If you’re familiar with Devialet, you’ll know that the French hi-fi company doesn’t make speakers that look like, well…other speakers. Its line of Phantom wireless speakers share an uncanny resemblance to a spaceship from a sci-fi film — ever seen Oblivion with Tom Cruise? It’s a signature look they boast due to their dual opposing woofer design; each Phantom speaker has two huge woofers that pulsate in perfect symmetry to deliver deep, excellent bass. They’re mesmerizing both to listen to and to watch.
Enter the Devialet Mania. It’s the company’s first portable speaker, and it very much looks like a Phantom speaker — the dual woofer design and space ship look are still there. You can think of it as a high-end rival to Sonos’s Move or Roam, because it packs both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity; you can use it as a smart speaker when at home, or as a portable Bluetooth speaker when out of Wi-Fi range. But like Devialet’s other wireless speakers, the Mania is anything but cheap. Is it worth the money? We put it to the test to find out.
What’s Good About the Devialet Mania?
It’s a great portable speaker for bass lovers.
The Devialet Mania is a portable speaker that’s best suited for people who listen to a lot of hip-hop, rap, house, electronica or metal metal — any music with a ton of bass. Not only does the Mania deliver a rich sound with more bass than you’d think a speaker its size should be able to produce, but it looks the best when playing bass-heavy music, because you can see its woofers really moving and grooving.
The Mania is a speaker that you’re going to want to show off. When the woofers are really pulsating, it’s kind of like a heartbeat; it can make the Mania feel like a living thing. It can be mesmerizing, even a bit hypnotizing. No other portable speaker delivers the same kind of experience.
It’s the best-sounding Alexa smart speaker I’ve ever heard.
The Mania supports Amazon Alexa, and can function as a smart speaker when connected to Wi-Fi. You can request songs, ask trivia questions and set timers just like you can with an Amazon Echo. The difference is that the Mania is portable, so you can carry it from room to room with you. (Plus, the Mania sounds way better than your average Alexa speaker.)
The Mania is a true 360-degree speaker with a total of six drivers — in addition to the two exposed woofers, there are four full-range aluminum drivers located at the top of the cabinet and hidden beneath the Mania’s cloth exterior. As a result, it plays sound in all directions and is perfectly suited for being placed in the center of the room.
Devialet has integrated the Mania with special room-tuning technology that allows it to automatically adjust its sound depending on if it’s placed against a wall, in the center of a room or outside; it effectively works like Sonos’s automatic TruePlay. The kicker is that the Mania supports what Devialet is calling Active Stereo Calibration (or ASC), which allows it to play stereo sound in all directions. The result, at least to me, the Mania seems to have a surprisingly wider soundstage than other similarly-sized speakers.
The speaker is rock solid.
The Mania isn’t a big speaker. It stands just under eight inches tall (which includes the handle), making it about the height of the Sonos Roam or UE Boom. But the Mania feels dense and high quality. It’s built from a combination of metal and cloth, with a ribbed plastic handle that wraps almost entirely around the speaker and houses all the playback and pairing buttons. It weighs more than five pounds, too. It’s fairly substantial.
The vast majority of your time listening to the Mania will probably be when it’s connected to Wi-Fi. But switching between the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modes is pretty straightforward (especially compared to other speakers that tout dual-wireless connectivities), as there are physical buttons to help you switch between each. It’s not always the quickest or cleanest transitions — on several occasions I had to turn the Devialet completely off and then back on to get it to reconnect to Wi-Fi after being on Bluetooth — but that’s kind of the norm with these kinds of portable speakers.
What’s Not Ideal About the Devialet Mania?
It’s quite expensive.
The Mania is anything but cheap. It costs $790, which is exactly twice as much as the Sonos Move — so you’re going to have to really love the look, feel and experience of the Mania to justify its purchase. That said, if you already have Phantom speakers in your home (which you’d be able to integrate the Mania with in a multi-room system), you might have a different outlook on the Mania. After all, it’s the company’s most affordable speaker ever.
If you’re willing to splurge on the Devialet Mania, I would recommend spending another $80 on its wireless charging dock as well. I was not able to test the dock with my review unit, but as Sonos Roam owner who also uses its special wireless charging base, I can tell you it’s worth it. Not having to plug and unplug the speaker (via its charging cable) every time you want to move around the speaker is a quality of life improvement. Because you’re going to pick this speaker up and move it around a lot.
It only works with Alexa.
You don’t have to use the Mania as a smart speaker if you don’t want to. It supports Spotify Connect and AirPlay 2, as well as regular ol’ Bluetooth, so you can easily stream music from your smartphone or computer just like you would with most other wireless speakers. One of the drawbacks, however, is that it doesn’t support Google Assistant or Siri, which is an obvious bummer for those who have a smart home built around Google’s ecosystem.
Don’t take it to the beach.
Don’t mistake the Mania for a “rugged” Bluetooth speaker. It has an IPX4 rating, meaning it’s splash-resistant and probably fine to handle some light moisture or humidity — so you should be able to bring it into the bathroom if you want to listen to music while you shower — but you don’t want to drop it or risk any kid of sand, dirt or water to get into the speaker. It’s a high-end speaker, not something you want to put in peril.
The Verdict: Devialet Mania
The Devialet Mania is a high-end portable speaker that’s obviously not for everybody. It’s quite expensive, not super-rugged and, if you’re looking for a smart speaker, not ideal since it can’t be integrated with Google Assistant.
But there’s no getting around that the Mania sounds great for its size and has a cool factor that most other speakers lack. Like the company’s other wireless speakers, the Mania is a speaker that’s meant to be heard and seen. And yes, you’ll want to play it in front of your friends.
Courtesy
