The Devialet Dione soundbar, which is never purposefully understated, succeeds in bringing a little of the high-end company’s typical aesthetic drama to the realm of all-purpose, add-on TV speakers. The Dione is appropriately pricey, incredibly fashionable, and fully 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos capable. It is meant to provide a surround-sound experience from a single device, in keeping with much of its luxury output.
Additionally, the seductive sculpture isn’t just for show. By rotating the centre channel “Orb” in its mount, the Dione may really be set either evenly on a floor or vertically on such a wall TV stand without degrading the sound quality.
The Dione’s 5.1.2 channel setup, includes two up-firing speakers to accommodate Dolby Atmos decoding. It produces sound using 950W of stated power.
The polish is excellent, the construction quality is unquestionable, and the specification is broad. Although there is no remote control, connectivity is good, control choices are useful, and performance is, well, quite amazing.
What you will see here?
Price and Availability
The Devialet Dione soundbar costs a lot to operate at its level of innovation, power, and adaptability. With an asking price of £1,990.00/$2,400, it is firmly established in the premium segment of the soundbar market. This is normally occupied by high-end hi-fi manufacturers. That costs around 25% more than the Samsung HW-Q990B, an 11.1.4-channel soundbar with actual back and subwoofer speakers.
You may purchase a Devialet Dione directly from Devialet on their website. There is now a large supply of stock, or you can visit more audio-focused speciality retailers.
Design
Even a cursory understanding of the Devialet brand informs you that the business takes industrial design extremely seriously. It contributes to the fact that the Dione soundbar appears as if an overly complex golf ball has collided with it.
The “golf ball” Devialet refers to as “ORB” is really a spherical centre channel speaker that is extremely gracefully incorporated into the otherwise expected overall soundbar’s sleek, low profile. The ‘ORB’ may physically rotate to adjust for the bar’s location on a tabletop or hung on a wall.
The Dione requires a large TV and, if it is to reside on the same shelf, a TV with just enough clearance between both the shelf as well as the bottom of the screen because of its slim form, which measures 3.5 x 47.2 x 6.5in (H x W x D). Because of its weight of 26.5 pounds, which is approximately 6 pounds more than that of the Sony HT-A7000.
Sound Quality
The Devialet Dione soundbar comes up to its premium billing if you don’t want the inconvenience of extra sound systems and rear speakers cluttering up your home. However, the single-box construction of this device clearly has auditory limitations.
For instance, the scale of the sound—that is, how far it is projected from the physical unit—and the amount of bass present are two aspects of Dione’s sound that immediately stand out from more affordable single-bar alternatives.
Starting with scale: Dolby Atmos movie soundtracks have outstanding left and right separation. It works in concert with the “beams” of sound from the “back” side speakers to produce a soundstage that floats freely over a small to medium-sized room.
In fact, the front soundstage of the Dione has outstanding consistency. This is to say that the sound not only spreads out nicely. It also effectively places particular mix effects to provide the impression of diverse regions inside its width.
It is possible to forget that every phrase is coming from a little ball at the centre of a much bigger audio arrangement because of the spherical shape of the centre speaker. This also spreads it out enough to feel connected to the visual action above the Dione.
There is undoubtedly a compelling and persistent sense of verticality to the sound. Even though this doesn’t produce a real impression of sounds originating directly above your head.
This extends well across the room rather than merely sounding locked to a small region just above the soundbar’s bodywork.
Performance
The bass performance of the Dione is outstanding. You were able to hear rumbles from it with well-known intense movie soundtracks. This is something you’d typically only expect from a quality external compact subwoofer. The bass’s weight isn’t the only thing that makes an impression. Additionally, it almost amazingly exceeds the boundaries of the soundbar. It provides the same non-directional presence as external sound system options.
The bass effectively blends with the wide-ranging mid-range while never overpowering any of a sound mix’s more sensitive components. Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly, despite the depths, the Dione can reach. It resists distortions and dropouts even under the worst pressure. The main drawback is that the bass doesn’t participate as much as a decent action movie soundtrack should until you’re running the Dione at rather high levels.
Another one or two minor drawbacks are noteworthy. One point that bears repeating is that despite Dione’s superb side-firing speakers. They don’t really give you a sensation of sound coming from behind you. Although the majority of individuals looking at such a solution would probably have taken this into account when setting their expectations.
Through the Orb, high-pitched voices and particularly rich string arrangements in a movie score may sound slightly sibilant. Hard impacts can also have a faintly courteous tone to them.
Configuration and Features
Devialet built the Dione soundbar with a whopping 17 neodymium speaker drivers and 950 watts of power in order to offer full-on, full-range 5.1.2-channel Dolby Atmos sound. Four aluminium full-range drivers face upward to provide audio elevation. Another full-range aluminium driver fires from each end for some sonic width, and four more aluminium long-throw subwoofers fire from the back of the cabinet when the soundbar is placed on a shelf. In addition, two aluminium full-range drivers and the centre channel face forward.
The back speakers remain in their function, the drivers that previously faced forward now shoot upward, the drivers that previously fired upward now face outwards, and, of course, the ORB is turned to face the correct direction.
In terms of processing, Devialet’s Devialet Intelligence processor includes hardware for digital-to-analogue conversion, as is standard procedure for the company. It is now operating at a resolution of 24bit/96kHz.
However, it’s highly recommended to do the (very quick) “Auto Calibration” method that is a component of the control software regardless of the mode in which you want to use the Dione. It works extremely well.
Connectivity
A nook in the back of the Dione houses a few physical connections. In addition to the figure-eight mains socket, there includes an Ethernet input, a digital optical connection, and an HDMI eARC. Although the lack of HDMI pass-through appears to be a frugal decision, it is unlikely to cause too much trouble unless your TV has a lot of connections.
Additionally, carry are dual-band wi-fi, Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, Bluetooth 5.0, and other wireless technologies. Additionally, if you have content saved on a local network, it is UPnP-compatible.
Controls
You anticipate a remote control when you spend this much money on, well, any piece of home entertainment equipment. Right? The Dione, however, is without. Instead, you may use your TV’s remote control (if you’ve connected your screen and the soundbar using HDMI eARC), the Devialet app (which is amazingly steady and helpful), the scattering of capacitive touch controls across the surface of the soundbar, or, of course, the Devialet itself.
It’s not difficult to use the Dione, so it’s unclear why the lack of a specialized remote handset feels a little cruel. But it most surely does. Additionally, there is no voice-assistant functionality, though oddly it feels like less of an oversight.
Conclusion
The Dione, a standout soundbar from Devialet, features a striking design that excels as an outstanding example of an eye-catching form supporting excellent performance. Particularly, it’s difficult to imagine any soundbar that offers such thorough support for both desktop and wall-mounted mounting, while the spinning, spherical “Orb” centre speaker contributes to increased clarity and sound projection. Also impressive is the integrated bass performance.
But the Dione isn’t cheap, and it doesn’t really produce any surround sound activity, like pretty much all single-bar options. However, it is understandable that the single-bar solution continues to be quite popular, and in that market, the Dione can easily compete with more venerable soundbar aristocrats.
