Our pick for the best soundbar, the Sonos Arc, could be in trouble as high-end French audio brand Devialet has entered the fray with the Devialet Dione.
Sporting Dolby Atmos support and room-scale audio calibration, the new soundbar has the capabilities and smarts to be a contender. But its looks have really caught my eye.
Normally soundbars are lengthy monolithic dark or muted grey blocks, and while the Devialet Dione is still recognizable as soundbar, it’s got a distinct orb in its center that screams retro sci-fi. Think 2001: A Space Odyssey meets Bose, Sonos or Yamaha.
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But this orb isn’t there for flair. Rather it contains a gyroscope sensor that can detect the position of the soundbar and adjust the audio output specifically to how it’s sitting or mounted. This means no matter how the soundbar is positioned it will ensure it always calibrates its output to be front-facing. theoretically ensuring that the sound is always directed to your ears.
The promise here is that the Devialet Dione will deliver a fine take on calibrating sound for a room. And with the likes of Dolby Atmos relying on positional audio to make for immersive soundscapes, this level of finesse could be a real boon for home cinema fans.
And you’ll have to be a pretty big move fan as the Devialet Dione costs $2,400 in the U.S. and £1,990 in the U.K. — pre-orders are live right now and the Dione will go on sale in April.
But for that money, you’ll get a soundbar that not only has the aforementioned smarts but also nine aluminium full-range speakers, eight subwoofers that use Devialet's push-push technology for deep bass, and a mix of listening modes design for movies, music, podcasts and multi-channel audio sources.
There's also an eARC HDMI 2.1 connection, support for AirPlay and Spotify connect, as well as Bluetooth 5 connectivity; basically, the Devialet Dione could be the ultimate soundbar.
We’d need to give it a test before we can truly say if it’s the best soundbar around, but we can imagine that if you pair it with one of our picks for the best OLED TV, you won’t be disappointed.
