Denon - HOME 400 Wireless Smart Speaker - Charcoal

Out of the box, I was set up and playing music within 5 minutes. Without question, the ease of setup is one of the most notable features of the Denon Home 400. Not only was the connection easy, but I have not lost connection since. Moving the speaker from room to room, once I plug it in, I am reconnected within seconds without any hiccups or loss of signal. This also includes streaming from a Bluetooth device. The antennas used in these speakers are excellent. If connectivity is one of your main concerns, you won’t find an issue here—this is an area of excellence. The speaker is aesthetically pleasing and fits into my home decor without becoming an eyesore. The contoured shape and customizable sound based on position allow me to place it wherever I like without it drawing too much attention or standing out. It has a nice weight to it, and the buttons and switches feel very sturdy. Also, the sensor near the top that lights up when your hand comes close is a nice touch. The sound profile is very particular, but if you enjoy this type of sound reproduction, this speaker will exceed your expectations. The sound is clean and true to the source, especially when playing high-definition audio from Tidal or Amazon Music. Subtle nuances of each instrument come through clearly, including reverb and frequency attenuation. If you’re looking for thumping bass, this is not the speaker for you—the bass is complementary, not overpowering. When you connect the speaker to the app, it asks for placement, and I did notice the sound profile changes depending on positioning. Placing it in a corner may give slightly more bass, but again, it complements rather than dominates. Think of this speaker like sitting in a concert hall versus listening to a DJ in a small room. Denon claims to understand sound, and this speaker reflects that with its accuracy and fidelity. Moving on to the HEOS app: it’s clear Denon aimed to make it both user-friendly and feature-rich. From the app, you can control EQ, add music services like Pandora and Amazon Music, and even manage Bluetooth playback if you prefer using the app instead of your device. It also supports playing music from local servers, which is a great feature if you store audio on external drives. There are many options for playback across different sources. If you’re invested in this ecosystem and comfortable using the app, you’ll have plenty of customization options to fine-tune your experience. My major issue with the speaker and app is the lack of Google integration. YouTube Music—easily one of the top services—is not supported within the app, nor can it be streamed via Google Home. That’s a significant omission. If your home is built around Google devices, this speaker will feel disconnected unless you’re willing to use it separately. While it does offer limited smart controls like play, pause, and volume, these features feel incomplete and shouldn’t be heavily marketed as smart home compatibility. Since YouTube Music is my primary service, I have no seamless way to use it here outside of Bluetooth or workarounds like Chromecast Audio. It does appear to have better integration with Alexa and Siri, though I wasn’t able to test those. Amazon Music and Tidal do take full advantage of the speaker’s Hi-Fi capabilities, which makes the lack of broader integration even more disappointing. This system works best if you’re starting fresh, but since it relies heavily on the HEOS app, I’m cautious about fully committing to a proprietary ecosystem that may not age well. Another positive worth mentioning is the integration with other Denon Home speakers. I paired the 400 with a Home 200, and they sync flawlessly from room to room. When used together in the same space, you can further refine the sound profile. If you’re planning to invest in multiple speakers, I have no concerns recommending the system for whole-home audio—it has been seamless in my experience. However, note that Bluetooth playback cannot be streamed to multiple speakers, at least based on my testing so far. In summary, the Home 400 delivers excellent sound if you value accurate, high-fidelity reproduction. If you’re buying into the Denon ecosystem, you’ll likely be very satisfied with both the sound quality and connectivity. Just be aware that you’ll need to rely on the HEOS app to unlock its full potential. I would recommend it—with that caveat in mind.

The Denon Home series seems to be built for how we actually listen to music. It is flexible and gives you options from the HEOS app from "I don't care what I listen to, click, play to I'm picky and here is exactly what I want to listen to." mood. The Denon replays music back at full 24 bit 192 Khz audio. Over USB it supports DSD and FLAC II giving this speaker a clear edge over other similar speakers. This edge only applies if you are looking for true studio format playback. The key here is matching the speaker to the room within the lineup. The 400 excels in an average size room with 8 - 10 foot ceilings. This speaker is powered by a class D amplifier, reproduces lows and highs very well. The speaker array consists of dual 4.5-inch woofers, dual 0.75-inch dome tweeters and dual 1-inch up-firing full-range drivers for height effects. This speaker is powerful enough to fill the room with sound and I can even open the patio door and hear it on my deck. Set up is fool proof, the HEOS app will ask you about speaker placement and it will optimize the sound. If you are inclined, you also have full control of the sound characteristics. Within the HEOS platform you can connect to other speakers, Denon and Marantz products making it able to grow over your future home wireless speaker system. If you have spent a lot of time building your playlist and speaker set up Denon uses Roon for the greatest flexibility. The connection and HEOS app have proven to be solid, no glitches or wireless problems from the bullet proof units. The design blends great with any decor, not flashy, subtle and classy.

