salesforce®)
  • Tony Fadell (Founder of Nest®, a subsidiary of Google®)
  • Palmer Luckey (Founder of Oculus®, a subsidiary of Facebook®)
  • Andy Rubin (Creator of the Android® Operating System)
 

wisnon

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Dec 12, 2011
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It has been delayed for solo long that my local dealer got very frustrated.

Its a fun product, but really a party speaker, not for the audiophile obsessed.

I quite like them though.

From reports, Kii 3 will be more in the 'phile realm.
 

Diapason

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Mar 26, 2014
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Your description in the second paragraph there is spot on, Wisnon. I'm going to use that next time somebody asks me what I think of them!
 

FrantzM

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Apr 20, 2010
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Is that your opinion after having listened to them?

Was about to ask the same :)

I haven't heard these yet but they seem to wake up all our of our prejudices ... Proof is in the listening ...
 

JackD201

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Apr 20, 2010
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I heard them under totally un-ideal conditions. They were mounted on the exterior wall of their enclosed booth in the noisy HK convention center and were clearly being overdriven. When the local dealer gets them I'll drop in and give them a listen. Looks like a good alternative for our living room to replace the Duevel planets my bouncing off the walls son knocked over and damaged.
 

Diapason

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Mar 26, 2014
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Is that your opinion after having listened to them?

Yes it is.

Like Wisnon I quite like them, and I definitely admire what they do for the money. If a non audiophile asked for my advice on a non fussy system for the money, I'd definitely suggest listening to them.

The bass is obviously the main selling point, and sure enough they provide massive bass that's amazing from something so small. The midrange and treble are ok, and all told I found them quite enjoyable to listen to. However, having thought maybe I'd buy a pair before I heard them, now I have no interest. They just don't have that classy, refined sound I'm looking for. They're not the kind of speaker to provide an open window onto the performance, they're more trying to wow you and grab your attention. As Wisnon says, a party speaker, not something I can imagine settling down in front of with a single malt for a night of ECM jazz!

So they're not bad, but they're not for me.
 

Whatmore

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Jun 2, 2011
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I'm
Yes it is.

Like Wisnon I quite like them, and I definitely admire what they do for the money. If a non audiophile asked for my advice on a non fussy system for the money, I'd definitely suggest listening to them.

The bass is obviously the main selling point, and sure enough they provide massive bass that's amazing from something so small. The midrange and treble are ok, and all told I found them quite enjoyable to listen to. However, having thought maybe I'd buy a pair before I heard them, now I have no interest. They just don't have that classy, refined sound I'm looking for. They're not the kind of speaker to provide an open window onto the performance, they're more trying to wow you and grab your attention. As Wisnon says, a party speaker, not something I can imagine settling down in front of with a single malt for a night of ECM jazz!

So they're not bad, but they're not for me.

Thanks for the information.
And apologies if I implied you were criticising without having listened :)
 

Diapason

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Mar 26, 2014
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No apology necessary, Whatmore, but it's appreciated nonetheless. Surely nobody on the internet would dream of commenting about something they hadn't heard... ;)
 

wisnon

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Dec 12, 2011
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Is that your opinion after having listened to them?

Yes, weeks ago and posted on AS and reposted here:
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=131177.msg1453659#msg1453659

I had posted this at another forum a few weeks ago:

I finally got to hear them. A single White on Friday and a stereo pair of Silvers yesterday and I must say…they are FUN!

If not audiophile obsessed, a pair of Silvers could be endgame. Yes, they lack ultimate resolution in mids and upper mids… but the HF was pretty good and the bass can be a bit fat/exaggerated, but overall they work very well and can ROCK. Perfect party speakers too and they scale up nicely to 32 units playing in concert with each other. They passed the "cricket test" with the Chris Jones "Roadhouses" cut and were lovely with Thriller and Keith Dont Go. Rosanna's guitar rift was also very pleasing, but lacked that extra resolution of the "unfair to compare to" Goldmund Anatta (where you could hear the performers murmering to each other).

All in all for CHF4K (Swiss Francs) for a pair of Silver, I found it extremely competitive for the price and tempting in its simplicity. Easy to love…and I was prepared to not like them as much as I did. As a 2nd system…(or 2nd home) like in a Lake cabin or a Chalet… it's a no-brainer. Sonos on steroids.

What I would expect to see soon is that swanky bars and clubs will adopt them as near turnkey scalable solutions, given that they are easily wall mounted with a dedicated optional bracket.

The Silver weighed more than I thought just looking at them and ran a bit hot at the back vents. Me Likey!
 

wisnon

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Dec 12, 2011
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Yes it is.

Like Wisnon I quite like them, and I definitely admire what they do for the money. If a non audiophile asked for my advice on a non fussy system for the money, I'd definitely suggest listening to them.

The bass is obviously the main selling point, and sure enough they provide massive bass that's amazing from something so small. The midrange and treble are ok, and all told I found them quite enjoyable to listen to. However, having thought maybe I'd buy a pair before I heard them, now I have no interest. They just don't have that classy, refined sound I'm looking for. They're not the kind of speaker to provide an open window onto the performance, they're more trying to wow you and grab your attention. As Wisnon says, a party speaker, not something I can imagine settling down in front of with a single malt for a night of ECM jazz!

So they're not bad, but they're not for me.

