When the Phantom wireless speaker dropped in 2015, it looked like nothing on the market and sounded as good as it looked. Devialet's Gemini true wireless ANC earphones follow a similar design language and promise a "truly unmatched on-the-go listening experience."
"At Devialet, we create extraordinary products that deliver an unprecedented sound experience," said Devialet's CEO, Franck Lebouchard. "We’ve pursued our goal of reshaping the place of sound in people’s lives through our amplifiers and speakers, and Devialet Gemini – our first portable product – brings us closer to our goal.
"We’ve embraced the challenge of bringing our audio expertise and cutting-edge technology to the true wireless earphone space, and are excited at the prospect of reaching a wider audience than ever with our products."
The matte black and purple Gemini earphones clearly sport a similar look to the company's mighty Phantom wireless speakers, though are not quite as visually striking and won't be pushing out quite as much power.
They boast three levels of what's described as market-leading Active Noise Cancellation, and two levels of transparency – where the user can opt to allow in sounds from the outside world, which can be useful for hearing announcements at a transit hub or walking through inner city traffic.
The earphones also offer a home to three new patented audio technologies.
Something Devialet calls Pressure Balanced Architecture makes use of "cascading decompression chambers" to maintain ideal inner pressure, without adversely affecting noise attenuation, and each chamber is coated with custom acoustic mesh to prevent external noise from leeching into the system.
An Internal Delay Compensation algorithm is designed to compensate for any delay caused by the noise cancellation loop, while Ear Active Matching sees adjustment of the audio signal frequency ranges in real time, adapting the equalization to compensate for any subtle changes resulting from movement.
A secure and comfortable fit is an important factor for best sound delivery, as well as ensuring that the earphones don't fall out while on the move, and using the Gemini earphones with the companion mobile app can help users select the best fit from one of the four pairs of tips provided, offering the results of ear scans in just five seconds. The app also comes with a six-band equalizer for custom sound tweaking.
The earphones have IPX4-rated protection from dust and water ingress, meaning they should survive the gym or a sudden downpour. They pair with a music source such as a smartphone over Bluetooth, with aptX codec support, and playback control, call taking, digital assistant and ANC activation are undertaken via the multi-function touch surface on the outer housing.
Eight hours of continuous use per charge with ANC powered off is on offer, or six with ANC engaged. The charging case, which has a slide-out lid rather than a pop top, will juice up the earphone batteries 3.5 times before it needs plugging in or resting on a (not included) Qi wireless charging pad.
As you might expect from a premium audio brand, the Devialet Gemini true wireless earphones sit at the pricier end of the market, coming in at US$299, and go up for pre-order from October 10.
Source: Devialet