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When you think of portable speakers, most people think of cheap Bluetooth speakers that you can easily slip into your bag when you go to the park. But Devialet has something different in mind with Devialet Mania.
A French loudspeaker maker wants to make the most luxurious and best-sounding portable speaker around. The Devialet Mania costs $790 (€790) and is available today.
“We are launching a new product called Devialet Mania. And it represents the end of a long process. We started with amps, then there were Phantom speakers, Gemini headphones and a Dion soundbar,” Devialet CEO Franck Lebochard told me. “We’re entering a new market with this portable speaker.”
When Devialet decided to make a portable speaker four years ago, the idea was simple. Devialet wanted to design a battery-powered but hi-fi speaker.
“Hi-fi is many things. Of course it means good sound quality. And hi-fi means stereo sound, or at least stereo interpretation,” Lebouchard said.
The Devialet Mania is a front and rearless spherical speaker. At the top of the device is a handle that invites users to pick it up and carry it.
But since it weighs 2.3 kilograms (about 5 pounds), you won’t be putting it in your bag to go to the park. You can take it with you when you go on vacation, but it is mostly designed to go around the house.
Image Credits: TechCrunch
The first thing you’ll notice when you start playing music are the two woofers, which are placed in a ‘push-push’ configuration to avoid unwanted vibrations.
At the top of the device are four full-range speakers, each pointing in a different direction. When you place the Devialet Mania on a table in the center of the room, the full speakers will alternately broadcast left channel or right channel (clockwise: left, right, left, right).
That way, wherever you sit, you’ll hear most of the sound from the two full-range speakers in front of you — and you’ll get stereo sound.
There are four microphones and an accelerometer in the device. Devialet Mania knows when it’s taken to a new location. Thanks to the built-in microphone, it can detect the time near the wall.
At this point Devialet Mania determines the front and back of the device. The two full-range speakers on the left of the device broadcast the left channel, while the two speakers on the right broadcast the right channel.
One of the selling points of Apple’s original HomePod was the use of microphones to actively adapt the speaker’s voice. But Devialet also insists on sound quality, such as SAM’s proprietary technology (Speaker Active Matching).
“We are the only one that combines portable, hi-fi and automatic measurement,” Lebouchard said.
Devialet Mania works with Devialet’s own app and offers both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Over Wi-Fi, it supports AirPlay 2 and Spotify Connect. The battery lasts for 10 hours at a normal rate.
There are some built-in buttons that let you pause the music, change the volume, enable Bluetooth, and more. There is a single USB-C port on the device for charging.
And because the Devialet Mania has microphones, the company is integrating Amazon Alexa for the first time. You can disable the feature entirely with the physical slider button near the USB-C port.
In addition to the base model, which comes in black or white, there’s a $990 (€990) ‘Opera de Paris’ model with gold-plated finishes and an optional docking station – the base can also be purchased separately.
“If we want to be a global player in the audio industry, we need to have a product in every major segment of the audio market – wireless headphones, soundbars and portable speakers,” said Lebochard. According to him, portable speakers and sound bars generate sales of 6 billion euros each year.
Image Credits: Devialet
As for the company’s older products, Devialet has released an update to its Phantom speakers in January 2021 with new components and a matte finish. “At Phantom, we release a major update every two years,” Lebouchard said.
When it comes to amplifiers, the Expert Pro was the company’s first product, but it hasn’t been updated in quite some time.
“Amps are not a priority for us because it’s such a small market. But the Expert is an important product for our brand, audio enthusiasts. “We want to make the best amplifiers in the world because we can’t be ourselves without selling the best speakers in the world,” Lebochard said. So I guess it means “look.”
In the past year and a half, Devialet has shipped wireless headphones, a soundbar, and a portable speaker. LeBochard tells me there’s one missing product in the lineup — and that’s headphones.
But don’t hold your breath for Devialet headphones, as the company isn’t sure if it will be a strategic move. “When you went out, people moved from headphones to wireless headphones,” LeBochard said.
Image Credits: TechCrunch
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