I had the same whisky analogy (though I hate whiskey), so say a fine bottle of Red instead.The Phantoms are great for the living room, not the man cave. the rest of the family will enjoy them for general purpose music and HT duties. The bass is not the typical vibration propogation, but rather air pushing. The Mid/HF not the most refined and one gets the feeeling it was deliberate, ie to leave room for the Phantom 2 or the Wraith...to combate Kii 3s....though Kii plans floorstanding model 7, I hear. So Phantom is iPod for grown ups at home.
 

Groucho

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Aug 18, 2012
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Surely nobody on the internet would dream of commenting about something they hadn't heard... ;)

Does that mean that a person cannot hold an opinion such as "I don't like the sound of 78s"? After all, it is impossible to listen to all gramophones. Maybe there's a superb one out there that knocks high res audio into a cocked hat.

The answer, of course, is that it is possible to work out a valid opinion from facts, figures and subjective experiences that do not include each and every product out there.

However, in this case, I really would like to hear these Phantoms myself! I may be drawing the wrong conclusions about them through sheer prejudice concerning their appearance and their target market.
 

Diapason

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Mar 26, 2014
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Does that mean that a person cannot hold an opinion such as "I don't like the sound of 78s"? After all, it is impossible to listen to all gramophones. Maybe there's a superb one out there that knocks high res audio into a cocked hat.

You can hold whatever opinion you want, old bean, and I won't even try to stop you! However, if you make a comment about a specific product, I'd like to at least know what the comment is based upon. So, if you say "I'm not expecting much from Devialet because I've never met a class D amplifier that I like", well, more power to your elbow, but if you say "Devialet is ****" without elaboration on the basis for that conclusion, it's probably not so useful to me. And strangely enough, a lot of people (on other forums) were very quick to make assumptions about Devialet based on very scant knowledge, and to publicly trumpet the same.

(I should probably say I'm actually a huge fan of Devialet amps, and have been since the D-Premier, so normally I'm on the other side of the criticism. I've been generally appalled by the anti-Devialet sentiment across some of the UK forums, for example, especially from those who have never heard a single Devialet product, but who just assume that because it's in a shiny box it's a lifestyle product and nothing more.)

The answer, of course, is that it is possible to work out a valid opinion from facts, figures and subjective experiences that do not include each and every product out there.

I totally agree, but when a product is genuinely "new" it's hard to separate the well-considered extrapolation from the mindless bashing.

However, in this case, I really would like to hear these Phantoms myself! I may be drawing the wrong conclusions about them through sheer prejudice concerning their appearance and their target market.

Funny thing from my side was that when I first heard about them I assumed they were going to be an assault on the high-end (a bit like the Kii Three seems to be attempting, but time will tell there). My previous experience with Devialet meant that I expected something with really high-end sound in a lifestyle package. To that end, I've been somewhat disappointed, but it's clear now that my expectations were all wrong. To be honest, I'm still not sure what the target market is. Is it for wealthy people looking for a better Sonos? Is it the iPod generation now growing up and making a bit of money? Is it audiophiles who are tired of audiophilia? I'm really not sure.
 

wisnon

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Funny thing from my side was that when I first heard about them I assumed they were going to be an assault on the high-end (a bit like the Kii Three seems to be attempting, but time will tell there). My previous experience with Devialet meant that I expected something with really high-end sound in a lifestyle package. To that end, I've been somewhat disappointed, but it's clear now that my expectations were all wrong. To be honest, I'm still not sure what the target market is. Is it for wealthy people looking for a better Sonos? Is it the iPod generation now growing up and making a bit of money? Is it audiophiles who are tired of audiophilia? I'm really not sure.

Funny, this was exactly the same heady discussions I had with an industry insider about the Phantom before hearing them. Just what is their target market? It seemed to either be "piggy in the middle" or they were going to carve out a whole new market segment with lots of Marketing $$$.


Phantom 2 will be an assault on the high end, as fixing the M/HF is trivial compared to the bass issues that have been slain. I think the Phantom was deliberately hamstrung and for €10K a pair, you will see something closer to what Kii is proposing....in the upcoming WRAITH, or is that SPECTRE? LoL
Now that I heard them, I think it will be what you said...Super Sonos (capable of doing wireless multi room), cool interior design music appliances with high WAF -modern deco motif, family room fun speakers doing HT duties, iPod owner graduation system. All in the lower end of high end, as $4K a pair is not exactly "cheap", even if audiophiles think so. This is for musi lovers wanting convenience over nuanced sound and want it in a KEEN package.
 

amirm

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Apr 2, 2010
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Funny thing from my side was that when I first heard about them I assumed they were going to be an assault on the high-end (a bit like the Kii Three seems to be attempting, but time will tell there). My previous experience with Devialet meant that I expected something with really high-end sound in a lifestyle package. To that end, I've been somewhat disappointed, but it's clear now that my expectations were all wrong. To be honest, I'm still not sure what the target market is. Is it for wealthy people looking for a better Sonos? Is it the iPod generation now growing up and making a bit of money? Is it audiophiles who are tired of audiophilia? I'm really not sure.
Without the wealthy market, they would have gone out of business already. I am actually surprised of the audiophile interest for their amps.
 

microstrip

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dallasjustice

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Without the wealthy market, they would have gone out of business already. I am actually surprised of the audiophile interest for their amps.

I've heard them paired with YG Carmel a couple times. It all sounded really good to me, notwithstanding the hotel room acoustics. It's a bonus that they are reasonably priced and smartly designed.

Some of the most active online threads I've seen on various audiophile fora are dedicated to devialet products. I think the market is talking and a few manufacturers are listening. But most can't hear what they are saying.
 

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