The Denon Home 400 is a premium sounding and looking powered speaker. It arrived boxed nicely, and well protected with the formed packing. The quality and build of the Denon “Home” series speakers is evident. The outside of the speaker is wrapped in a charcoal fabric, and the construction of all other parts is excellent. The speaker is quite solid, and has a “hefty” feel. This speaker has a 10MM threaded mounting hole for stand, or wall mounting with a bracket. Keep in mind the speaker is heavy – almost 12 pounds – a sturdy bracket is needed. However, for shelf or table use, the bottom of the speaker has a soft insert on the bottom that will not mar surfaces. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, speaker paring, wireless multi room audio, microphone, Dolby AtmosMusic, are just a few of the features. Some featured “Smart” streaming services include Spotify, TIDAL, TuneIn, Pandora, iHeartRadio. Siri and Google Assistant voice is built in. The speaker incorporates a 6-driver array with 4.5-inch woofers, 0.75-inch tweeters, and up-firing drivers all with individual class D power amplifiers for powerful, clean sound. There are status color LEDs that display inputs, mic mute etc. There are far more features available online... Setup was quite easy – scan the QR code and then download the HEOS app, which allows you to access and customize settings for all your different speakers independently. You can pair speakers for a wider Dolby stereo, use separate speakers in in a home theater setup, or in different rooms to listen to the same, or different music sources in each room. And, each Denon Home speaker delivers stereo and Dolby Atmos Music on its own, so paring two speakers creates an even wider listening experience. Aux, Bluetooth, and USB C inputs are on back panel. Side touch sensitive controls are volume, track selection, Play/Pause, and the “1,2,3 Quick Set” buttons can be used to store internet stations, or inputs. To the listening experience.....Denon’s “Sound Master” tuning gives the Home 400 a full sound. Use the HEOS app to customize bass / treble, volume, width, height, and selected inputs. I listened to different inputs - Bluetooth, AUX and WI-Fi - with streaming radio, movies, and digital music. There is a slight “lag” as is usual using Bluetooth, but Wi-Fi or using AUX inputs eliminated that. Though a single speaker, it had a nice stereo effect. Although I don't know the actual rated frequency response, all I can say is “Wow”! This speaker really responds. The bass is punchy and deep. Using the treble and bass adjustments in the app makes for an awesome sound. Movies come alive. Streaming, listening to radio, or digital music leaves nothing in the background. Although pricey, this speaker exudes quality, has excellent sound, multiple options, as an addition to phone, computer, tablet – and even upgrading TV audio.

Highlights: * Sounds great! * Really nice packaging and build quality * Easy to set up in the HEOS app * Apple AirPlay 2 compatible * Apple HomeKit compatible * Bluetooth compatible * Easy to group/ungroup speakers/rooms * Can store up to 3 playlists/stations for easy recall * On-speaker tactile buttons for volume, track and 3 favorites * Slim power cord * Supports 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz amd 6Ghz WiFi (a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Considerations: * Power cord sticks out the back quite a bit * Buttons don’t have tactile markings - have to look at what you’re pressing * Can’t set up, view or edit the speaker’s 3 favorites via the app The Denon Home series of speakers are all powered by HEOS which is the name for their ecosystem of multi-room audio equipment. Anything with the “HEOS” branding connects together through your home’s WiFi and can share audio, group speakers and function together similar to another multi-room system that begins with “S” ;-). I have a HEOS-enabled Denon home theater receiver with normal wired speakers, a Home 200 and a Home 400 speaker all on my home network. With the free HEOS app, I can easily group these three together or control them independently from the HEOS app on my phone. Let’s start with the hardware because no amount of connectivity is going to matter if the speaker doesn’t sound good. The Home 400 speaker is compact yet powerful and sounds amazing when driven with high-quality sources. It has two 4.5” woofers, two 0.75” tweeters and two 1” up firing speakers for Atmos that deliver rich stereo sound with actual Dolby Atmos playback. The 6 built-in amplifiers drive powerful sound that fills larger rooms where great audio is appreciated and you have a bit more space for a larger speaker. The built-in microphone works with various services to allow voice operation (service dependent) and the on-unit buttons provide local control as well as quick access to 3 of your favorite stations or playlists. On the bottom of the speaker is even a tripod screw hole so you can easily mount it to various options. The rubber foot on the bottom will dampen any vibrations and keep things sounding great even at higher volumes, which sound great all the way up to uncomfortable sound levels ;-). Setup was simple with the free HEOS app. Start by adding the speaker to the app, tap the “Connect” button on the back when prompted and in seconds it’s all set up. If your home uses Apple HomeKit, the speaker can also be added to your Apple Home and/or share any content to it over AirPlay or Bluetooth. Everything worked seamlessly for me. Once added, you can use the free HEOS app on your phone to play your compatible music services to one or more HEOS-enabled speakers, group them together in any combination you choose, or just connect locally over AirPlay or Bluetooth. Another benefit of the HEOS ecosystem is that it includes not only speakers but also Home Theater components. My Denon HEOS-enabled home theater receiver has its own wired speakers but can easily route anything from that receiver to my Denon HEOS speakers individually or in groups. You can also set up the receiver to use this speaker as a wireless surround speaker. There’s an ambient light on the bottom front of the speaker that normally glows white when “online” and blinks when receiving commands remotely. In the app, you can dim that light or turn it off completely depending on your needs. I found that the app works well for selecting and controlling content from streaming services. It also has detailed options for adjusting the sound of the speaker remotely. Speakers can be grouped by dragging them together and you can even name and save your groups for later. There were a few small things that I didn’t particularly love, but nothing major. The power cord sticks out of the back quite a bit which limits how close to a wall you can put the speaker. While I appreciate having the buttons on the speaker, and especially love that they are tactile rather than capacitive, the buttons are on the right edge and have no tactile indications or bumps. The only way to know what button you’re pressing is to look at the printed label. It would have been nice for at least the Play/Pause button have a bump you could feel it in lower light or if the speaker is up on a shelf or next to a wall on the right side. Lastly, the speaker has three “Favorite” buttons which is great! You can set each button to your choice of a streaming station or playlist and then just tap that button to play it again without having to go into the app. However; unless I missed it, you have to play the content first and then hold the number button to set it. Once set, there is no way to see what it is or edit it in the app… it’s basically a feature on the speaker only which is odd. In the app you can set a “Quick Select Name
for the intent of each button, but nothing more. Maybe the app will get an update later to let you view and/or change each favorite. Overall, this Denon Home 400 speaker sounds great for its size. It really packs a punch and fills larger rooms with Dolby Atmos sound. The on-speaker controls are super convenient and the flexibility to control it via the app, a HEOS-enabled stereo receiver, or any other compatible phone or device is superb. The HEOS ecosystem works well for multi-room control and there are plenty of choices for speakers to meet your space and sound needs. The number of available music services directly in the app is limited but that will grow over time.

