Design & Build Quality

Phantoms are designed, manufactured & assembled at Devialet Laboratories in Paris, France where ultra-high-performance materials, extreme precision engineering & beautiful aesthetics come together. Designed to be the centerpiece in a room, Phantoms are statuesque — almost like works of art.

Everyone who entered the room was wowed and had something positive to say about the unique look. Many were genuinely surprised to learn they are actually high-performance loudspeakers. A setup in the living room connected as a stereo pair to a TV — or even a single Phantom sitting on a counter in the kitchen will get people’s attention and their feet moving. Phantoms are simply ultra-high-end speaker systems that will make people know just how serious you are about hi-fi sound & brilliant design.

Extreme Woofer Excursion

The Phantom I 103dB stands exactly 10 inches tall, less than 13.5 inches across, and spans 9 inches wide, and yet it packs in 500 watts of power! To reproduce the full impact of music with great bottom-end weight from an ultra-compact design, Devialet had to invent a new technology — Heart Bass Implosion (HBI®).

HBI® is Devialet’s high-performance implosive bass tech, giving Phantoms the ability to reproduce deep low-end from a single unit. The design consists of two Devialet-exclusive high-excursion aluminum woofers that move in perfect symmetry to push air around with the physical impact and density never before achieved from such compact enclosures. Each woofer is capable of moving a mass of more than 66lbs which creates their implosive sound. The tech behind this stems from a decade of research & development at the Devialet Laboratories in Paris.

Extreme Engineering

Devialet took all of its tech from the Heart Bass Implosion (HBI®) symmetric woofers and designed the diaphragms to be flush with the Phantom’s surface in order to form a nearly perfect spherical enclosure.

To withstand the level of pressure, the spherical acoustic architectures of Phantoms are sealed using aeronautical-grade standards with composite mono-hull under 440 lbs of pressure. Further, the gasket, sealing off the woofer is over 2.5mm in diameter and compressed by a force of 1.2 tons to ensure tight sealing.

The surface of all Phantoms is a smooth, premium aeronautical-grade sealed enclosure made of an extremely rigid ballistics-grade plastic polymer called "ZeMac” — known for its excellent sealant properties.

It looks and feels high-end — although should it take a fall, it could scratch easily — so, pairing Phantoms with Devialet’s custom Treepod speaker stands (made especially for Phantoms) will not only provide them with the acoustic support Phantoms deserve, they are also a really beautiful way to show them off in your home.

Performance

Wins Our Seal of Approval to "Crank It Up."

Every Phantom I comes with its own dedicated rechargeable remote with a smooth rotary dial that will let you precisely control the volume & playback.

You get the largest dual 7.5-inch aluminum woofers for 2 dB down at 16 Hz on the bass. The larger size of this also makes more room for a dedicated aluminum mid-range driver plus an aluminum tweeter that extends the top-end for an extra 4kHz compared to the smaller Phantom II series. Two dedicated drivers give you a much more extended top end with far better-resolving power in the midrange compared to the Phantom II series.

One Devialet Phantom I 103dB will be a great entry-point into the wider omnidirectional soundstage Phantom’s are known for — plus a clearer presentation of musical details that will sound fantastic in medium-sized rooms.

Specs at a glance:

SOUND IMPACT: 103 dB SPL

AVERAGE POWER: 500W RMS

FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 16Hz - 25kHz +/- 2dB

Inputs: Bluetooth connectivity, AirPlay, Spotify Connect, Roon Ready, UPnP, Optical

Dimensions: 10 inches tall, 13.5 inches long & almost 10 inches wide.

Weight: 25.13 LBS

Setup & User Experience

Phantoms can be controlled by the Devialet app and they all have plenty of ways to connect over Bluetooth and wi-fi, Spotify Connect, AirPlay 2, UPnP plus Roon Ready to boot!

Even though Phantoms are very advanced, the setup was very straightforward and easy to control. The Devialet app lets you set up everything and control all of your playback options end-to-end. We appreciated how open & user-friendly the app was to use. We weren’t forced to use Devialet’s app to playback music. Instead, we were completely free to go directly to our favorite streaming app to take full control of all of our music playback.

In Apple Music or Qobuz, for example, you just select your Phantom as the Bluetooth or AirPlay device you want to stream to. Setting up different configurations such as a stereo pairing or multiroom connectivity for whole-house coverage, and then switching back and forth between them was also very flexible and easy to navigate.

All Audio Advice purchasers will receive our Tips & Tricks setup video to use all these cool features!

