Devialet Gemini II Review - Extremely powerful ANC! But... 🤔

The Devialet Gemini II is a follow up from the first Gemini which was a pretty impressive product, not only in terms of sound (it sounded impressive) but also because its active noise canceling was among the best in the market - even better than Sony’s earbuds.

But there were complaints about its case being bulky, so now we have a more petite Gen II, which is smaller in terms of both the earbuds and case while looking more polished and premium.

Gen II also has multipoint pairing, which lets the earbuds stay connected to up to two devices at once, and custom tap controls, features that the previous version did not have.

But what about its performance in terms of sound, noise canceling and call quality? What are the pros and cons, and is it worth that eye-watering price tag of $450 RRP?

Read on.

Call Quality

Though a little muffled, its mic pickup in general sounded quite intelligible. I was more impressed by how it cuts background noise to the extent that it’s barely a whisper, and there wasn’t a hint of any wind noise at all. So quite decent mics overall. The Gemini II has Active Wind Reduction technology (AWR) which filters the noise of wind from the microphones, so that calls sound clean. Listen to the sound samples here.

(Tested in quiet and noisy conditions using loud cafe background noise and wind noise from a fan.)

Active Noise Canceling

In terms of active noise canceling, it actually seems to be better compared to the previous version, because it seems to cancel more low frequency noise. It’s got something called Adaptive Noise Canceling which compensates for how the buds fit into your ears, as well as Internal Delay Compensation (IDC) which makes them super reactive to intermittent noises.

That is why even if it doesn’t have foam tips, it still is one of the top noise cancelers in the market. Listen to the sound samples here.

Transparency Mode

In terms of transparency, it sounds clean, and they’ve got good amplification. It has maybe a bit of occlusion, but very usable for conversations, or for just being aware of your surroundings in general.

Sound Quality

In terms of sound, it’s crisp, tight and punchy in the bass and mids, but not to the point of sounding boomy. It also sounds pretty high resolution, having little trouble resolving bits of detail that can hardly be heard on other earbuds - some extra shimmer in the cymbals, a bit more grain in the bass guitar, things like that. Listen to the samples.

On its default tuning, it can sound a bit too thin in the lower mids. I myself do enjoy a bit more gravity and richness when listening to vocals, but these do sound lacking in that area unless I bump up the 400 hz band in the Gemini app’s graphic EQ.

Also, there seems to be just a bit too much shimmer in the high frequencies. It’s got quite a bump in the 14 khz region, so instruments like bells and triangles can sound too bright and dominant for my tastes. Pushing down the 8 khz band seems to make it more bearable, but it would have been better if I could target that specific frequency range instead.

For the frequencies that can be adjusted though, I find the Gemini IIs to be very responsive to equalizing, and it largely retains EQ even at high volume levels.

Speaking of volume, if you want your buds to be loud, these are very loud. Loud enough for me even at 40% which almost never happens.

Pros

So overall, it performs quite well. Good microphone pickup, active noise canceling, and it sounds pretty good too.

Multipoint pairing is reliable and seamless. When connected to my pc and phone at the same time I don’t have to pause on one to switch to the other, just press play and the second source directly takes over.

Even though the buds are smaller than the previous version, they have a very tight and snug fit. If there’s one thing Devialet nailed here, it’s definitely the way it plugs right into my ears and stays there.

The app is also very polished and clean which is what you’d expect of a brand like Devialet.

In short, it checks off a lot of boxes. That being said, there’s room for it to be better. Just minor issues that many people may not even care about, but worth mentioning nonetheless.

Cons

For instance, it doesn’t have the option for various levels of ANC or transparency, so you only have full noise canceling, or full transparency. Nor does it have the option to turn noise canceling off to extend its battery.

Its battery life is also pretty average given the current landscape, rated up to 5 hours in the buds and up to 22 hours with case. Not bad at all since it did last me a full four to five hours of playing Elden Ring with some juice to spare, but not among the longest enduring battery.

As I’ve said, these are minor issues, because by and large, the Gemini II does check most boxes. For that price though? Well, it’s clearly not meant to be a fast-moving value for money product, it’s more like a… statement piece. For me, since I do consider even the $300 Sony WF-1000XM5 expensive - at $450 I would think extra hard before dropping cash for this product, let alone the Opera de Paris version which is plated in 24 Carat Gold which costs a cool $650.

But you might feel differently if you want top tier noise canceling, very loud volume that can maintain its EQ, from a famous, high-end European brand. If you want to check its latest pricing, I’ve got links to its Amazon and Lazada pages below. (Links TBA)