29-Oct-2025, 19:28
Dear Devialet Community
I’ve now been using two Devialet Phantoms in stereo mode on the “Tree” stands for about a week, and I’d like to share my impressions with you.
1. The product itself
The Devialet Phantoms are truly impressive speakers that, apart from a few minor issues, work flawlessly. Setup, pairing, and connecting with Roon and Tidal Connect all went smoothly. I’ve been using the speakers exclusively over Wi-Fi since day one.
2. Visual impression
Design is always a matter of taste, but I personally find the Phantoms to look minimalist, modern, and overall very elegant. One small downside with the “Light Pearl” version I received is that, depending on the sunlight, the finish can sometimes look a bit cheap or somewhat plasticky.
3. Sound impression (probably the most important aspect of any speaker)
Here my opinion differs slightly from many other reviewers online. I mostly listen to classical music, with some vocal jazz and a bit of folk.
From medium volume levels upward, the sound quality is acceptable (though a bit too bass-heavy) but still far from the performance of my Sonus Faber speakers driven by the Devialet Expert 400. Voices and instruments tend to sound somewhat inflated — the body of a violin doesn’t really come across as the body of a violin. That’s probably due to the physical limitations of such a relatively small speaker.
What disappointed me the most is the sound performance at low volume levels (volume setting below 22). At that point, voices, instruments — basically the whole musical content — get lost. Even my wife, who isn’t particularly into music, noticed it immediately. Her comment was that it sounds more like a “mush” than a clear musical presentation.
I can’t quite explain why this happens. I’ve tried different modes and played around with the equalizer extensively — without success.
Since I don’t want to take the risk of simply waiting and hoping for a future firmware update to fix this issue, the Phantoms are unfortunately going back to Devialet — a pity.
I’ve now been using two Devialet Phantoms in stereo mode on the “Tree” stands for about a week, and I’d like to share my impressions with you.
1. The product itself
The Devialet Phantoms are truly impressive speakers that, apart from a few minor issues, work flawlessly. Setup, pairing, and connecting with Roon and Tidal Connect all went smoothly. I’ve been using the speakers exclusively over Wi-Fi since day one.
2. Visual impression
Design is always a matter of taste, but I personally find the Phantoms to look minimalist, modern, and overall very elegant. One small downside with the “Light Pearl” version I received is that, depending on the sunlight, the finish can sometimes look a bit cheap or somewhat plasticky.
3. Sound impression (probably the most important aspect of any speaker)
Here my opinion differs slightly from many other reviewers online. I mostly listen to classical music, with some vocal jazz and a bit of folk.
From medium volume levels upward, the sound quality is acceptable (though a bit too bass-heavy) but still far from the performance of my Sonus Faber speakers driven by the Devialet Expert 400. Voices and instruments tend to sound somewhat inflated — the body of a violin doesn’t really come across as the body of a violin. That’s probably due to the physical limitations of such a relatively small speaker.
What disappointed me the most is the sound performance at low volume levels (volume setting below 22). At that point, voices, instruments — basically the whole musical content — get lost. Even my wife, who isn’t particularly into music, noticed it immediately. Her comment was that it sounds more like a “mush” than a clear musical presentation.
I can’t quite explain why this happens. I’ve tried different modes and played around with the equalizer extensively — without success.
Since I don’t want to take the risk of simply waiting and hoping for a future firmware update to fix this issue, the Phantoms are unfortunately going back to Devialet — a pity.
