Denon Home 200

We've just reviewed two brand-new products from Sonos, and we were, to say the least, impressed by both of them. It's not just about the sound; it's also the ecosystem that Sonos has managed to build up over such a long period of time. That doesn't mean, however, that there isn't room for newcomers, and Denon recently unveiled their ambitious Home series, a range of speakers designed to serve as a reliable, well-built audio foundation in the home.

The smallest of these is called the Denon Home 200, a cylindrical "warm" design clad in durable fabric all the way round, with a base in sleek aluminium. It's exceptionally attractive to look at, it really is, and thanks to the relatively intuitive touch-based buttons on top, it's also easy to use physically.

Inside, it features a stereo design with dedicated drivers. There are two 1-inch tweeters, angled slightly outwards, and two 3.5-inch woofers, and while they may be a little small, they are designed to be "long-throw", which means they can move more air to, if nothing else, create the illusion of a deeper, bass-heavy soundstage. Each of the four units has its own Class D amplifier, and they are controlled by a DSP which, incidentally, provides true Dolby Atmos support.

In addition to Dolby Atmos, it supports FLAC at 192kHz/24-bit, WAV, ALAC, DSD, and others, and can be played via a wide range of connection types, from AirPlay 2 to Spotify Connect. There's also standard Bluetooth 5.2, and it can play music wirelessly via Wi-Fi using the surprisingly robust Denon HEOS app, which is far more polished and reliable than I had initially thought. You can also create stereo pairs with different 200 models.

You may notice that I haven't mentioned Google, and that's actually deliberate. Although you can ask Google to play music from your Denon Home 200, Google Assistant isn't supported directly. Amazon Alexa does, however, as it can "reside" directly in the speaker, but for Siri and Google Assistant, they function more as a relay, a destination where you can send audio rather than asking the speaker to perform basic smart home tasks. Whether this is a deal-breaker is hard to say.

In use, however, the Denon Home 200 is an absolute delight. The HEOS platform is already a solid competitor to Sonos, and this design profile is a touch more attractive than what other brands have managed to achieve. This is truly on a par with B&O. The use of Dolby Atmos and support for lossless formats and DSD directly over the network also makes the Home 200 a little more versatile, and also more "hardcore". The ability to play directly via USB is also a plus.

In other words; the Denon Home 200 is exactly as expected. Fortunately, Denon lives up to its premium reputation and has created a platform here with the Home series that will hopefully appeal to those who fall between Sonos and B&O, consumers who want high-end hi-fi with Wi-Fi support, and which delivers rock-solid sound reliably.