Interview: Jean-Loup Afresne, Chief Product Technical Officer at Devialet, on the New Phantom Ultimate & Its Creation

BURO sits down with Jean-Loup Afresne, Chief Product Technical Officer at Devialet, for a conversation about the Phantom Ultimate, the brand, and more.

While many dream of growing up to be a doctor, artist, or teacher, Jean-Loup Afresne had a different idea of what his dream job would be. As a kid surrounded by music and the art of sound, it was only natural that Afresne’s curiosity for the craft grew into ambition. Naturally, he was drawn to a job at Devialet, where design, audio, and precision go hand-in-hand to create products that excel in every metric. Its latest Phantom Ultimate is the pinnacle of everything that the brand stands for, providing listeners with rich sounds without compromising on style. We caught up with Afresne during his recent trip to Kuala Lumpur for a chat about his time at Devialet and—of course—the brand new Phantom Ultimate. Find our conversation below!

HOW DID YOU GET INTO THIS INDUSTRY? 

I always wanted to work in audio, to imagine and to build audio products. Growing up, I listened to a lot of music. My parents and my brother are all musicians. They’re not professional, but they do play instruments and also enjoy listening, so there was always music in the house. Because of that, I’ve always been into music and sound. 

So, I studied engineering with the goal of going into the audio industry. I then started my career in Geneva at Goldmund Sound Systems, a very high-end audio company. Two years after my first job, I founded my own company with some colleagues.

WHAT DREW YOU TO WORKING AT DEVIALET?

At my company, our team was made of five engineers and we were designing speakers alongside other audio products. That’s when we actually met with the founding team from Devialet. This was back when they were also a small team, made of five people—just like us. 

At that time, they already had an electronic amplifier. But since we were focused on speakers, it looked like our teams made for a great match, complementing each other. From there, we decided to work together to create an all-in-one integrated speaker with both electronics and acoustics combined. That’s how it all started!

WHAT KEEPS DEVIALET EXCITING FOR CONSUMERS?

We do things very differently here. We don’t do products for any reason other than to bring emotion to people through sound. Most audio products come from consumer electronics companies and those are simply—in my opinion—consumer products. They may play background music for you, but you don’t really get any emotion from it. Well, it’s either that or they are very specific, complex systems that not everyone can use. What we do at Devialet is bring those exceptional audio experiences that you can get from those elaborate setups into compact, easy-to-use devices. 

WHY IS THE PHANTOM ULTIMATE DIFFERENT FROM ANY OF YOUR PRODUCTS?

The Phantom Ultimate hits the sweet spot between performance, product design, and ease of use. It’s fast and easy to install, plus it fits into any home. For now, we have three colours, but you’ll find one that will fit right into your home’s interiors for sure. The sound quality is truly amazing for such a compact product. 

WHO WOULD BENEFIT FROM HAVING A PHANTOM ULTIMATE IN THEIR HOME?

It’s for everybody and anybody who wants to invest in sound. It could be for teenagers who love music or it could be people who want to take the time to listen to music all day long. Our products are very specific in the way that you can listen to them for just a few minutes or a few seconds and you can already feel its energy. You can also use them for a very prolonged time and not get annoyed by the it.

In some products, the distortion is so high that it just doesn’t feel good. But in Devialet’s case, we want the opposite of that. You can use our products for as long as you want and it will make you feel better as you get more connected to the music and musicians. 

LIKE GOLD OR PROPERTY, IS SOUND QUALITY A WORTHY INVESTMENT TO YOU?

Yes, because it can bring a lot to people’s lives. A product like the Phantom Ultimate can bridge listeners to the musicians. So it’s not just an object. It’s a real way to be connected to music, which is something—in some cases—that we can even call spiritual. 

WHEN CREATING A PRODUCT AT DEVIALET, WHAT COMES FIRST? DESIGN OR SOUND?

They both come at the same time and that’s very important for us. Usually, you’ll see compromises are made during product development between design and performance. At the end of that, you either have a high-performance product that isn’t great visually, or you have a good-looking product without performance. We do believe that design and performance can help each other be better. That’s what we did with the Phantom. 

We took the constraints for design and performance, made them work, and now we have this product. It really wouldn’t have been possible if we just looked at either design or performance, so this is really a feat. It’s difficult to do because it means that the teams have to understand each other very well, which our teams do. We are, I think, one of the only audio companies in the world that has every skillset needed internally within our small team of less than 60 people. Everything is done in-house. Even the screws are made in our factories and we make sure that the design is clean and organised from the inside out.

WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU THINK REGULAR CONSUMERS MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT DEVIALET?

Perhaps they don’t know that our logo actually resembles a teardrop, flipped upside down. It represents the emotions you feel when listening to music through our products. 

HOW DO YOU SEE DEVIALET GROWING AS A BRAND AND IN PEOPLE’S HOMES IN THE SOUTHEAST ASIAN MARKET?

For us at Devialet, it’s really about delivering this kind of experience that people can actually touch, feel, and hear, so that they understand the power of what we’re bringing. While we do digital advertisements at times to complement our strategies, it can sometimes be too difficult to deliver our message without a physical presence. Our retail stores and even pop-ups are critical for us. The people who go through these experiences will then feel the difference in our products and they’re going to be the ones that then spread our message. 

At this point, we’ve been able to establish some really strong partners in key countries across most of Asia. We’re now in the phase, where we’re starting to build the locations and deliver the experiences. As that starts to grow, we will in turn expand. Other than these touchpoints with customers, we’re also looking at the business side of things. For example, we have a lot of big partnerships with hotels—incuding Sofitel, Fairmont, and Capella—that also act as touchpoints for us.

We also work with quite a few partners in different industries like automobiles, aviation, and television to be able to reach a lot more customers. In those cases, they might not be experiencing the Phantom itself but something that we’ve also helped to develop into a product that can still deliver a unique audio experience. It’s a very show-don’t-tell kind of approach. 

The Devialet Phantom Ultimate is now available in 98 dB and 108 dB variations at RM8,090 and RM17,990 respectively. The Devialet Phantom Ultimate | Opéra de Paris editions are available at RM9,990 for 98 dB and RM20,990 for 108 dB. Find out more and purchase at devialet.com, the Devialet Store in Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, and other authorised retailers. 

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