Denon Home Sound Bar 550 Review
A well-featured compact soundbar with a big sound
Verdict
Big sound from a small soundbar, the Denon impresses with its performance and range of features. If you’re looking to compact system to beef up your TV’s audio and get a system that doubles up as a music system for the front room, this is a soundbar worth considering.
Pros
- Dolby Atmos and DTS:X
- Confident ‘overhead’ performance
- Entertaining with music
- Lots of connectivity options
Cons
- Volume ramping leads to an unbalanced presentation
- Adding more speakers is pricey
Availability
- UKRRP: £599
- USARRP: $599
- EuropeRRP: €649
Key Features
- Atmos and DTS:XSupports playback of both immersive audio soundtracks
- Alexa voice assistanceOption of Alexa or Google built-in
- HEOS networkAccess to music streaming services such as Tidal and Amazon Music
Introduction
The issue of deriving a good quality experience from a TV has taken on more importance since flatscreen TVs became the norm. With TVs featuring less space for some beefy audio performance, it has fallen upon the soundbar to generate the necessary grunt.
But not everyone wants a giant soundbar. The Denon Home Soundbar 550 is another in a long line of small bars that look to solve the issue for when there isn’t space for a more traditional-sized system.
And it can process Dolby Atmos and DTS:X tracks to produce a sound much bigger than its dimensions. There’s also integration with music streaming services, as well as the long-awaited appearance of built-in voice assistance.
However, Denon has a Sonos Beam Gen 2-shaped problem, a soundbar with a similar spec. The Sound Bar 550 has a fight on its hands and it’s well specc’d for the battle.
Design
- Tidy and trim appearance
- Compact size
- Wide connectivity options
The Denon shares the same attire as its Home stablemates, wrapped in a fabric cloth. It looks nice and very well-made but doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll garner a second glance. Only a black finish is available, adding to the Denon’s discreet tailoring.
At 651 x 75 x 120mm (WHD), it’s around the same size as the Sonos Beam 2, so it can comfortably sit beneath a TV. It makes the Home Soundbar a good partner with TVs up to 50-inches, though its audio performance suggests it could be paired with bigger sets.
Aesthetically speaking there’s a bit more to this bar with a motion activated touch panel on the top surface and Alexa light bar that peaks through the fabric cover. In a recessed area around the rear are the ports: HDMI input, HDMI eARC output, digital optical, USB port, 3.5mm jack and Ethernet cable. That gives the Denon more options for plugging devices in than its Sonos rival. The HDMI input, for instance, is helpful if you’re short of a few on your TV.
The remote is small and feels insubstantial, the kind you’d lose between the sofa cushions if you’re not too careful, with clicky presses that sometimes require a few attempts. There are no playback buttons but sources, sound modes, volume (including bass) and presets all feature.
Features
- Alexa voice control
- HEOS brings the music streaming apps
- Upgrade path with other Home series products
Alexa voice control – announced before the Home series went on sale – was finally added in September 2021, allowing for hands-free control of the bar and Alexa fetch quests.
The HEOS platform knits the Home Soundbar 550’s online features together, and also brings the option of using Google Assistant as an Alexa alternative. HEOS is built into Denon and sister brand Marantz’s products and to continue the Sonos’ comparisons, works similarly to the S2 app by offering access to Internet stations and integrating streaming services such as Amazon Music, TuneIn and Tidal into its interface. Spotify Connect is also supported.
For more options there’s AirPlay 2 and a lowly form of Bluetooth (3.0), which suggests Denon would prefer you use the Wi-Fi/HEOS. File formats accepted over network and USB include MP3 and AAC (up to 320kbps), WMA (up to 192kbps); FLAC, WAV and ALAC (up to 24-bit/192kHz) along with DSD 2.8 and 5.6kHz, enshrining the Home Sound Bar’s high-res audio capabilities.
As an interface HEOS is more functional than sleek but offers a range of tweakable settings such as Dialogue Enhancer, Night Mode, presets, and an equaliser for treble and bass (-5dB to 5dB); as well as multi-room with other HEOS products and accessing music. Visually it’s a little bland, but no stability issues were encountered and operationally it’s speedy.
