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+--- Thread: New Devialet Phantom Ultimate - listening impressions (/Thread-New-Devialet-Phantom-Ultimate-listening-impressions)
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New Devialet Phantom Ultimate - listening impressions - howcho - 17-Sep-2025
I will try to get to my dealer in the next couple of days to listen. Sadly no beryllium tweeter but I expect the continued improvements that they have achieved for each model so far. It would be great to get your impression if you listen to them.
RE: New Devialet Phantom Ultimate - listening impressions - howcho - 17-Sep-2025
https://www.t3.com/tech/speakers/forget-boring-bookshelf-speakers-devialets-new-phantom-looks-insane
RE: New Devialet Phantom Ultimate - listening impressions - Dvlt PhD - 17-Sep-2025
(17-Sep-2025, 11:41)howcho Wrote: https://www.t3.com/tech/speakers/forget-boring-bookshelf-speakers-devialets-new-phantom-looks-insane
Thanks.
T3 can’t get the sound range right? It is 35 kHz.
The deep forest finish, at T3 photo gallery, doesn’t look at all like at the Devialet website.
RE: New Devialet Phantom Ultimate - listening impressions - Dvlt PhD - 17-Sep-2025
(17-Sep-2025, 07:04)howcho Wrote: I will try to get to my dealer in the next couple of days to listen. Sadly no beryllium tweeter but I expect the continued improvements that they have achieved for each model so far. It would be great to get your impression if you listen to them.
Yeah, I guess what everyone must be wondering is the sound difference, now that they switched from titanium tweeter, and an aluminum mid driver, to what it seems like just one aluminum cone for the mid, and highs. Edit: this crossed off comment applies only to the 98 dB model. 108dB model has 3 types of drivers.
Looking forward to your impressions.
The phantom 1 bass boggled my mind if the track had emphasis on bass, but I wasn’t really happy with the mid, and highs, a lot of the times.
I do want a pair of the Ultimate 1, 108 dB, regardless, and I have a high end stereo system consisting of Expert Pro 1000 CI.
I must be out of my mind.
RE: New Devialet Phantom Ultimate - listening impressions - howcho - 17-Sep-2025
So , first impressions from today. New out of the box 108 dBs. I have gone all upgrades from original silver, to the first golds and finally to my current golds from 2021. The best sound has always been the Dos1 original full HD Golds, I was stupid to upgrade mine. History now. So the new ones; they sound great. Tighter, detailed, more air, more relaxed, much less darkness, much less boom bass. Simply much more high-end I guess. I have noted I listen less to acoustic music with my current setup and more to electronic music. It simply fits better. But that might change with the new ones. They sounded much more detailed and strict in a sense. Very lively and more sparkling. A rather big change I would say. But they always take time to settle and these are new out of the box. I think they will get a bit meatier with a few weeks of playing. Delivery starts in a month. I will get mine before Christmas.
RE: New Devialet Phantom Ultimate - listening impressions - Dvlt PhD - 18-Sep-2025
(17-Sep-2025, 22:11)howcho Wrote: So , first impressions from today. New out of the box 108 dBs. I have gone all upgrades from original silver, to the first golds and finally to my current golds from 2021. The best sound has always been the Dos1 original full HD Golds, I was stupid to upgrade mine. History now. So the new ones; they sound great. Tighter, detailed, more air, more relaxed, much less darkness, much less boom bass. Simply much more high-end I guess. I have noted I listen less to acoustic music with my current setup and more to electronic music. It simply fits better. But that might change with the new ones. They sounded much more detailed and strict in a sense. Very lively and more sparkling. A rather big change I would say. But they always take time to settle and these are new out of the box. I think they will get a bit meatier with a few weeks of playing. Delivery starts in a month. I will get mine before Christmas.
Thanks for your impressions.
At the end of the day, one can read everything, but it won’t matter, until one itself listens. But, one take away from your comment about “more relaxed”… maybe that’s due to the absence of the titanium tweeter. Just a guess. I remember, when I first demoed them 10 years ago, I couldn’t get used to the highs, during the demo. They kind of got on my nerves. I remember just moving the position of my head around. I just wasn’t happy with the highs, during the demo, 10 years ago.
Then again, my hearing is more sensitive than others.
RE: New Devialet Phantom Ultimate - listening impressions - stadidas - 18-Sep-2025
(17-Sep-2025, 22:11)howcho Wrote: So , first impressions from today. New out of the box 108 dBs. I have gone all upgrades from original silver, to the first golds and finally to my current golds from 2021. The best sound has always been the Dos1 original full HD Golds, I was stupid to upgrade mine. History now. So the new ones; they sound great. Tighter, detailed, more air, more relaxed, much less darkness, much less boom bass. Simply much more high-end I guess. I have noted I listen less to acoustic music with my current setup and more to electronic music. It simply fits better. But that might change with the new ones. They sounded much more detailed and strict in a sense. Very lively and more sparkling. A rather big change I would say. But they always take time to settle and these are new out of the box. I think they will get a bit meatier with a few weeks of playing. Delivery starts in a month. I will get mine before Christmas.
