Devialet - Dione Dolby Atmos Soundbar - Dark Gray

Sound bars are usually a good way to boost your TV’s bland, built-in speakers. I never really thought it would have me hearing sounds I never knew were in the shows we watch or make look out the window when a movie has thunder in the background. Truly delivers a premium experience to your ears. You’ll want to make sure your tv has ARC or eARC HDMI port. This allows you to connect the soundbar via HDMI and allow other HDMI devices to play audio through the soundbar. Also, setup uses an Android or iOS app, so a smartphone or tablet is needed for optimal setup. You can also connect with the included optical cable, but HDMI ARC seems to be the preferred method. You get (almost) everything you need in the box. More on that in a bit. There is a full-size cardboard cutout with mounting position and wall anchor cutout. Along with the soundbar, they include an HDMI and optical cable, some spacers for wall mounting, rubber feet to stick to the back, and obviously a power cable. One thing you’ll find missing is wall mounting anchors and screws as well as a remote. A few screws and wall anchors seem like a low expense addition to make sure you have everything you need for that clean wall mount look. I am, however, forgiving of the remote since my remotes easily control the volume of the soundbar as well as the app being very intuitive. I’d probably lose it anyways. Following the included manual, it was easy to get it on the wall and setup for first use. I was puzzled with the preferred orientation as it leaves the cutout for I/O on the bottom where soundbars are usually mounted below the TV. The work around it seems is you can run them underneath as the mounting spacers leave some room for the cables. I used Bluetooth and WiFi to get the soundbar setup and connected to the app. As with most connected devices, I immediately checked to see if there were any firmware updates and installed them. It did so conveniently quick. Built in microphones will help with a sound calibration that helps optimize the sound based on the acoustics of the room your setup in. After installation I had to let my wife get back to her show before I could test a range of noises and immediately you could tell the difference. Even in a food competition show, I was hearing the people more clearly, picking up on some of the shows background tones and low suspenseful rumbles when the show wanted to emphasize the drama. It was clear my sound experience wasn’t as good as it could be. So a bit later I started running it through its paces like I do with any new sound device. Usually, the first is a Dolby Atmos rated video or movie. With Atmos 5.1.2 surround sound, you can hear the channels at play. The room fills with sound as you hear the blades of a helicopter or the low rumble of a jet passing overhead. The bass at the right pitch had things rattling on my entry-way table that I didn’t know would rattle. The best way to describe it is luxury sound. One of my favorite things to listen to is thunderstorms. You get the soothing static sound of the rain, the low rumble of thunder from far away and can hear it as it approaches. Even more aggressive thunder, that sharp cracking of intense lighting, followed by low rumbles. For me this is one of the most natural sounds you can replicate on an audio device. It just fills the room and surrounds you. The app that you can download will allow you full control over the soundbar. Aside from adjusting volume, you can change various settings to adjust the sound. There’s a setting for bass reduction to tone down some of low bass sounds, room calibration which uses built in microphones to calibrate room sound. You can also turn off the microphones if your privacy conscious. If you want certain sound profiles for per source settings, you can change that too. I do occasionally run into an issue where my app doesn’t connect automatically. However, I believe this could be an issue with my WiFi network settings where it randomizes MAC addresses. Another small detail I noticed was the LED lights turn off when you’re not tapping the buttons, so they don’t distract from whatever your watching. There isn’t anything not to like about Devialet’s Diode soundbar. Anything I could say would be nitpicking. I really enjoy the unique design and high build quality. If I was going to knock some points off it would be the lack of a remote, whether I use it or not, the option would be nice. As well as including drywall anchors for wall mounting but I can understand wanting to avoid the liability of doing so. In closing this is an absolute amazing sound bar. They truly had the customer in mind and pulled out all the stops to delivery luxury sound for the modern home.

The Dione is a 5.1.2 channel Dolby Atmos soundbar by Devialet. This soundbar contains 17 total drivers along with 950 watts of amplification, which means this soundbar is your all-in-one solution for that near perfect home theater system. The Dione is an amazing soundbar that looks great, feels solid and sounds amazing. So, let’s go over the setup, and the PROS and CONS of the new Dione Soundbar by Devialet. Unboxing and Setup: The Dione Soundbar comes nicely packaged along with everything you will need to set up the soundbar including with the wall mount installation kit. In the box you will receive the Power cable, HDMI, and an optical cable. You will also need to download the “Devialet” application to complete the setup process. Unfortunately, this soundbar does not come with a remote control, so you will need the application to control the soundbar remotely. The application will guide you through the rest of the setup process including setting up the Bluetooth connection, connecting to WIFI and completing the software update. The Dione has 4 ports which are Power, 1 HDMI, 1 Optical and 1 ethernet connection. The soundbar measures about 47.24W X 6.5D X 3.5H and weighs about 26.5lbs. Sound Quality: As far as sound quality is concerned, all I have to say is that this is one amazing soundbar. There are 17 drivers and 8 of which are woofers, meaning that you do not need anything for that home theater experience. Whether it’s watching movies or listening to your favorite tunes, everything just sounds exceptional and provides for a fully immersive audio experience with a maximum sound of over a100 decibels. There are no equalizer settings on the Dione, but honestly, I personally did not feel the need to change or adjust the settings and everything was on point. The only thing Devialet allows you to change is to reduce the bass, but I prefer bass in my music and movies, so I have not touched that setting either and the that bass was perfect. To take full advantage of the 5.1.2 surround sound system, you need to perform a room calibration using the app and your phone and it took less than a minute to complete. The sphere on the soundbar can also be adjusted as well based on your configuration. PROS: • SOUND QUALITY • BUILD QUALITY • AMAZING BASS • AESTHETICALLY PLEASEING • EASY TO SETUP AND USE • 17 DRIVERS AND 950 WATTS OF AMPLIFICATION • WIFI AND BLUETOOTH CONNECTION CONS: • NO REMOTE CONTROL – WILL HAVE TO USE YOUR PHONE AND APP • LIMITED INPUT CONNECTIONS Overall, I am very pleased with the Dione by Devialet. It is a beautiful soundbar that also feels and most importantly sounds just amazing. Even though there are a couple things that I was not pleased with, but not enough to not recommend the Dione. The Dione is truly an experience on its own and something that you would need to test out for yourself.

