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DeVore Fidelity O/baby Speakers
The Orangutan O/baby is essentially a miniaturized O/96, complete with optional solid oak stand. Using a horn-loaded .75″ textile dome tweeter and a new 7″ woofer using the same uncoated German paper as the legendary O/96 and O/Reference.
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Professional Reviews 92/100
Deliciously Crispy
Sound Quality
93/100
Build Quality
90/100
Value for Money
88/100
DeVore Fidelity’s O/baby delivers holographic imaging, richly tangible vocals and startling rhythmic immediacy from a compact, high-sensitivity two-way. hi-fi+ admired its refined detail, full-bodied midrange and graceful bass reach, while HiFi News found its expansive scale and insight exceptional for the size. Carefully positioned, it makes music feel vividly present.
What Reviewers Are Saying
Pros
Expansive, airy soundstage with lifelike, spatially precise imaging that belies the compact cabinet.
Full-bodied, articulate midrange gives vocals, piano and horns exceptional presence and natural texture.
Fast, expressive dynamics and punchy, tuneful bass create unusually compelling musical momentum for a small speaker.
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Cons
Requires careful stand height, toe-in and distance from walls; listening below tweeter height reduces airiness and can make the sound congested.
Deep-bass impact and maximum output fall short of DeVore’s larger Orangutan models; best suited to small-to-medium rooms.
Optional dedicated stands add significant cost, and the simpler cabinet finish is less lavish than higher-tier DeVore models.
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 93/100
The O/baby is consistently described as a vivid, emotionally involving small speaker with unusually large-scale presence. Reviewers especially praise its natural vocal expression, holographic space, rhythmic speed, and ability to make recordings feel immediate, while careful stand height and positioning are important to unlocking its full performance.
Bass
92/100
For a compact, rear-ported speaker with a 178mm woofer, reviewers found the bass unusually weighty, rhythmic, and well extended, reaching roughly 40Hz with a smooth roll-off. The bottom end is repeatedly called tight, quick, organic, and punchy, though it does not provide the outright impact of DeVore's larger models and depends on correct setup for full extension.
Mid
95/100
The midrange is a major attraction. Reviews describe it as full-bodied, tangible, articulate, and unusually alive, with realistic voices and convincing instrumental texture. Horns, piano, and vocals are said to carry strong presence and emotional intensity without losing naturalness.
Treble
91/100
The upper registers are described as highly refined, clear, and detailed rather than overtly metallic or aggressively bright. One reviewer notes a softer balance at the frequency extremes than many metal-dome designs, but found no meaningful lack of resolution or openness.
Soundstage Imaging
95/100
Reviewers repeatedly highlight an expansive, airy, and holographic presentation that exceeds expectations for the cabinet size. Images are described as spatially precise and lifelike, with layers extending beyond the speaker boundaries; however, the speaker is sensitive to listening height and modest toe-in, and its imaging is not portrayed as quite as pinpoint-focused as the larger Silverbacks.
Dynamics
94/100
Speed, immediacy, and rhythmic drive are recurring strengths, with reviewers calling the speaker's transient response startling and its PRAT exceptional. It will not play as loudly as the larger Orangutans and benefits from sympathetic amplifier matching, but within its intended range it delivers unusually forceful musical expression.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Build Quality
90/100
The O/baby is described as fastidiously made, with a substantial six-layer marine-ply baffle, carefully integrated horn loading, and a purpose-developed paper woofer. Its recycled-content MDF cabinet is deliberately simpler and less lavishly finished than DeVore's upper models, but reviewers still find it well finished and attractive.
Value for Money
88/100
At roughly $5,600-$6,300 per pair before optional stands, the O/baby is an expensive stand-mount and one reviewer explicitly flags the additional stand cost. Even so, reviewers consider its engagement and system-building potential highly persuasive for the asking price, with performance that can anchor substantially more expensive electronics and compete unusually strongly on sound for its size.
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Authorized dealers for DeVore Fidelity O/baby Speakers
- In Living Stereo — in-store — New York City, New York, United States (website)
- Resolution A/V — in-store — New York City, New York, United States (website)
- Absolute Sounds — in-store — London, England, United Kingdom (website)
- Arizona Hi-Fi — in-store — Phoenix, Arizona, United States (website)
- Audio Aktoren — online and in-store — Horten, Vestfold, Norway (website)
- Audio Archon — online and in-store — Libertyville, Illinois, United States (website)
- Audio Concepts - USA — in-store — Dallas, Texas, United States (website)
- Audio Creativ — in-store — Riedenburg, Bayern, Germany (website)
- Audio Revolutions — in-store — Khwaeng Thung Phaya Thai, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (website)
- Audio88 — in-store — Singapore, Singapore (website)
and 28 more verified dealers