There’s interesting news for custom installers with support for software drivers for Control4, Crestron, URC, Elan, and others. Finally, the Home 350, 250 and 150 can be used as rear-channel surround speakers, and for more bass the DSW-1H wireless subwoofer is supported. It won’t be a full Atmos system given there are no upfiring speakers, but it’ll open up the bar’s surround sound capabilities.
Performance
- Big, tall sound
- Lots of power and attack
- Pretty adept with music
- Volume ramping causes a lack of balance
Inside the enclosure are two 19mm tweeters, four 55mm full-range drives and three 50X90m passive radiators. Like the Beam 2, there are no upfiring drivers, so the Denon achieves lift-off with immersive soundtracks by using digital processing.
The Home Sound Bar 550 gets terrific mileage out of its small form with a performance that’s big, clear, and detailed. Like LG’s tiny Éclair speaker, the Denon’s sound stretches the expanse of a screen – effects and dialogue positioned where they ought to be. Even partnered with a 65-inch screen the Denon still managed to place effects right in the corner of the upper frame when it was required.
And even without the help of the upfiring speakers there’s a definite sense of verticality to the Denon’s sound. A run-through of Blade Runner 2049’s opening, and as the spinner descends there’s not only excellent definition of the car’s engines but decent heft to it as well.
2049’s soundtrack presents issues for most soundbars, and it reveals the Denon’s (expected) lack of bass depth and extension. There’s some slight woofer distortion but the Sound Bar 550 manfully keeps it under control.
What bass there is, is impressive for single box system of its size. Powerful, punchy, and weighty, with the right piece of content – like the opening titles of Succession – you can feel the low end of Nicholas Britell’s score rumble through the floorboards. It’s also a soundbar that gets the quiet/loud dynamic with confidence; the moment when Howard loses his temper during the dinner scene in 10 Cloverfield Lane genuinely startled me.
The Denon’s sound is sharp and dynamic, but that presents an issue with volume. It can be tricky the get the right ‘loudness’ to avoid coming across as too aggressive. The Denon’s volume doesn’t need turning up that much to have an impact but above that and it becomes a little fatiguing. There’s a slight lack of balance in voices when the volume is turned up – and in other moments the Denon mistakes loud moments for lots of noise, losing points for subtlety.
Kept within a certain range and dialogue is clearly and cleanly reproduced, though I noticed in busier scenes that dialogue can get lost in the mix. This is likely down to the Denon lacking a dedicated centre speaker, but with the Dialogue Enhancer you can tweak this aspect. Using the Enhancer does give dialogue a more processed tone, though.
And the Denon is not a soundbar interested in firing sounds either out wide or towards the listener. While it sounds big, it’s a front-heavy soundstage that doesn’t spread sound beyond the width of the TV.
I’d rate the soundbar’s music performance as lively. Transitions from quiet to loud, as well as highs and lows are ably described, with a top end that is sharp and clear and assisted by punchy bass. Rhythmically it’s an entertaining listen
Voices take priority and there’s good separation of instruments, so they don’t feel clumped together. However, its music performance could benefit from more width, the entire soundscape takes place within the centre of the soundbar. A good performance, but one that could further benefit from the type of expansiveness a soundbar like the Samsung HW-S61A offers.
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Should you buy it?
For its punchy, big, and cinematic performance Though its performance isn’t necessarily 3D in the truest sense, the Denon can produce a bog sound with plenty of power and attack
If you want a more expansive sound The Sonos Beam Gen 2, JBL Multibeam 5.0 and to a certain extent, the Samsung S61A all produce bigger, wider performances for less
Final Thoughts
The Denon Home Soundbar 550 has plenty of brawn to go with its smarts, creating a compelling (and small) home cinema package for anyone looking to boost their TV’s performance. It was more expensive than the Sonos Beam 2, but in the run up to Christmas you can find it for a lower price.
Denon’s soundbar convinces with immersive audio and music, is well-stocked with smarts and connectivity options to make it the centrepiece of your living room. It is an assured performer and one of the better attempts at small form factor immersive bar.
How we test
We test every soundbar we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Tested over several weeks
Tested with Atmos, DTS:X, 5.1 and stereo content
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FAQs
Yes, DTS:X soundtracks are supported by this soundbar.
Full specs
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
