Devialet partner with Sky!

[Hifi_swlon]

Designed by Devialet but production controlled by Sky in China. Seems that Devialet, to a certain extent, are emulating Naim's Muso, which is definitely not a sound-bar. It'll be interesting to read about comparisons. I do have a Muso which is attached to my Sky television to in one lounge. Good for music, bad for tv.

I'd say it's a similarity, rather then an emulation.

Naim deigned and manufactured the Muso to sit alongside the rest of their range, but appealing to a wider more 'consumer electronic' type audience. It's marketed by Naim and fits into the Naim ecosystem and of course has the Naim logo. I'd say the Muso is more akin to Devialets release of Phantom (albeit less pioneering) against their Expert backdrop.

This Sky 'soundbar' by all accounts doesn't appear to be marketed or sold purely as a Devialet product. That's quite a big distinction, and in my opinion means the Devialet brand isn't as strong as perhaps Devialet thought it was. Back-ending a Sky box isn't very aspirational. It's hardly Devialet takes on Sonos or Sony or Samsung or whatever. Had this been a purely Devialet branded box, marketed and sold by them in what would be a new category of TV soundbars to rival all others, I would have been more impressed. This feels more like Amstrad making the internals for Sky boxes, which came after the brands heyday.

I could be wrong, this could be the start of something big, but it feels somehow more desperate than I'd imagined. For the shareholders, rather than part of a pure vision to take over the world under the Devialet brand name. For all the references and attempted mimickery over the past couple of years, Apple this certainly is not.

I'm not saying it won't sound good btw. Who knows, it may be great, but it doesn't quite deliver on 'everyone owning a Devialet' in my book.