A Stylish New Model Hits The Smart Speaker Catwalk

“Er, what is that?” It’s the first thing my son asks me when he walked into the house recently after several months away.

The object he was inquiring about looks like a pointed oval with a diamond-shaped front and is not, as my wife suggests, an alien dinosaur egg. Though, admittedly that would have been cool.

In fact, it’s an Obsidian, a portable wireless smart speaker from Pantheone, an Australian company that has emerged to challenge the status quo in the multi-room audio market. The Obsidian is the brand’s second offering, with the first being the suitably named Pantheone I which is larger and at £2,399, more expensive. Though at £1,199, the Obsidian is far from a budget choice.

Featuring Alexa integration, Apple Airplay 2 and a 15-hour battery life, the Obsidian looks to combine great sound with style. Streaming services supported are Spotify, Amazon Music, Tidal, TuneIn, Pandora, iHeartRadio and Napster.

Google fans will note that Chromecast support is notable by its absence. It does feel more like an Apple-friendly device at present but in conversation with the company it was hinted, though not confirmed, that Google Chromecast support could arrive via a firmware update at some point. In the meantime, however, you can still use Spotify Connect within the Pantheone app to beam music directly to the speaker from an Android phone.

You can also use Bluetooth and codec support includes SBC, AAC and AptX. Again though, Android users might be disappointed that AptX HD is not present.

While some may nitpick at the spec, design-wise the Obsidian is a hit. Eschewing the conventional, boxy shape of most multi-room speakers, the Obsidian’s curves and angles draw the eye without overwhelming a room. It has a presence but is also classy and understated.

Anyone in the market for a wireless smart speaker these days has a wide range of options to choose from so it’s clear that Pantheone is aiming big. As such, the Obsidian needs to be good.

While the price is relatively high, much of the cost will no doubt come down to the fact that each Pantheone speaker is hand-made. Constructed of a sculpted, polished resin I’m not sure I love how it feels to the touch, but it certainly feels very well put together. At 65cm high 46cm wide and just over 43cm deep, the Obsidian is bookshelf friendly – though as 5Kg is had better be a strong shelf.

You’ll only have to worry about the feel when you move it though, which is encouraged as it contains a battery rated for 15 hours. I never managed to run that down completely during my testing so it should be long enough to all but the longest parties. It charges quickly too when plugged in. Note that if you leave it unplugged with no activity it will turn off after 30 minutes to preserve power and you will have to press the small button at the rear to turn it back on again.

The front is covered by an acoustically transparent mesh with a triangular-shaped diamond. This is more noticeable in the white version rather than the black, both of which I was sent to test. There are buttons on the front, + and – for volume, an “M” to switch between inputs (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Aux-in), and a circle to manually activate Alexa. While the buttons looked minimal, they use haptic feedback to make a sound when pressed, but this has a delay which for me was an unsatisfying feeling.

Tech specs

Behind the removable fabric cover, the Obsidian contains a single 4.5in driver that digs down to 55Hz and two side-facing tweeters that go up to 22KHz, it’s all powered by a 40W Class-D amplifier. Codec support includes MP3, AAC, ALAC, APE, FLAC, WAV, WMA, and OGG up to 24-bit 192KHz, but only when played using the Pantheone app. Airplay 2 however, is limited to 24-bit/48KHz.

The Obsidian supports 5GHz and 2.4GHz Wi-Fi (there is no Ethernet) and by default, it will connect to a 5GHz network, to increase the stability of hi-res audio streaming. If you want to use 2.4GHz, it will have to be available as a separate network and selected manually.