While everything was just a finger tap away with the apps on our phones, sometimes it’s nice to step away from our phones once in a while. We really liked how every Phantom I model came with its own dedicated remote control with a smooth rotary dial that lets you fine-tune the volume levels of individual Phantoms in separate rooms or the soundstage of a stereo pair.

Our test units came with two rotary controllers which made it very convenient to dial in the perfect volume level for the kitchen without affecting the volume level of the second Phantom in the living room. A very nice touch!

The Sound

We tested a lot of genres of music including Jazz, Classical, Rock, Pop, R&B, EDM, Hip-hop, and even some Dubstep just to really push them to their limits! When we demoed just a single Phantom I 103dB in our living room, we could immediately hear the “warm,” musical sound signature of the class A analog amplifier. And this is where Devialet’s ADH® hybrid amplification tech & SAM® Acoustic Signal Processing really shined. It was extremely easy to just kick back, relax, and get lost in all of the dynamic details poking out in the Phantom’s really wide musical presentation with just about any genre of music we chose.

One song that stood out as particularly immersive was “First Aid,” which is an alternative rock song recorded in 2020 by Gus Dapperton for his sophomore album “Orca.” The track is full of dynamic details — with acoustic guitar strings strummed hard left and right, an electric bass guitar sitting right in the middle, and harmonized vocals performed by Gus and his sister panned all around the stereo image for a very intimate & immersive presentation — and yet one Phantom 103dB did a pretty decent job covering the living room area with a soundstage that was very easy to get lost in.

However, the low-end is where Phantom’s really excel. Even on bass-heavy music, our Phantom I 103dB reproduced clear-sounding bass that maintained a tuneful sense-of-timing, and a rhythm-and-pacing that had us tapping our feet at lower listening levels. But, If you really want to push the Phantom to see what it’s capable of, then you have to play some high-energy party music and then turn up the volume. Loud!

Devialet’s special Heart Bass Implosion (HBI®) tech really came alive on modern recordings with good healthy bottom-end weight — and for us, this was a pretty exhilarating experience — not just sonically — but, visually!

To see this state-of-the-art woofer excursion tech in action, check out “Selfish,” which is a shadowy, slow jam released in 2018 by the rap artist & songwriter, SAINt JHN. Turn up the music and watch how fast the woofers move in perfect symmetry as they push the air around to reproduce deep sub-bass frequencies down to 16 Hz! Seeing the Phantom’s dual high-excursion woofers moving in perfect symmetry at such an extreme velocity was just so cool to watch!

Sub-bass didn’t just perform extremely well on party music, it also worked great when having guests over for movie nights. We paired two Phantom I 103dB’s together in a stereo pair and connected them to our TV using the digital optical input. This improved the separation of details and also widened the soundstage for a fantastic two-channel stereo image on movie & TV show soundtracks — plus the dual high-excursion woofers delivered sound effects with deep chest-hitting impact that was just as exhilarating as having a good subwoofer in the room.

If you want to experience the wider stereo image & impactful bass response with two Phantoms paired together, then you have to check out the indie cult classic, Donnie Darko. It has a fantastic soundtrack full of classic hit songs that are perfect for experiencing the benefits of a stereo pair.

At about 11 minutes into the film, there’s a famous scene where an airplane crashes into a suburban home. The dual 7.5-inch aluminum woofers reproduced the slam of the plane crashing into the house with a big chest-hitting impact that really drew us deeper into this cult classic hit. Vocals, dialogue, and subtle dynamics stood out more clearly in the center of the stereo image, and the separation of details gained from having a wider soundstage drew us deeper into the storyline with a great-sounding music soundtrack.

Features & Technology

Very Easy-to-Use

Everything can be set up & controlled right from the Devialet app on a smartphone. Control the volume, set up a stereo pair, create a custom multi-room setup for whole-house coverage with as many Phantoms as you wish, adjust the latency for A/V, soften the bass with Night Mode & keep your Phantom up to date.

In addition to the app, every model in the Phantom I series comes with a dedicated rechargeable remote control with a very smooth rotary dial that will let you precisely control a Phantom’s volume and the playback. When you have multiple Phantoms in different rooms, covering your whole house with music, the rotary dial makes it very easy to quickly raise or lower the volume of individual Phantoms on the fly in a multi-room setup. We also like how all Phantoms have a proximity sensor on top of the enclosure that senses the remote control — this makes the setup process quick & easy.

