Hands on Review: Devialet Phantom Reactor By What Hi-Fi?
Sound quality:
Its sound is no less familiar. At a hotel briefing, we hear a handful of songs over Apple AirPlay, and each lays bare the speaker’s direct, clear and effortlessly room-filling delivery.
Indeed, the Reactor’s scale and loudness belies its modest proportions – spookily so, you could say. For some living spaces, the Reactor may still seem over the top. After all, its 98dB volume capability is comparable to the loudness of a drill.
We can hardly say we’ve been twelve rounds with it – that’ll come later when it goes head-to-head with similarly-priced rivals in our test rooms – but we’ve heard enough to suggest it should be a contender at the money.
First up is a jazzy classical track, and the drubbing snare and kick drums make a dramatic entrance, emitting from the Reactor with clarity and impact.
The speaker’s bass depth eats up the wicked bass guitar line that opens Rachelle Ferrell’s Sista, which is thick and quick out of the two animated woofers. It bumps along nicely below her vocal, which soars above with scale and – again – heaps of clarity.
That notable vocal delivery is demonstrated with George Benson’s The Ghetto, too, his soulful vocal crooning not only direct but attitude-laden, and a good advert for the Reactor’s articulate and warm balance.
