The Wireless Speaker That Looks Out Of This World

Speaking to Oren Adani, the founder of Australian speaker company Pantheone Audio, one thing comes across clearly: he cares about audio quality as much as he cares about design — which is to say, a lot. “Art Form Sound” is the company’s ethos and it’s literally etched onto every Pantheone I wireless speaker.

First released in 2020, it costs a not inconsiderable £2,995/$2,995 — so it’s good news that it has recently been updated to bring AirPlay 2 and Bluetooth 5.0 to the party. My first encounter with the company was via its second speaker, the smaller Obsidian, which I reviewed last year, and was impressed by. Is this much larger beast equally as good?

Built to Last

At just over 65cm high and 46cm wide (18in/25in) the Pantheone I will make its presence felt in your room even when not playing anything. Even sitting inside the opened box it looked out of this world. Inside the box it comes wrapped in the bag, making it resemble the Alien eggs from the movies, making me momentarily reluctant to reach in in case scary jumped onto my face. It turned out to be more of an issue for my back though; the Pantheone weighs in at a hefty 25 kg/55lbs and when manoeuvring it around I wished it had some integrated handles. Then again this is not meant to be a portable speaker and unlike its smaller Obsidian sibling, it doesn’t have a battery.

The weight is due to its internals being encased in a mix of polished resin, ABS plastic and acoustic fabric, which as well as giving it a solid and robust feel bodes well for sound quality.

Inside are two 130-watt amplifiers, two 6.5in sub-woofers, two 4in mid-range drivers and four 0.75in silk dome tweeters, divided up between left and right speakers. As such, Pantheone describes the speaker as having 360° sound, but this does not mean it supports spatial formats such as Dolby Atmos or Sony 360 audio (as used in some Amazon Music tracks).

As you can see from the pictures, the Pantheone I looks more sculpted than manufactured – but then it is hand built. Available in either a black or white finish, I wasn’t surprised to learn it has already won several design awards.

Hi-Res Capable

The upgrade to Bluetooth 5 is welcome but only really makes a difference if you’re using SBC, the worst of Bluetooth’s codecs: more likely your device will support the superior AptX or AAC. I was a little surprised that aptX HD is absent, but it makes more sense to use Wi-Fi anyway for high-quality playback.

The Pantheone I is capable of playing back true lossless and high-resolution audio up to 24-bit/192KHz, and this can be delivered wirelessly using the Tidal ‘Max’ tier, via Tidal Connect. Alternatively you can obtain high-res via Amazon Music. Also supported are Spotify Connect, Napster, and TuneIn. Qobuz also offers hi-res lossless and users are waiting for it to release Qobuz Connect, which hopefully will be supported by the Pantheone once its released.

Multiroom Ready

You can also use these services inside the Pantheone app , which makes it easy to link up multiple Pantheone devices for multiroom. However, Tidal within the Pantheone app is limited to ‘Tidal High’. This means its limited to lossless, (16-bit/44KHz).

The same goes for Airplay 2 from an iPhone so if you want to ensure lossless or high-resolution streaming from Apple Music you’ll have to use a wired DAC into the Pantheone I’s aux input.

When you hear the Pantheone I, however, you won’t be too concerned with the nuances of bitrates and kilohertz. While the specs claim the two Class D amps have ‘only’ 130 Watts, the output belies this — the Pantheone I sounds simply huge.

It’s the bass that hits you first, extending deep and low, but also fast – so much so that I had to go into the app to reign it in a little. From Queen’s Another One Bites the Dust, to MJ’s Billie Jean, to The Weeknd’s Starboy, the Pantheone I made me want to move. Sting’s It’s Probably Me featuring Eric Clapton is dramatic and moody and the Pantheone I was a fine stage to showcase its hand snaps, pulsing bass line and searing guitar licks. Guitars are particularly fulsome, with Mark Knopfler’s plucking on You and Your Friend sounding rounded and lifelike. Even with bombastic and powerful fare such as the Gladiator II soundtrack, there’s a good separation between instruments.

Alexa Compatible

In operation there are some minor frustrations, though none are dealbreakers. As its an Alexa device I was expecting to be able to ask it to play music by voice but with no native Apple Music support (you have to use Airplay 2) I instead signed up for a Tidal trial. However, Tidal’s Alexa skill only works in the USA for some reason, so I was again stymied. If you have Spotify or Amazon Music, however, you should be able to use your voice to get the Pantheone I to sing, even outside North America.

Also, however, despite not being far from the router the app regularly complained that the Wi-Fi strength was low and sometimes the Pantheone I, and its smaller Obsidian sibling, disappeared from the app or the Airplay 2 list altogether. Of course, the classic turning it on and off again always solved the issue. That said, the fault does appear to lie with my Wi-Fi, as on my Ethernet-connected PC the devices were always available in iTunes. As such, I would recommend taking advantage of the Pantheon’s 10/100 Ethernet port, if possible. To be even more nitpicky, even via the PC, after pressing play there was always a tiny, but perceptible delay before the audio immenseein, which meant the first half-second of the first track faded in.

Sound Quality

When you hear the Pantheone I in action, however, you won’t be too concerned with the nuances of bitrates and kilohertz. While the specs claim the two Class D amps have ‘only’ 130 Watts, the output belies this — the Pantheone I sounds simply immense.

It’s the bass that hits you first, extending deep and low, but also fast – so much so that I had to go into the app to reign it in a little. From Queen’s Another One Bites the Dust, to MJ’s Billie Jean, to The Weeknd’s Starboy, the Pantheone I made me want to move. Sting’s It’s Probably Me featuring Eric Clapton is dramatic and moody and the Pantheone I was a fine stage to showcase its hand snaps, pulsing bass line and searing guitar licks. Guitars are particularly fulsome, with Mark Knopfler’s plucking on You and Your Friend sounding rounded and lifelike. Even with bombastic and powerful fare such as the Gladiator II soundtrack, there’s a good separation between instruments. In fact, what ever I played, the Pantheone I made the most of it.

Should You Buy It?

Despite some minor flaws, to hear the Pantheone I in full flow is to forgive. Forget your Sonos or even your B&O — if you are looking for a wireless speaker that looks as good as it sounds, the Pantheone I needs to be on your shortlist. It kept making me want to keep listening to things — which is a sign of a great system. Yes, hi-fi purists will argue that they could put together an even better system for the money and point out that while it’s technically stereo as a single speaker the soundstage is narrow. However, that’s not the market that the Pantheone I is aimed at. This is a design-led product, where how it looks is as important as it sounds — and fortunately, the Pantheone I is a solid winner on both counts.