Denon is pulling together the new and the old. The company has announced the new Denon Home Amp, an amplifier that’s built to connect to your wired speakers, and allow you to stream wirelessly to them. Those interested in the speaker world will draw immediate parallels between the Denon Home Amp and the recently-launched Marantz MODEL M1, which is Marantz’s take on the wireless speaker amplifier. Of course, under the hood, the two are likely very similar too, considering the fact that they’re both owned by the same parent company.
But there is one key difference between the two: the price. While the Marantz MODEL M1 costs $1,000, the Home Amp sits in at $800.
There are plenty of reasons why you might want an amplifier like this. The Denon Home Amp adds HEOS compatibility to a classic speaker setup. All you’ll have to do is provide your favorite pair of speakers. In other words, the Denon Home Amp is an excellent way to ensure that your classic speakers have life in an increasingly wireless world.
While the Home Amp perhaps isn’t as stylish as Marantz’s take, it’s still a stunning looking piece of hardware. The device is relatively minimalistic, with output buttons and volume and playback controls on the front. It’s relatively small and work great next to any pair of speakers, and it comes with a remote for easier control.
Perhaps more important is what’s on the back, though. The Home Amp offers a large selection of inputs and outputs to make for an excellent modern listening experience. On the back of the amplifier, you’ll get line-in inputs along with an optical port and an HDMI eARC port to connect the amplifier to your TV, and a USB port to stream from a computer, smartphone, or another device. And, of course, you’ll get the speaker outputs for stereo speakers along with a subwoofer output. The amplifier has an output of 100W per channel, and its circuitry has been tuned by the Denon Sound Master.
Even more important than the physical inputs are the wireless ones. The Home Amp is compatible with HEOS, so it can be part of a multi-room wireless speaker setup with other speakers around your home. HEOS supports up to 64 zones and high-resolution audio streaming. On top of HEOS, the Home Amp also supports Bluetooth, Spotify Connect, and AirPlay 2, so it can integrate with your Apple-based wireless speaker setup too. That’s a huge range of features for such a compact box.
The Denon Home Amp is available now from the Denon website for $800. Alternatively, if you are looking for something a little more elevated, consider the Marantz MODEL M1, which comes in at $1,000.
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