However, for all that the Mania seems to be a product slightly unlike Devialet in terms of looks and specs, the company’s ethos returns to strong focus once the speaker starts doing his job. me. Connected to an Apple iPhone 13 via AirPlay 2 and with music from John Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things” to Nation of Language’s “This Fractured Mind,” to Sparks’ “Don’t Leave Me Alone With Her,” Mania may really just be a Devialet product. And in some ways, this is a good thing.
Certainly the sheer scale and low frequency presence of Mania are remarkable. This is a fairly small speaker, but it creates a large and coherent soundstage. And, as is the case with all Devialet products in our experience, it produces more bass than is possible. It’s pretty well controlled, there’s not too much bass fade or loss of bass, and when the music demands it, the Mania can hit very hard. There are some listeners who think that “bass” stands for “excitement” and they are the people Mania is aiming for.
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Photo: Devialet
The authority the speaker has over its own low-frequency output means that Mania can perform rhythms quite confidently. Only the most experimental samples or tempos can get it to surpass its own bass performance, and even then only slightly. There is also considerable dynamic space here, and so Devialet can go from “big” to “louder” to “still louder” without any problems. However, the idea that Mania could begin this process “quietly” is a myth.
The drive for ambient stereo was also quite successful. Once Mania has had a chance to gauge its position relative to any boundary, it can produce a confident, consistent sound that offers a reasonable degree of separation. The point source is always obvious, of course, but the Devialet has a wider and better focused presentation than many wireless speakers at this price point. And when you take it outdoors, where the boundaries can be so far away that it’s irrelevant, the assertive nature of the Mania sound means it can sense the presence of sound without encountering it. what difficulty.
Problems, such as them, stem from the same source with a lot of positives: the bass and the emphasis on it. Throughout the frequency range, the Mania is a detailed listen with plenty of suitable observations to make about performance in the midrange and in the treble region. It shapes the information above the low frequencies with the same degree of positivity as the low frequencies themselves—but its attitude is more tolerant than interactive. Everything – by which we mean everything—played the second game for That Bass, and as a result, Mania’s overall sound was heavy and unnatural.
For some people, of course, this will be fine. But for listeners interested in realism, in the true literal fidelity of the sound they are hearing, performing their favorite music can seem almost unsatisfying. .
Keep in mind, very few battery-powered speakers can fill a space with sound even if that space turns out to be a pretty large garden—so owning a Devialet Mania isn’t without its advantages. .
