‘Dolby Atmos with headroom to spare’ — my afternoon with Denon’s ‘Sonos-busting’ trio of wireless speakers (and why WiiM should also be worried)
- Denon has just launched its 2.0 range: chic 200, 400 and 600 wireless speakers
- HEOS; Support Dolby Atmos (400 and 600) or Dolby Virtual (200) for height
- I’ve heard them and really like them for the money (prices start at $399/$299)
When an iconic brand like Denon releases a set of products, it’s something to take note of. Of all the best wireless speakers I know and love, none of them have 116 years of hi-fi engineering behind them, except Denon.
My British friends will remember the dog Nipper (a nickname which may or may not be associated with “Nippon”, as Denon’s first listed name was “Nippon Chikuonki Shoukai” in 1910) listening to the gramophone in the famous painting, His Master’s Voice? This is the kind of Denon heritage I’m talking about; Denon didn’t make the very first gramophone, but the company certainly improved it and introduced it to the general public in larger, more accessible quantities.
Even the name “Denon” comes from an abbreviated portmanteau of a later company name: “Denki” (electricity) and “Onkyo” (sound harmony) – although Denon should not be confused with the other notable hi-fi specialist named Onkyo.
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And today we’re about to get really specific about the sound. When a listening session begins with the phrase “Sound is one of our first senses in utero, and the last to leave us before we die” and ends with Riders in the Storm but by increasing the pitch of Dolby Atmos, so that those choruses from 1971 sound truly ghostly? Well, you know, we’ve delved deeper into how humans experience music.
But I digress. The thing is, Denon has released three very swanky new wireless speakers, all featuring ambient downlights, titanium baseplates, seamless machined fabric, and two decor-specific colorways: “Stone” and “Charcoal.” And the company calls them “Sonos-busting.”
I also had the opportunity to listen to them in situ, in a sanitary suite in a London hotel. And let me tell you, they looked and sounded right at home.
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Give me the chills
The smaller Denon 200 may look like a mono wireless speaker, but it’s not. It’s an integrated stereo unit, with two 1-inch tweeters and a 4-inch woofer, plus Dolby Atmos virtualization for room-filling sound (unlike the similarly sized Sonos Era 100) – although you can of course pair it with a second unit to create a high-fidelity stereo soundstage, or use two as rear channels in a Dolby Atmos home theater setup, with the 400 or 600 (I’ll talk about that in a minute). Here you have three integrated amplifiers for a total of 65W of power.
There are mics for Siri support, but you can turn them off completely – and Denon is keen to confirm that this really means disabled, so Big Brother won’t listen.
All speakers feature Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE Audio (available via update) with support for ALAC and aptX formats via Bluetooth, USB-C and 3.5mm auxiliary input for flexible connectivity – and you can enjoy high-resolution audio streaming services (Apple AirPlay, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect and Qobuz connect are built in, and it’s Roon ready), all using your home Wi-Fi network in any room, powered by HEOS. Do you want to do direct cabling on your Ethernet? You’ll need to use a USB-C to Ethernet adapter this time, but the company says it will give you a choice of network adapters with your purchase, which is unusual.
I heard the 200 in the dressing room of the London suite, and it more than filled the jeweled space with crisp, detailed sound up to 24-bit/192kHz, which was particularly evident when listening to the emotive texture of Ed Sheeran’s voice in Thrill.
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The 400 is the upgraded model, and here you get a six-speaker array (2 x 0.75-inch tweeters, 2 x 1-inch up-firing drivers, 2 x 4.5-inch midrange drivers) for true Dolby Atmos-certified sound and 90W of total power from its six built-in amps.
This is perhaps the most beautiful model of the trio in my eyes; it fits perfectly on shelves and bookcases while providing clean leading edges for notes. This would look great in jewel beachfront apartments (like mine).
Now might also be a good time to tell you that during setup you’re encouraged to indicate where the speaker is placed (far from a wall, near a wall, or near two, i.e. in a corner) and that in the HEOS companion app you can opt for a purer stereo hi-fi mix or add “width” – read: increase the horizontal space of the sound field. The “pure” option here bypasses the built-in DSP, but the spatial and directional elements are very it’s fun to play with, and it made me hear additional sonic items in songs I thought I knew in this Doors song.
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Last but not least is the eight-speaker 600. Denon hasn’t revealed a soundbar in this new 2.0 series, but it has made all three compatible with the older Denon 550 (imagine that, Sonos), so if you want to build a home theater system around that, you certainly can.
In fact, Sonos and WiiM should probably take note, because you get Dolby Atmos with headroom to spare here, thanks to its eight-speaker array: 2 x 2.5-inch tweeters, 2 x 2.5-inch midrange drivers, 2 x 2.5-inch drivers, 2 x 6.5-inch woofers, and eight integrated amplifiers, totaling 170W of power.
Again, bypass the onboard DSP and you get a pure, happy stereo mix; deploy the DSP and Auto, and the floor drops – here comes the immersive, more impactful mix. And with that kind of oomph behind it, the big room I’m sitting in is definitely ready for the party.
Oh, and before I forget, you can add up to 64 products in up to 32 “zones” in the HEOS app, which would truly be a wall of sound. And those delicious mood lights? You can dim them or turn them off completely; Denon believes that the main job of our hi-fi system is to be heard rather than seen (although it doesn’t hurt that they look great).
The price? Let’s go. The Denon 200 costs $399 / £299 / AU$699; the Denon 400 costs $599 / £449 / AU$999; the Denon 600 costs $799 / £599 / AU$1,499.
And considering that the Sonos Era 300 costs about the same as the Denon 400 and the WiiM Sound sells for about the same as the Denon 200, you could say that these beautiful new wireless multi-room speakers face some tough competition. But you could also say that the market has just received a trio of highly viable competitors – and I can’t wait to put them to the test under review conditions.
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