Devialet has made a habit of creating new versions of its premium speakers every so often, to give people the option of owning even more limited editions.
The Phantom I is probably its most recognisable speaker right now, and thus is the one getting a beautiful new rendition to celebrate Chinese New Year.
The speaker's full title is a mouthful: Phantom I 108 dB by Yang Bao & Wa Liu. That gives you both the names of the artists behind its changed design, based in both New York and Beijing. They collaborated on the design and landed on this intriguing gold-and-red colour scheme and finish.
Those new gold accents towards the speaker's back are real 22.5-carat gold leaf, and the red slashes are real varnish, all of it hand-set by French craftsmen.
That makes the new Phantom I pretty much a work of art in our eyes and Devialet's, then. It's aimed at celebrating the start of the Year of the Dragon, perhaps by emulating the rippling side of a traditional dragon while it moves, which commences on 10 February this year.
This new version of the speaker has been given a sort of nickname by its artist, too - ANIMAL, apparently aimed at summing up how it gives off a different vibe to the standard Phantom I, which comes in a range of significantly more muted standard versions.
What will be the same, of course, is the absolutely perfect sound quality that you get from one of these ultra-premium Devialet speakers, making them some of the best speakers around.
They're also wildly powerful and capable of getting incredibly loud. Phantom I units can also be paired as a stereo setup if you decide you'd like two of them. One can easily imagine how striking they'd in basically any room, too. be
Of course, anyone familiar with Devialet will be bracing for a sky-high price already. Even its portable handheld speaker Mania runs to over £750, after all.
Well, there's no getting around it - the Phantom I 108 dB by Yang Bao & Wa Liu lands at a pretty eyewatering £5,300 / $6,700 and is available to buy from Devialet now if it's caught your eye.
