This Dolby Atmos Soundbar Is Utterly Wild. Here’s Why

If you thought the Sonos Arc was the fanciest Dolby Atmos soundbar on the block, think again.

Published April 30, 2022

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Devialet is best known for its alien-looking Phantom wireless speakers, which pack a unique two-opposing woofer design that pulsates as it plays — they are speakers that are meant to be heard and seen. Just recently, however, the French hi-fi company is slightly switching gears by announcing its first-ever soundbar, the Dione — and it’s poised to be equally crazy.

The Dione isn’t your average soundbar – it’s a monster. Devialet packed 17 total drivers into it, including eight long-throw subwoofers, to create an immersive 5.1.2-channel Dolby Atmos system. According to the company, it’s designed to be an all-in-one system for your home theater; no separate wireless subwoofer or satellite speakers required.

The most eye-catching thing about the Dione is the Death Star-looking “orb” in its center, which is a nod to the company’s Phantom wireless speakers. This orb is for more than just aesthetics, however, as it houses an active speaker and two passive radiators. The soundbar, which has a built-in gyroscope and can be wall-mounted and lie flat beneath the TV, will automatically rotate the orb so that it’s always firing centrally.

Devialet decked the Dione out with a lot of fancy technologies, too. It has a feature called “Space” that’s capable of up-mixing movies and music from stereo to a more immersive 5.1.2 sound. It has built-in beam-forming technology, which it calls Advanced Dimensional Experience (ADE), to help optimize its sound for the room (similar to Sonos’s TruePlay). It has a feature called adaptive volume level (AVL), which can automatically adjust the audio so that you can hear dialogue better. And it supports a variety of wireless streaming methods, including Spotify Connect, AirPlay and even Bluetooth.

As you might’ve expected, the Devialet Dione doesn’t come cheap. It costs $2,400, putting it in the same bracket as the other premium all-in-one Dolby Atmos soundbar, the Sennheiser Ambeo ($2,499). That said, the Dione is noticeably slimmer.

The Devialet Dione is available now for pre-order.