That's very interesting; thanks for posting your impressions. I too upgraded from the Silvers to the original golds back in 2016, and I have left them on DOS1. From your post it looks like I did the right thing!
RE: New Devialet Phantom Ultimate - listening impressions - booshtukka - 20-Sep-2025
I went to the Devialet store in Harrods, London today. I told them I specifically wanted to listen and compare Phantom I Golds to the Phantom Ultimate 104s.
They were very keen to show us the Ultimate 98s even though I was clear my Phantom IIs were all Customs so we wouldn’t be replacing those with the current new offering. They still showed them, and I took away that the sound was a bit muddy and lacking clarity.
The Ultimate 104s sounded great. I felt I could hear more air and clarity in The Gunner’s Dream by Pink Floyd than before (my favourite test track). But the bass felt a little boomy and overpowering. I suggested to the Devialet rep that they appeared to be positioned too close to the wall/corner and that could be impacting the bass. They didn’t comment and declined to allow me to move them. I learned the new Tree stands were not the same as the previous generation so if upgrading I’d need to upgrade those too.
Then I asked to compare with the Phantom I Golds. The one they had set up was the matt black on a tripod. It was further away from the corner/wall, but also significantly lower. I sat on the floor to hear it. The bass did sound better due to positioning, but everything else sounded weaker. It was then I realised there was only one Phantom I vs a pair of Ultimates.
In terms of comparison this was a bit unfair. So I compared them in mono and the difference was more subtle. And when I enquired about purchasing, I was told there would be a “10% off” weekend coming which I could use in conjunction with the 15% upgrade opportunity. But they weren’t in stock, wouldn’t be expected until October 20th, and they couldn’t take pre-orders.
Overall they sound great, but I couldn’t get a fair comparison. And Devialet’s tactic of pushing me towards what I could buy right now for their commission instead of what I wanted, and making it hard to have a true comparison, didn’t feel like the luxury authentic experience I was hoping for.
Keen to hear others’ thought.
RE: New Devialet Phantom Ultimate - listening impressions - Dvlt PhD - 22-Sep-2025
(20-Sep-2025, 21:24)booshtukka Wrote: I went to the Devialet store in Harrods, London today. I told them I specifically wanted to listen and compare Phantom I Golds to the Phantom Ultimate 104s.
They were very keen to show us the Ultimate 98s even though I was clear my Phantom IIs were all Customs so we wouldn’t be replacing those with the current new offering. They still showed them, and I took away that the sound was a bit muddy and lacking clarity.
The Ultimate 104s sounded great. I felt I could hear more air and clarity in The Gunner’s Dream by Pink Floyd than before (my favourite test track). But the bass felt a little boomy and overpowering. I suggested to the Devialet rep that they appeared to be positioned too close to the wall/corner and that could be impacting the bass. They didn’t comment and declined to allow me to move them. I learned the new Tree stands were not the same as the previous generation so if upgrading I’d need to upgrade those too.
Then I asked to compare with the Phantom I Golds. The one they had set up was the matt black on a tripod. It was further away from the corner/wall, but also significantly lower. I sat on the floor to hear it. The bass did sound better due to positioning, but everything else sounded weaker. It was then I realised there was only one Phantom I vs a pair of Ultimates.
In terms of comparison this was a bit unfair. So I compared them in mono and the difference was more subtle. And when I enquired about purchasing, I was told there would be a “10% off” weekend coming which I could use in conjunction with the 15% upgrade opportunity. But they weren’t in stock, wouldn’t be expected until October 20th, and they couldn’t take pre-orders.
Overall they sound great, but I couldn’t get a fair comparison. And Devialet’s tactic of pushing me towards what I could buy right now for their commission instead of what I wanted, and making it hard to have a true comparison, didn’t feel like the luxury authentic experience I was hoping for.
Keen to hear others’ thought.
Thanks for your extensive comment.
I would never mention the bass of the Phantoms, in a negative context.
The part when you say “everything else felt weaker” reminds me of when I listened to a Pair of Phantoms 1, and image of the mid, and highs, felt smaller than it should have been, when listening to Marilyn Manson’s Mechanical Animals album.
But, yeah, mono comparison, is not fair.
Good luck with your stereo comparison. Maybe find a dealer?
Thanks, again.
RE: New Devialet Phantom Ultimate - listening impressions - BAMBAMODA - 22-Sep-2025
Hey.
I can’t find any info about the latency. Will the ultimates be able to be used for movies? Current ones have too much delay even if turned all the way down.