I’ve had more misses than hits when trying new sound bars, so I was looking forward to some redemption from the Devialet Dione. The Dione arrived safely packed inside sturdy, multi-layered protective packaging and all pieces were conveniently labeled and separated into individual boxes. It’s always a good start when even unboxing has a high-end feel. Devialet gets an A+ for meticulous packaging and presentation. The Dione is noticeably larger than most average sound bars in width, depth, and height. The sound bar can be positioned horizontally on a suitable surface, or it can be wall mounted. The center-channel orb can rotate to accommodate the positioning of the sound bar. The Dione ships with an optical cable, HDMI cable and power cord. No physical remote is included. Users are instead required to download the Devialet app to complete setup. The Devialet app is user friendly and device pairing, and setup was easy and straightforward thanks to the intuitive interface. After I created a new Devialet account, the app had no problem finding the Dione and adding it to the account. It also automatically configured wi-fi in the Dione without requiring me to enter the passphrase. The app doesn’t have a ton of usefulness beyond setup other than basic management tasks. These task include firmware updates, toggling bass reduction, performing room sound calibration, toggling the mic on/off, and setting the Dione position (wall mount, countertop, etc.). The Dione is also heavier than the average sound bar and the inputs for sound and power are inside a cavity on the rear that can be a little hard to reach when the sound bar is positioned horizontally. Performance wise, the Dione sounds excellent, as I expected. It has a clear, mostly neutral sound profile with strong but not overwhelming bass. I performed the recommended sound calibration first, which took less than 30 seconds through the app and doesn’t require a separate calibration mic. I then spent the next few days extensively testing the Dione with my cable TV service, a dedicated streaming box, streaming video directly through the television apps, and streaming music from my phone. The 17 drivers provide rich, room filling surround sound and the 8 driver driven bass is deep and resonating, particularly during louder action-packed scenes. The sound bar gets quite loud at higher volumes and can easily fill a large room with rich sound. The Dione is fantastic for watching video content, both on cable and streaming. The bass sounds great for a sound bar although it lacks the room vibrating oomph factor of a large, decent quality, dedicated subwoofer being driven by a capable separate amplifier. Video playback is excellent; however, music playback is disappointing. Higher frequencies seem lackluster and flat when streaming music via airplay to the sound bar. I streamed music from music apps as well as directly from uncompressed music files on my phone, but the sound was too flat and unremarkable for my tastes. An in-app EQ, more fine-tuning control over sound profiles, or even a few additional sound profiles focused on music may improve music playback quality, but the current default music sound profile is disappointing. The Dione feels better suited for home theater video sound and gaming than for playing music. The Dione feels like a well-constructed, high quality sound bar but I did experience one slight issue that so far has only occurred once but I’m keeping my eye on it. The status LEDs on the top went completely dark, the touch sensitive hardware buttons became unresponsive, the sound bar disconnected from the television, and the HDMI status showed as disconnected in the app. I initially tried to restore the sound bar connectivity through the app and hardware buttons, but sound would only play through the TV speakers. I finally got the sound bar back online after power-cycling via unplugging the power cord. I’ve double and triple checked my HDMI, ARC, eARC and other applicable settings on the TV and the few settings available within the Devialet app. I also verified all cables are tightly secured on both the Dione and the television. The sound bar is connected to a dedicated eARC port on a high-end 65-inch OLED television using the HDMI cable that shipped with the Dione. Not sure what caused the random disconnect, but it has only occurred once. Hopefully, it was just a one-time hiccup. I’m slightly torn on my overall opinion of the Dione. It is an excellent choice for minimalists, and it sounds terrific as a standalone device. It’s a solid choice if a traditional multi-speaker surround sound system or high-end sound bar with separate satellites and dedicated subwoofer are not desired or are out of the question due to space or other restrictions. It is the best sounding standalone sound bar that I have heard to date, narrowly beating out my now second favorite sound bar made by another high-end audio brand. While the Dione could absolutely replace most mainstream sound bars, including those with separate, small, dedicated subwoofers, the choice becomes a little harder if deciding between it and a high quality traditional multi-speaker surround system with separate components being driven by a high-quality amplifier. If I watch and compare the same action movie through the Dione and through my traditional high-end 5.1 system, the level of immersion is much better with the larger system. Music also sounds much better on my traditional system. However, I’m assuming anyone looking for a high-end soundbar like the Devialet Dione has likely ruled out a traditional setup, so I won’t waste any more time comparing the differences. One area where the Dione absolutely shines and gives any system a strong run for the money is dialogue. Spoken dialogue sounds fantastic and the Dione is an excellent sound bar for those who frequently watch television at lower volumes or watch a lot of dialogue heavy programming. Voices are clear and easily decipherable, even at lower volume levels.