Devialet Phantom Tips & Tricks Setup

We're going to give you tips and tricks so you can get the most out of your Devialet Phantom. You may even want to consider adding two of these so you can experience the benefits of true stereo separation for your music, movies & TV shows! 

With multiple Phantoms, you could cover the whole house with music or even carry the sound of the big game or the movie you are watching into the kitchen and into other rooms of the home. 

We will show you how to do exactly that, plus we’ll show you how to set up just a single Phantom. It’s all done right within the Devialet app, and if you purchased a Phantom I model, we will quickly cover how to set up the remote control that comes included with each one you own.

Hopefully, this will be a quick & helpful guide for those who want to use two Phantoms in place of a soundbar for a room-filling two-channel experience in the main living room!

What's in the Box?

Before we get into Devialet Phantom tips and tricks, let’s talk about what’s in the box. Phantoms are self-contained wireless devices that operate independently without needing much else — so both the setup & accessories included are pretty minimal. The Devialet Phantoms come with a power cord and that’s about it. 

However, If you purchased any of the Phantom I models, each unit will also come with its own dedicated remote control in separate packaging. In the separate packaging, there is a Quick Start Guide, Safety Guide & a USB Type-A to micro-USB cable for charging the remote control. When you have multiple Phantoms in different rooms, covering your whole house with music, the remote makes it very easy to quickly raise or lower the volume of individual Phantoms on the fly in a multi-room setup. 

There are also several accessories Devialet makes especially for the Phantoms, but you will have to purchase these separately. We would recommend the Devialet Treepod stands to perfectly stabilize your investment. They also look great! There is also a carrying case available that protects your investment should you need to take the Phantom with you on the go. This will be handy if you decide to take your Phantom to a house party!

Overview of All Connections

Next, let’s quickly go over all the connections. 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. 

Physical Inputs & Outputs

In both Phantom I & II models, the inputs are tucked away on the back of the units behind a cable-management compartment that is sealed off and completely covered by Devialet’s really cool power plug that also acts as a trapdoor.

Right above the power plug, there is a push-button that powers on the Phantom and this illuminates to tell you the status of the unit during the initial setup. Once everything is configured within the Devialet companion app, there really is no need to have a view of the indicator light after the initial setup. 

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 a hardline connection to a router. Phantom II models have an analog input in addition to a digital optical input, so you can connect a laptop, turntable, CD player, or just about any audio source with a 3.5mm stereo-miniplug.

Wireless Connections

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.

Custom Home Theater Installations

Outside the scope of this tips & tricks article, but still worth mentioning is the Phantom’s Optical Direct Mode. 

If you are used to hardwiring with an optical cable & just want to bypass the wireless functionality for a more specific custom installation, all Phantoms have an open architecture that will let you access more of their high-performance potential. In Optical Direct mode, all Phantoms support playback of digital music with sample rates up to 24-bit 96Khz!

Setting up the Devialet App

The next most important step is downloading the free Devialet app to your smartphone and then pairing it with the Phantoms. If you have an iPhone, you can get it from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store if you’re on Android.

Before you open the app, it’s a good idea at this point to make sure both WIFI & Bluetooth are enabled on your smartphone.

1. Next, open the app and follow the onscreen instructions to register your product(s). Once you complete this step, a screen in the app will pop up requesting to find and connect with devices on your local network and to use Bluetooth. Go ahead and grant access for everything for the smoothest setup.
2. If you already enabled Bluetooth & WIFI in your phone’s settings, the Devialet app will automatically detect all of the nearby Phantoms. Go ahead and tap “Set Up Now,” to begin the process. At this point, the app will ask what type of room the Phantom will play in and give it a custom name. We set up both Phantoms in our living room, so we gave the first Phantom a custom name of “Living Room #1.” The app will then request access to the WIFI network.
3. If you are on an Apple iPhone, the next screen you will see is the “AirPlay Setup” screen. Tap the name of your network on this screen and then give your Phantom a custom name so that you will recognize it whenever you want to use the Phantom as an AirPlay device.
4. To keep things simple, we applied the same naming scheme, and named ours “Living Room #1.” This keeps it very straightforward, so you will know exactly which room the Phantom is in. This naming scheme will also come in handy later when you configure a stereo pair and need to specify which Phantom is left vs the right speaker in the stereo field.
5. Once it finishes, the next step is really cool! The Phantom will emit a sound, and the app will prompt you to place a hand right on top of your Phantom #1 speaker. Do this step and after a few seconds, you will hear the Phantom emit a second sound to let you know the setup process is complete. Tap “Done” to finalize this step.

If you have another Phantom to set up, the app will automatically take you back to the “New life found” screen, making it easy to just rinse and repeat the exact same steps for any additional Phantoms you need to add. If you have a second Phantom, we recommend naming the second one “Living Room #2,” or any similar naming scheme that works for you. Doing this will make it clear later on which Phantom you are controlling and the room it is in. 

Connections & Pairing Modes

Now that you have taken these steps, it’s time to pair Phantom(s) over Bluetooth.

Bluetooth

Your favorite streaming app will now let you select either of your Phantom’s custom names from the list of available Bluetooth devices. Go to Spotify, Apple Music, Qobuz, or Tidal and select the Phantom you want to connect to Bluetooth. If you have multiple Phantoms, you can easily switch between them over Bluetooth right from within your favorite music app. 

AirPlay

If you are using Airplay with an Apple device, your Phantom’s custom name will also show up as an AirPlay device in your favorite music app. One nice thing about AirPlay is that it will allow you to sync and play the same music to multiple Phantoms right from within your favorite music app, and also control the volume of each one. If you are using Bluetooth with multiple Phantoms, you will have to go back to the Devialet app to link all Phantoms together you want to use for Bluetooth.