Another cool feature is the inputs. They are all tucked away on the back of the unit behind a cable-management compartment that is sealed off and completely covered by Devialet’s really cool custom-designed power plug that acts as a trapdoor.

Phantom's Open Architecture

Whether you are used to Bluetooth pairing, Wi-Fi, optical or analog, Phantom's have an open architecture that lets you get straight to the music. They all support high-res multi-room streaming for sample rates up to 24-bit 48kHz over WIFI, Bluetooth, AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect & UPnP with external hard drives — plus all Phantoms are Roon Ready to boot!

The streaming protocol with Spotify Connect allows for lossless streaming, which is super important for non-Apple users that can't use Airplay — especially when Spotify releases their hi-res lossless streaming tier. So, if you are an Android user, Bluetooth is not your only streaming option.

All Phantoms have an optical Toslink input for connecting with TVs or a CD player (or anything with a digital output) plus an ethernet port for connecting a router. If you need an analog input to connect a laptop, turntable, CD player, or any audio source with a 3.5mm stereo-miniplug then you will want to consider the Phantom II.

If you are used to hardwiring with an optical cable and just want to bypass the wireless functionality for a specific custom installation, Phantom's open architecture will let you access even more of its high-performance potential with Devialet’s Optical Direct Mode. In this mode, all Phantoms support playback of digital music with sample rates up to 24-bit 96Khz!

ADH® — Pure Analog Engine with Smart Digital Power

At the heart of all Phantoms is the technology that made Devialet the most-awarded company in high-performance audio — ADH® Intelligence, which trickles down from Devialet’s Expert Pro range of high-end amplifiers.

ADH® (Analog Digital Hybrid) is Devialet’s special hybrid amplification architecture on a chip and works by connecting a genuine class A analog amp directly to the speaker. Devialet’s custom silicon gets you into a level of performance that is close to a Class A amp without the weight, size, or heat generation.

Thanks to the class A analog amplifier, think of music with a “warmer,” “musical” sound profile and bass that has a more tuneful sense-of-timing and a rhythm-and-pacing that will make you want to tap your feet especially when you crank up the volume.

SAM® Acoustic Signal Processing

SAM® (Speaker Active Matching) is another state-of-the-art innovation from Devialet that trickled down from their Expert line of amplifiers to maintain acoustic accuracy within specific speaker drivers.

Where ADH® is the high-performance engine powering the output stage within a Phantom speaker, SAM® is the special processing that allows the engine to adapt (in real-time) to the audio signal going through it. It works by learning a speaker’s unique electroacoustic behaviors and then controls each driver to reproduce the exact acoustic pressure that was captured by the recording studio’s microphone.

For every sample in the recording that is analyzed, SAM® will know the exact voltage required by the power amp to drive each Phantom driver, so that the acoustic pressure is a one-to-one image of the audio signal.

ACE® — Omnidirectional Soundstage

ACE® (Active Cospherical Engine) Loudspeaker technology is the Phantom’s acoustic directivity pattern for its transducers to spread the sound waves out evenly in all directions with optimal dispersion management.

Whenever sound waves coming out of a speaker bounce back to hit the surface of the speaker’s cabinet, the cabinet can sometimes bend the waves and we call this type of breakage “surface diffraction.” Essentially, a curved cabinet will have less sound bouncing off of it compared to a square one.

Since Phantoms are curved like a sphere, their curved surfaces do not bend or diffract the sound waves. The result is an amazing bass reproduction with a more spatial sound that minimizes the effects of surface diffraction to near-zero.

Overall Recommendation

Overall, we were deeply impressed with the big presentation of sound coming from just one Phantom I 103dB — however, adding the second Phantom for a stereo pair is what really made the most tangible difference to the immersion we felt in every listening situation we tested.

Phantoms offer a premium upgrade path into multiroom connectivity that will grow with you as your needs expand, and they are the coolest Bluetooth speakers we have ever seen. There are even really cool Phantom I & Phantom II series Cocoon cases available so you can tote your Phantom around.

Whether it’s their high-tech design, their high-end materials, or the awesome omnidirectional sound coming out, they will make great conversation pieces! They will not be for everyone, but if you are someone who wants to have something no one else has, then you really cannot go wrong with one of these. Since they can be paired together with a TV, or in several rooms throughout the home, you could start out with just one and then add a second Phantom later.

Our tips & tricks setup guide available for all Audio Advice purchasers will show you how to set up a single Phantom with the app, then configure a stereo pair for music listening. Finally, we will also show you how to use the optical connection for better sound with your TV!