A purchase 10 years in the making
I had first heard of Devialet as a college kid about a decade ago when Unbox Therapy did a video on the original Phantom (a while before the Phantom II came around). That’s when the journey started. Over the years, I had managed to set my ears on several demo units: - at my local Apple Store (2015-2016) - at a hifi store in downtown Houston (2017) - at a flagship store while on vacation in London (2018) - at my local Best Buy (2019-present) Each time I saw it, I marveled at the striking design, the ingenious engineering, the simplicity of the setup. Each time I heard it, I was floored by the deepness of the bass, the clarity of the vocals, the crispness of the high hats. With each encounter, my resolve to buy these speakers deepened. Over those 10 years, the biggest pieces fell into place. I went from dorm to apartment to another apartment to my first house. I went from a gig to a job to a career. I went from struggling to surviving to thriving. And this year, the last two pieces fell into place: 1. I had finally figured out in which room they would go and where. 2. The Phantom II had finally been succeeded by the Phantom Ultimate 98dB. On December 10th, 2025, I placed my largest Amazon order to date: - (2) Phantom Ultimate 98dB in Deep Forest - (2) matching Trees The assembly was seamless. The setup via app was simple. And the first track was easy to play. When the sound finally washed over me and my spouse for the first time, it was surreal. We couldn’t believe what we heard. It sounded even better than the demos. And I’ve found that I can relive that first experience: - Through each of my house guests when I witness them hear it for the first time. - With every one of my favorite songs that feel like I’m hearing them for the first time. - With every track on each of my vinyl records This system nailed it for us: - the physical size was ideal; any larger and it would not have fit in between our couches as easily if at all - the volume output is incredible: we’ve only cranked it up to 60% so far, any further would probably require earplugs - the connectivity is so straightforward: we stream lossless audio over WiFi via Spotify Connect and play records on a pre-amped turntable that is hooked up via L/R Analog to an ADC which outputs optical to the Devialet It was worth every penny of the $4,760.84 I spent and every second of the decade I waited. Hiccups: - I went off of intuition for setup, neglected to read the part of the instructions that mentioned that there’s a power button on the back. So after unplugging the units several without proper shutdown, it finally glitched out. This forced me to a) find the button and b) do a factory reset (press and hold). No issues since then. - had thought at first that the speakers had defective optical inputs, turned out that it was actually the first ADC we tried that was defective. Read more