Multiroom Streaming

No matter what connection you choose, whether it’s Bluetooth or AirPlay, the Devialet app will let you link Phantoms together for whole-house coverage with more than one Phantom in multiple rooms of the house. The Devialet app will then let you select any number of Phantoms and designate them into separate zones you control.

1. From the “Welcome home” screen, tap on the “link” button to see a list of all Phantoms available for linking.
2. Tap the “circle” next to each Phantom you want to add to the multiroom streaming zone. This is also where you can designate which Phantom you want to be the “Master” Phantom of your zone.
3. Once you’ve made your selections, the “Welcome home” screen will show all of your linked Phantoms as a single collection or “zone.”
4. When you tap on the collection, you will see the “Master” general volume control and then the other custom-named Phantoms in the collection. This is where you can raise or lower the volumes of all Phantoms at once or individual Phantoms to dial in the perfect levels for whole-house music coverage in different areas of your home.

Stereo Pairing

Whether it’s Bluetooth, AirPlay, or an optical connection, the Devialet app will let you configure two Phantoms as a stereo pair for a wide stereo image with music and movies. To set this up:

1. First, link two Phantoms together using the same steps from the multiroom streaming setup above. 
2. From the “Welcome home” screen, tap on the collection to see the “Master” general volume control and the other custom-named Phantoms in the collection.
3. Tap the “hamburger settings” button in the far right-hand corner of this screen.
4. Tap any of the two linked Phantoms on this screen. 
5. Tap “Configure Stereo Pair.”
6. On the “Create a stereo pair” screen, select the second Phantom you want to pair.
7. The second Phantom will emit a sound to let you know the stereo pairing was successful.
8. Tap “Next,” and one of the Phantoms will emit a series of sounds while the app directs you to select the Phantom producing the sound. This will let the app know which Phantom is left vs the right channel in the stereo image. If the right Phantom speaker is emitting the sound, tap on the right speaker or vice versa, and then tap “Next.” This can be easily switched later in the stereo pairings settings screen should you ever need to redesignate the left & right speakers.

This completes the stereo pairing setup. At this point, it’s a good idea to give your stereo pairing a custom name. We simply named ours “Living Room” from the stereo pairings settings screen.  

Connecting Phantoms with a TV

Now that you have a stereo pairing configured, it’s time to bring the wider stereo image fun to your movies and TV shows too! Connecting the stereo pair with a TV will make use of the Phantom’s optical connection. The good news is you will only need to make one connection from only one of the Phantoms in the stereo pair to your TV. The optical input is tucked away inside of the cable-management compartment on the back of the unit, so you will need to unplug the power plug that also acts as a trapdoor to access this connection. Once you run the optical cable from one of the Phantoms to your TV, open up the Devialet app, and then:

1. 1. On the “Welcome home,” screen tap the custom name of your stereo pair.
   2. Tap the “hamburger settings” in the far right corner of the screen.
   3. Tap on the Phantom speaker that is connected to your TV with the optical able.
   4. Toggle the switch next to “Optical auto-switch” into the On position.
   5. Then, go back to the previous screen, and scroll down to “Latency control,” under “Advanced Settings,” and adjust the latency level as needed. We set both the Left and Right to favor the lowest latency, leaving it set for 190 ms.
   6. Finally, remember to make sure that optical out is configured in your TV’s audio settings.

Pairing the Remote Controls

If you are using two Phantoms as a stereo pair, both tactile remote controls will automatically sync control over the volume and playback of the stereo image created by both Phantoms. Keep the other remote control handy and in a convenient location, so that you can easily control the volume of the stereo pair from another part of the room. To begin pairing the remote control:

1. Toggle the switch underneath the remote control to power it On.
2. Then, bring the remote control near the Phantom.
3. Finally, hold down the both “Previous” and “Next” arrow buttons simultaneously for about five seconds until the Phantom emits a sound, letting you know pairing was successful.
4. Repeat these steps for all additional remote controls you want to pair to other Phantoms.

If you switch back to using both Phantoms in a multi-room linked configuration, both remote controls will automatically default back to controlling the Phantom they were originally paired with. In an open floor plan layout, this makes it very convenient to dial in the perfect volume level for the kitchen without affecting the volume level of the other Phantom in the living room.    

Other Cool Features to Know About

Night Mode

Toggle “Night Mode” On to immediately soften the bass. Whether you are streaming music or a movie in stereo pairing mode or daisy-chaining multiple Phantoms into other rooms of the house for whole-house coverage, Night Mode will automatically know the wireless mode Phantoms are currently using. Use it to soften the impact on special effects for a late-night movie, or to quickly tone down the bass coming from just a specific Phantom.

1. On the “Welcome home” screen, tap the custom name of your individual Phantom or stereo pair.
2. Tap the “moon” button to activate or deactivate Night Mode.

Updating The Firmware

On the “Welcome home” screen, tap the “gear” in the far left-hand corner, and then “System update.” Doing this will future-proof your Phantom whenever Devialet rolls out cool new features!

Factory Reset

Finally, if you need to reset everything to factory default settings, just long-press and hold the power button on the back of the unit for about 10 seconds. 

Have Fun!

Phantoms offer a ton of flexibility and they sound fantastic with just about everything. Whether you’re connecting a turntable, a computer, a TV, or just Bluetoothing high-quality audio, you and your family will love having so many ways to enjoy great-sounding music, movies, TV shows, or video games in your home. We hope you’ve enjoyed this Tips & Tricks setup guide. Happy listening!