The Dione
“Sound Unbound” is an apt description of what one hears with the new Devialet Dione. At Audio Advice LIVE 2022, we had plenty of home theater experiences to compare it to. So how did it fare?
Reporting by Eric Franklin Shook
The Devialet Dione is Devialet’s acoustic engineering applied to at home cinema: a high-end, all-in-one Dolby Atmos® 5.1.2 soundbar that elevates all content types played back through your television.
Yes, the big home theaters are downstairs in monster sized ballrooms, unlike floor sixteen where some would consider these hotel rooms to be more indicative of real-world spaces — especially if you live in a downtown city center apartment?
The Dione Sound
With Dolby Atmos® content the Dione was really punching above its weight. No added subwoofer and yet, nothing felt diminished by the size of the Dione’s eight inboard bass drivers. When it comes to rendering precise spatial content from either the center seat position, or off axis, the effects are fairly balanced, though I did prefer the center seat more when music was being played. With film soundtracks though, it didn’t seem like there was a bad seat in the house.
I was concerned about how the soundbar plays with different seating heights, and my concern was validated. Standing up, did seem to set the spatial and dialog content into a sense of imbalance, but it’s really just a nitpick and an issue of installation. The display at the audio show was placed remarkably low.
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The Phantom Series
Devialet’s Phantom series of self-powered network speaker were scattered all over the hotel lobby, letting attendees know right away that this was an audio show, as if signs and banners weren’t enough.
I wish I had gotten more pics to share of the lobby and Devialet’s placements, but for now these in-room shots will have to suffice. Drat!
The Expert Pro
Not so much a person, but a series of amplifiers.
The Expert Pro display featured both analog and digital sources, and tower loudspeakers from HECO. Though we did not get a chance to listen to the display during our visit with Devialet, we were able to capture some fun pictures of the gear. Next time yeah?
