What Denon & HEOS did next
The latest release in Denon’s new ‘Home’ range is the $999 Denon Home Sound Bar 550, due for a May release in Australia, and confirming Denon’s shift away from separate HEOS-branded products. HEOS will remain as the platform enabling streaming and multiroom operation within ever-increasing numbers of products from Denon and Marantz (and potentially other brands under Sound United). Meanwhile the Home soundbar joins three wireless Home speakers in an expanding range to directly replace the outgoing HEOS products. And in a sign of carefully planned interoperability, any of the Home wireless speakers can be used as rear surround speakers with the new bar. And with HEOS inside, they will all also integrate with any existing HEOS products in a home.
The soundbar claims Dolby Atmos and DTS:X 3D surround delivery from a six-driver array, although all six drivers and two passive radiators fire forward, with a third passive radiator to the rear. There is 4K video compatibility and eARC connectivity, while HEOS allows music streaming up to high-res from local music libraries or online music services (Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, TIDAL and more via Wi-Fi); there is also AirPlay 2, and Bluetooth, and this is the first Denon soundbar to include onboard software drivers for home control systems Control4, Crestron, URC, Elan, and others.
Another new release is the (pictured below), Denon’s latest compact all-in-one hi-fi system. It too has HEOS built in, so has all the same streaming abilities and multiroom compatibility, while
