This Football-Sized Speaker Just Blew My Mind

At this point, we wouldn't blame you for being numb to the glut of new speakers that promise HUGE SOUND in small packages. However, considering Sting, Rick Rubin, and a former Beats By Dre CEO have all confessed their absolute astonishment at a new speaker out of France, you may want to pay attention. And now, after long last, the Devialet Phantom is coming to our shores.

The day before launch, we got a private demo of the Phantom here at Supercompressor HQ. Our response? Total silence. We were blown away. Every expectation we had for it was met, then exceeded. Big time. This thing is absolutely the real deal. 

Roughly a foot long, the sleekly designed Phantom is packed with an innovative self-contained system that combines the clean sound of analog amplification with the mega power of digital. Go ahead and turn it up to 11 (or 12 for that matter), it'll handle the volume with ease. 

It also employs what its engineers refer to as "Heart Bass implosion," a unique woofer setup where the drivers protrude from its sides and openly thump. That design is the reason it can produce bass four times more powerful than woofers of comparable size. During our office demo, we turned it up a bit to see what all the fuss was all about. Yeah—it does bump. When you put your hand to the casing though, you don't feel the reverberations at all. This feature is really remarkable for those of us used to turning it up so loud that our speakers rattle, shake, and fall off the shelf. 

This sort of dominance doesn't come cheap though. The standard 750-watt version starts around $1,990, and its beastlier 3,000-watt big brother will set you back $2,390. Grab one—or more if you're really looking to up your sound system—here.

Want more of the world's best Tech delivered straight to your inbox? Click here to sign up for our daily email.