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Devialet’s Dialog adaptor can create a multiroom speaker system made of up to 24 Phantoms
Devialet Gold Phantom £2,190 en.devialet.com
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Devialet is going for gold with the latest version of its
Phantom speaker. It launched its Phantom and Silver Phantom speakers last year, priced at £1,390 and £1,690 respectively, and has now added the top-of-the-range Gold Phantom for £2,190. That’s seriously expensive, of course, but the Gold Phantom is unlike any of the compact home speakers we’ve seen in the past.
The speaker starts off with 22-carat tinted gold panels that will be a great match for your Rose Gold iPhone, iPad or MacBook. Beneath its gilded exterior, the Gold Phantom boosts its volume levels to a thunderous 108dB – about the same level as a pneumatic drill. It’s not just about power, though. The Gold Phantom sounds terrific too, thanks to a custom-designed audio chip that includes both a high-quality DAC (digital-to-analogue converter) and a hybrid analogue/digital amplifier. There’s no subwoofer, but Devialet came up with a special design for the bass drivers that allows them to withstand very high air pressure in order to enhance bass output. In fact, Devialet refers to this as its ‘bass implosion’ design, as some of Devialet’s early prototypes imploded under the pressure they were subjected to.
Manifestly massive sound
All three Phantom models include Bluetooth and dual-band Wi-Fi for streaming music, as well as Gigabit Ethernet and a Toslink optical connector. The Gold Phantom adds Apple’s AirPlay tech for streaming from Macs and iOS over Wi-Fi. Devialet also provides its own app, called Spark, which lets several people share their music libraries and create shared playlists.
If you buy two Phantoms together you’ll save a couple of hundred pounds and get Devialet’s Dialog adaptor thrown in, which pairs the speakers for two-channel stereo. And, if you’re seriously loaded, it can create a multiroom system of up to 24 Phantoms spread through the wings of your mansion.