Denon Introduces New Sound Bar With Dolby Atmos, AirPlay 2 Support, and More

[MacRumors]

Denon today debuted its latest home audio offering, the Home Sound Bar 550, with a key feature for Apple users being AirPlay 2 support for wirelessly streaming music to the sound bar from devices like the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

In addition to AirPlay 2, users can wirelessly stream music to the Home Sound Bar 550 via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, allowing for music to be streamed from services like Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, TIDAL, and others. The sound bar can be connected to a TV with a single HDMI cable, and it is "Roku TV Ready" to work seamlessly with Roku TVs.

With a six-driver array and "expertly tuned" digital signal processing, Denon says the Home Sound Bar 550 is built to deliver "best-in-class audio quality." The sound bar supports both the Dolby Atmos and DTS:X surround sound formats, and a feature known as HEOS allows for wireless multi-room audio with other Denon speakers.

The Home Sound Bar 550 can be controlled with the included remote or most universal remotes, the HEOS app for iPhone and iPad, or the built-in illuminated control panel that lights up automatically as an outstretched hand approaches. Denon says users will also have the option to enable Alexa voice control on the sound bar starting in spring 2021, and states that the built-in microphones will not be enabled without explicit user permission.

Denon says the Home Sound Bar 550 will be available for purchase at authorized retailers starting February 2021, priced at $599 in the United States.

Article Link: Denon Introduces New Sound Bar With Dolby Atmos, AirPlay 2 Support, and More

 

[Freeangel1]

DENON! Love DENON. I only use DENON for all my professional DJ equipment LASTS FOREVER!
their CD mixers are AWESOME! Have been since the 1990's.

 

[KrisLord]

Could they have made it look any more like a Sonos Beam?

 

[iapplelove]

Wow I haven’t heard of anything from Denon since the early 2000s...
Always quality stuff

 

[nikaru]

I doubt that such a small speaker can deliver any actual Dolby Atmos unless it is smart and can adjust volume and bass depending on its position in the room. Im looking to buy a decen sound bar, but if it is not significantly better that the integrated speaker of my LG Oled Cx, spending this money for just a small improvement does not makes sense.

 

[elmateo487]

I doubt that such a small speaker can deliver any actual Dolby Atmos unless it is smart and can adjust volume and bass depending on its position in the room. Im looking to buy a decen sound bar, but if it is not significantly better that the integrated speaker of my LG Oled Cx, spending this money for just a small improvement does not makes sense.

I mean. It’s highly unlikely your TV audio sounds good at all. Most sound bars that aren’t budget are going to sound much better than your TV audio.

 

[SVTmaniac]

And it looks identical to my Sonos Beam.

 

[jagolden]

Wow! Only $600 and no separate sub-woofer. Such a deal.

 

[x-evil-x]

I doubt that such a small speaker can deliver any actual Dolby Atmos unless it is smart and can adjust volume and bass depending on its position in the room. Im looking to buy a decen sound bar, but if it is not significantly better that the integrated speaker of my LG Oled Cx, spending this money for just a small improvement does not makes sense.

600 dollars doesn't even buy a decent receiver let alone a whole surround sound system. 600 is cheap

 

[joecomo]

I don't know what Denon's strategy is supposed to be.
They release new Airplay2 supporting products and as one
unique quality they promote HEOS support.

But then they don't give a **** about HEOS - no updates,
no Apple Music, no Airplay2 updates for older devices,
incomplete Airplay2 for their Receivers (just one zone
exposed on Airplay2 which somehow defies the whole idea).

As good as the devices are from a sound-perspective - at some
point in time I will get a couple of old Airplay2 compatible "airport expresses"
connect them to all my zones to go Airplay2 only and scrap their
HEOS app.

 

[nutmac]

I doubt that such a small speaker can deliver any actual Dolby Atmos unless it is smart and can adjust volume and bass depending on its position in the room. Im looking to buy a decen sound bar, but if it is not significantly better that the integrated speaker of my LG Oled Cx, spending this money for just a small improvement does not makes sense.

Unless I am missing something, I don't even see up firing drivers. Home Sound Bar 550 most likely outputs virtualized Dolby Atmos/DTS:X only, similar to HomePods.

 

[jayducharme]

I just went to their site to check it out and it already says "Out of Stock".

I like the concept of virtual surround sound bars. But I wish they had more connectivity options (i.e. for phono). It would be a great way to downsize my big amp and speaker system.

 

[Jimmy James]

I’m not sold on processed effects from a single source. I prefer good 2.0 or 2.1 system. Sound bars sure are convenient, though.

 

[Andyvydna]

Seriously doubt this gives an accurate Dolby Atmos experience unfortunately - the whole premise of Atmos is that there are downward firing speakers from the ceiling (or upward firing speakers that rebound off the ceiling and recreate that effect) and this has neither. It doesn’t have any side firing speakers either and as the unit isnt particularly wide I imagine that it will give quite a narrow sound stage. At $600 or £ I’d think you can do much better (sounds more like a $200-300 piece of kit tbh)

 

[Rodney Dangerfield]

Sonos rocks!

 

[mhilferty108]

I personally would love to see how it performs. I'm still regularly impressed with the DHT-S514 we used from 2015-2019 before moving to a full 7.1 system when we bought our first house. Sound was always clear, balanced, and powerful enough to fill the room.

 

[HarryWild]

I found the lower price Vizio brand sound bar 2.1 with subwoofer a great bargain. I have a Vizio sound bar that can be connect to a separate subwoofer great way to make use of a high end subwoofer that one has.

 

[macmyworld]

Tough battle. Sonos is a leader and BlueSound has some excellent stuff with a decent following.

 

[Jett0516]

Does anyone know is there a 4k bluray player with airplay out there?

 

[Zen_Arcade]

I bet it will sound pretty good, though I’d also bet it won’t be as good as my Exposure/Monitor Audio system.

😉

 

[BraytonAK]

This doesn’t look capable of much. Most sound bars tend to be lacking. I did just replace my Denon receiver and 5.1 speakers with the Sennheiser Ambeo sound bar. It truly sounds fantastic. People complain that it’s big for a sound bar, but that’s precisely what lets it sound good.

In my apartment the Sennheiser really hits seriously deep bass notes and has incredible spatial separation. I have no need to connect my Velodyne sub, so it’s retiring.

While the Sennheiser is very expensive ($2,500), it proves that a sound bar can sound good.

 

[x-evil-x]

Seriously doubt this gives an accurate Dolby Atmos experience unfortunately - the whole premise of Atmos is that there are downward firing speakers from the ceiling (or upward firing speakers that rebound off the ceiling and recreate that effect) and this has neither. It doesn’t have any side firing speakers either and as the unit isnt particularly wide I imagine that it will give quite a narrow sound stage. At $600 or £ I’d think you can do much better (sounds more like a $200-300 piece of kit tbh)

Don’t expect real atmos from any soundbar. The term atmos is throwed around too easily. Hell our phones have it. Does it? really?
To me atmos is having height speakers actual up over you. No bouncy stuff. I’m not scared to wired a full system. It’s half the fun.