Denon Home 250
Introduction
The Denon Home 250 and Denon Home 300 are two new wireless speakers that give you the ability to stream music or radio from your phone, tablet, or computer. They're designed to be used in a variety of locations around your house -- even outside if you want -- with built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support as well as a 3.5mm input for those who want to go old school with their connection. There's no shortage of competition right now though; the Sonos Move was announced just last week and will offer similar features at roughly the same price point when it's released later this year. How does the 250 perform and is it worth stepping up in price to the 300? Find out more in this review.
Denon Home 250
Denon is the latest audio brand to launch a dedicated speaker for multiroom audio. The Home 250 is, very popular right now as this big-name speaker brand looks to rival Sonos for its share of the market. The Denon Home 250 is just one speaker in its new "Home" lineup with other models offering different sizes and pricing to customize the listening experience around your house. Follow along with this review to see how it went with our testing and be on the lookout for our review of the Home 150, Home 350, Home Subwoofer, and Home Soundbar that will be published later this month.
Specifications
The Denon Home 250 is a multi-room speaker designed to be used with other products within the Denon Home range of products. Connect via Airplay, Bluetooth, and HEOS.
Supports music streaming apps from: Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music HD, Pandora, TIDAL, TuneIn, and more.
Touch controls let you alter music playback and change volume. Input connectivity is extended with an aux-in port for wired connections or a USB port for direct access to your computer or NAS drive. Ethernet port allows high-speed connection directly into your home network without the need for a wireless router if required
Heos app allows you to control your source music, movie, and podcast files
Design and Build Quality
You get a lot for your money, the build quality is excellent and it feels like a well-made premium product. The touch controls on top work very well but does attract fingerprints due to the high gloss finish. Behind the speaker guard fabric, you can really see the design that has gone into the speaker. Multiple speakers and tweeters are assembled to maximize the audio performance
Overall we think Denon has done a great job with this new Bluetooth home speaker and we give it 4 stars out of 5
Sound Quality
The sound quality is good. I was surprised how well such a small speaker was able to fill the entire room. The bass is deep and punched with good resolution and detail in the mid-bass. While I think it is sufficiently deep in most rooms in my main room or a living room with a TV I think it’s worth spending extra and buying the Denon Home Subwoofer to compliment it. With this setup, the bass is thoroughly enjoyable and hard-hitting. However, with the Home 250 on its own, it still hits hard and resolves well when in the vicinity.
Clarity is slightly above average. It's a very open-sounding speaker with tuning that leans more towards the audiophile side. I found it easy to separate instruments and that despite the small size the music sounded like it was coming from a bigger source.
Treble is muted by nature with a slight roll-off at the top end but thankfully it seems that Denon had just been playing it safe with their tuning so as not to offend sensitive ears - I found, in testing, that this speaker was very responsive to EQ so there's definitely room for personalization depending on your preference
The midrange was also well behaved - slight hints of warmth made male vocals growl but adding a little EQ bump also brought out some shine for female vocals
The Denon Home 250 and 300 are both packed with two full-range drivers, two passive radiators (that's what all those vents are for), and built-in Wi-Fi. Bluetooth support is also included and there's a 3.5mm input for those who want to go old-school with their connection. There are no buttons on the unit itself, but there is a remote included in the box if you fancy using it as a dedicated bedroom or kitchen speaker.
The Denon Home 300 packs in everything you get with the smaller model plus an extra passive radiator which gives it that bit more oomph when compared to its sibling which doesn't seem quite as loud or powerful at high volumes. Both models look great though - they're pretty much identical except for size differences (and even then they're almost identical).
The lack of buttons isn't an issue if you're using it with your smartphone. You'll be able to use the HEOS app instead. This allows you to stream music from your phone, control volume, and adjust settings like bass, treble, and balance, along with setting up multiple units around your home.
The HEOS app is available on iOS and Android devices so if you want to do this then it's easy enough to set up.
With a similar style, price and set of features to the recently-launched Sonos Move, Denon's first 'Home' speaker will have some stiff competition ahead of it this year.
Conclusion
We are super excited about this new product from Denon. The Home 250 is a welcome addition to the world of wireless speakers and offers a great option for both audiophiles and those who want something simple and easy to use at home and create a sound system that covers multiple rooms in their house.
Official Website for Denon Home 250: www.denon.com
