ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Professionals: Huge, spacious soundstage, AirPlay-enabled
- Cons: Dearer than opponents
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Sonos is not the one firm investing within the whole-home audio recreation; Denon launched three new good audio system, bringing its lineup to seven. The Denon Residence 200, 400, and 600 debut with a brand new look, Dolby Atmos assist, and extra methods to develop your Denon ecosystem round your home.
The query is how adept Denon’s HEOS ecosystem is at serving as a whole-home audio hub, and whether or not it is one you must contemplate over Sonos? When you’re locked into an ecosystem, it is tougher to realize the seamless room-to-room audio you are trying to find, and an costly pivot to make if you wish to begin anew. Let’s dive in.
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What’s new with Denon Residence 200
The Residence 200 succeeds the Residence 150, swapping a denim-adjacent woven materials for a extra nondescript woven sample. Buttons and ports are actually in much less apparent positions, branding is muted, and the earlier sq. kind is rounded for a contemporary look.
Denon’s Residence 200 is much like Sonos’ Period 100 in acoustic construction, containing three Cladd-D amplifiers, two tweeters, one woofer, and built-in microphones for voice assistant compatibility. Just like the Period 100, Denon fitted the Residence 200 with AirPlay, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi connectivity for wi-fi streaming. Each audio system even have a microphone change to disconnect the built-in microphones, if privateness is your concern.
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Nevertheless, the Residence 200 options two separate ports for 3.5mm line-in and USB-C connectivity, permitting you to attach analog units, and you’ll hardwire the Residence 200 through the USB-C port with an Ethernet adapter. You’ll be able to management the Residence 200’s bass, treble, and width on a 10-point scale, and the HEOS app helps you to toggle between “Auto” balanced sound and “Pure” sound, which reduces digital processing.
On the sound entrance, the Residence 200 delivers an exceptionally spacious soundstage for its small stature. Earlier than tweaking any EQ settings, the Residence 200’s tweeters are emphasised, delivering element in vocals and harmonies, with very clear imaging and instrumental separation.
Denon says the Residence 200 helps Dolby Atmos, however I wasn’t in a position to entry it through AirPlay on Apple Music; I assume that with a Residence 200 stereo setup related to a Denon soundbar, or with one other music streaming subscription, you may entry it.
Nonetheless, I’ve listened to Charli xcx’s “Sympathy is a Knife” in Dolby Atmos a number of occasions on a Sonos 5.1 encompass sound setup, and all of the digitized harmonies layered within the refrain I normally hear in encompass sound come by the Denon Residence 200 speaker.
As compared, Sonos’ selection of a midwoofer within the Period 100 delivers a bassier sound with rather more emphasis on fundamental vocals and higher bass, which most individuals get pleasure from, particularly in a film or TV-watching context.
What’s new with Denon Residence 400
Denon’s Residence 400 speaker is a behemoth of a center sibling throughout the Residence speaker lineup, that includes six Class-D amplifiers, two tweeters, and two upfiring midrange drivers. This speaker succeeds the Residence 350 and debuts with a contemporary, fashionable look.
This speaker is most much like Sonos’ Period 300, which additionally contains a two-tweeter, two midrange driver, and two-woofer acoustic construction. Denon’s Residence 400 swapped the earlier era’s DTS:X spatial audio for the extra accessible Dolby Atmos, contains Bluetooth and AirPlay, and contains a 3.5mm line-in port together with a USB-C port for exterior units or hardwiring.
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Like its youthful sibling, the Residence 400’s sound may be very detailed and clear, with noticeable element and depth, although the smaller Residence 200 delivers a extra spacious soundstage. Its bass response is tight and current with out muddying the remainder of the sound.
HEOS vs. Sonos
My major quest was to find out which whole-home ecosystem and why. The reply to that query closely is dependent upon what sort of individual you’re and what objectives you want to obtain. To start out, Denon presently has one HEOS-compatible soundbar, so that you’re restricted to 1 mannequin if you happen to’re anchoring your system to a TV. As compared, Sonos’ S2 working system helps seven soundbars, spanning a number of worth factors and sizes.
Denon’s HEOS works simply in addition to Sonos’ S2 for transferring from room to room; Sonos simply presents extra merchandise inside its ecosystem. For streaming, Sonos presents Apple Music in its app, making it one of many few third-party providers to take action, permitting you to entry Dolby Atmos from a single speaker.
The Denon Residence 400 in Charcoal.
Jada Jones/ZDNET
HEOS does not assist Apple Music, however Denon’s audio system assist AirPlay. Nevertheless, HEOS helps TuneIn entry and not using a subscription, which is superior for individuals who like native, speak, music, sports activities, or information radio stations.
Sonos has extra music streaming providers, however a number of of them (other than the necessities: Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, Amazon Music, and so on) are for business use, reminiscent of gyms, spas, company workplaces, retail shops, or motels, so that you probably will not use them — except you are into that type of factor.
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All in all, Sonos and Denon obtain very related outcomes inside their respective whole-home audio ecosystems, however there are main variations in every firm’s {hardware}. Sonos merchandise have a a lot stronger midrange, decrease mids, and bass, making them primed for films, TV reveals, podcasts, and entertaining visitors.
Denon merchandise emphasize mids and better frequencies, characteristic a extra balanced tone, assist connection to analog units, and assist higher-quality playback, making them primed for extra important listening.
Basically, you must select Sonos if you wish to begin with a house theater, then develop to different rooms; you must select Denon if you need hi-fi good audio system all through your property and plan to concentrate on your property theater down the road.
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
The Denon Residence 200 and Residence 400 audio system are a superb comeback for the corporate, proving {that a} five-year hiatus yields tangible upgrades. They make great tabletop centerpieces to your residence whereas doubling as high-fidelity good audio system.
Denon’s new residence audio system can double as rear audio system to your HEOS-powered residence theater, although the corporate solely presents one soundbar to anchor them to. Nevertheless, Denon presents a number of AV receivers, amps, and community audio gamers powered by HEOS to complement the shortage of soundbars.
