Devialet Phantom Ultimate 98 dB Pulse Blue Collector's Edition

This collector's edition costs 15,980 RMB, with a matching Tree stand at 2,090 RMB. It is a colourway, not a new speaker: Devialet has taken the existing Phantom Ultimate architecture and dressed it for a Formula 1 campaign fronted by Oracle Red Bull Racing driver Isack Hadjar.

The body is finished in RAL 5011 blue, a specific industrial blue rather than an approximate one, and the side panels move from matte to mirror-polished, under a clear lacquer. That is the entire visual pitch: the shape has not changed since the Phantom Ultimate was announced, only the surface treatment and the gloss level of the panels.

Underneath the paint, the specification is the familiar one. Frequency response runs from 18 Hz to 25 kHz, maximum output is 98 dB SPL, and it handles high-resolution audio up to 24-bit/192 kHz. Devialet's own amplification and speaker-matching technologies, ADH New-Gen, SAM, and HBI, are all present, and the speaker supports both stereo pairing and multi-room setups. It runs the current Devialet DOS 3 software, which connects to the major streaming platforms and Roon's certification scheme, all adjustable through the app.

None of that software or hardware list is new to this edition. What you are actually paying the premium for is the finish, the stand, and the Hadjar association, which is a legitimate thing to buy if the look is what you came for. It is a less legitimate thing to buy if you were hoping the racing campaign meant an engineering update, because there is not one here.