Devialet announces the Mania portable speaker, a €800 audio “cannonball”

French audio systems company Devialet has never been one to appeal to the low-priced crowd, but it’s evident in all its products that high-quality sound and futuristic design come first. Previously, the company collaborated with Huawei to develop the Sound Joy speaker, which we also tested at Go4it and were pleasantly impressed. Now, however, Devialet is building a proprietary portable speaker, called Devialet Mania, with a significantly higher price tag than the model made in collaboration with Huawei.

Devialet Mania promises powerful sound at a steep price

Devialet Mania immediately attracts attention with its unusual design. The speaker is shaped like a rounded lantern, or a portable ‘cannonball’, with speakers on either side and a handle at the top to use when carrying the speaker around.

This is not, however, a small speaker. With a height of 17 cm and large speakers, this is a speaker to put in the centre of a room, or use for an outdoor party. The Devialet Mania is configured with four ‘full range’ speakers for treble and midrange and two subwoofer-e on the sides. These are the ones that will also provide the visible vibrations outside.

The four microphones on the Devialet Mania body will tune the sound to the environment in real time to ensure the best playback quality, regardless of the room it is placed in. Battery life is 10 hours of playback, but given the size and promised power, you probably can’t expect much more from such a speaker.

Of course, a modern speaker also comes equipped with smart features like Amazon Alexa assistant compatibility, Wi-Fi for native playback from streaming services, Bluetooth 5.0, AirPlay 2 for compatibility with Apple devices, and Spotify Connect. The speaker is splash-proof to IPX4 standard, so if any drinks from the party are spilled around it, or if splashes from a pool jump in, nothing should happen. However, it’s not waterproof and probably not a good idea to leave it out in the rain.

At €790, the price of the Devialet Mania, there probably won’t be too many people who will “forget” it in the rain.

source: Engadget