Denon Home wi-fi speakers are about to get wise, with an impending firmware update that will incorporate Alexa to help. The Residence sequence is component of Denon’s HEOS multi-room audio ecosystem. Alongside the Alexa news, Denon is unveiling the Dwelling Seem Bar 550, an all-in-one Dolby Atmos soundbar that is also in the HEOS family.
Denon states that a firmware update coming this spring will increase Alexa aid for its wireless Household speakers, together with the 150, 250, 350, and new 550 products. Each and every of individuals speakers and soundbars currently occur outfitted with designed-in microphones, which have been dormant up to this issue.
After setting up the update, end users will have the alternative to help Alexa, and when they do, their Dwelling speakers will act just like common Echo speakers, complete with the skill to participate in songs, modify the speaker volume, response thoughts, and handle smart dwelling units, all by means of voice command.
The built-in microphones in Denon’s House speakers will not be activated unless they’re manually enabled, and users can pick not to enable Alexa if they desire, Denon mentioned.
The firmware update will fundamentally convert Denon’s Dwelling speakers, which are able of decoding substantial-resolution audio—including DSD files—into comprehensive-on wise speakers, making them poised to contend with the likes of the Amazon Echo, the Google Nest Audio, and the Sonos A person (which arrives with the two Alexa and Google Assistant on board, although only 1 can be lively at a time).
Meanwhile, Denon has just unveiled the Property Audio Bar 550, an all-in-one soundbar that supports immersive Dolby Atmos and DTS:X audio. You can go through much more about all those property theater audio formats in this tale.
Slated to ship in February for $599, the Home Sound Bar 550 will appear equipped with a material-coated front panel, full with controls that mild when built-in proximity sensors detect an approaching hand.
The Audio Bar 550’s 6-driver array incorporates 4 two-inch comprehensive-assortment motorists and two .19-inch tweeters, whilst two passive radiators supply reduced-frequency consequences.
You can enhance the HEOS-enabled Audio Bar 550 by including a pair of smaller sized House speakers as surrounds and Denon’s wireless DSW-1H subwoofer, even though doing so would drive the over-all rate nicely north of $1,000.
DenonYou can upgrade the seem of the all-in-just one Denon Residence Seem Bar 550 by adding a pair of more compact House speakers as surrounds and Denon’s DSW-1H subwoofer.
Though the Home Sound Bar 550 supports Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, it lacks upfiring drivers that bounce the needed height cues off the ceiling. Rather, the Audio Bar 550 makes use of virtualization to obtain its peak effects, an increasingly typical (and frequently successful) resolution to providing 3D audio without the need of upfiring motorists or in-ceiling speakers.
As for inputs and outputs, the Seem Bar 550 comes with two HDMI ports: an HDMI-ARC port that supports eARC, an “enhanced” edition of ARC that can cope with lossless audio, and a standard HDMI enter with 4K movie passthrough. There’s also an optical (Toslink) port, a 3.5mm jack, a USB port that supports new music playback on a thumbdrive (such as FLAC, WAV, ALAC, and DSD data files up to 24-bit/192kHz), and an ethernet port.
Besides its future Alexa assist, the Household Audio Bar 550 is a Roku Television All set soundbar, which means buyers will get on-display screen set up recommendations and options when employing the soundbar with a Roku Tv.
The Sound Bar 550 also supports Apple’s AirPlay 2, as effectively as direct streaming from membership audio providers these as Spotify, Apple Audio, Amazon Tunes High definition, and Tidal. Even better, wise house fans will be capable to get edge of the soundbar’s included software drivers for Control4, Crestron, URC, and Elan clever platforms.
We’ll have a complete evaluation of the Property Audio Bar 550 at the time we expend some time with a sample device.