Overview While pricy, the Denon 400 speaker comes close to replicating my mid tier component home theatre system when playing music. It’s certainly a lot more portable! It connects well with the top streaming services, including their high-fidelity formats. It will natively stream Amazon's Atmos audio or Ultra HD, depending on your preference. Native streaming sounds better than Bluetooth connected as it lacks support for high quality codecs. Voice control is only through a connected smart speaker (i.e. Amazon Echo). Setup and usage was hampered by some bugs in the Android app. Sound Quality and Soundstage The audio performance is where the HOME 400 truly shines. While I could certainly hear a difference between the Home 400 and my $5000 component system, it wasn’t as noticeable as I’d expected. It sounded better than the Harmon Kardon / Samsung sound bar I have in my basement, with with the subwoofer that works with. It delivers a rich and immersive sound that feels significantly more expansive than its physical footprint suggests. The soundstage is notably wider and taller, creating a room-filling experience that brings music to life with impressive depth. I have a home theater system so I did not try it out with any movies or TV. There are a couple of audio modes you can select in the app. I found the pure mode would highlight vocals, which was nice in jazz and most rock music. However it ended up distorting the classical opera pieces that I enjoy. There’s some controls for height and width. I found the wider setting added some nice dimensions to classical music. Rock music was fine with the standard settings. The HEOS App Managing the speaker is handled through the HEOS app, which is commendable for its simplicity. Navigating through different streaming services and adjusting settings is seamless, making the user experience pleasant and efficient. When using with voice control, it can be Cumbersome to express what you want as your command must include modifiers. I..e. "Play Magic Carpet Ride by Steppenwolf using Amazon Music on [Speaker]." I found it easier to use the app instead of remembering all the pieces of the voice command. Unfortunately the app did not always work as expected. A few times I would hit play on an existing stream and nothing would happen. Ease of Setup Setting up the HOME 400 was fairly straightforward. The speaker will only connect to the same network as the device you use for setup. Unlike many IoT devices, it will not let you select a different network during the initial setup. I have separate Wi-Fi networks in my house for low-speed devices and high-speed devices (with my phone defaulting to the high-speed network). You can, however, change networks in the settings menu later on. This too had an issue as when I went to change networks, the device disconnected altogether and I had to connect it hardwired using a USB Ethernet adapter to get it unstuck.Once I got it back online, I was able to connect it to my high-speed network with WiFi 6E. It's nice that Denon made the hardware future-proof. Connecting Amazon music to the HEOS app was also a bit complicated. I tried several times from my Android based phone without success. Fortunately I have an iPad and was able to use that to connect the services. I can't say if the issue was on Denon's side or Amazon but it definitely marred the whole experience. I did find repeatedly the iOS app worked more reliably than the Android version. Once music is connected you then have to add the HEOS skill in the Alexa app in order to activate voice control. You can certainly play music on the Denon 400 without having voice control but that will require using the HEOS app to select songs. With voice control, Amazon will autoplay additional song, just as it does through an Echo smart speaker. With the HEOS app, autoplay is not available. You can select albums, playlists or song, and the app will categorize the items so you can see items in your playlists and your music library more quickly. For Bluetooth connections this speaker only supports the SBC codec. Given the audio specs there is a surprising lack of support for lossless and HD audio using AptX, AAC, or LHDC codecs. I found a notable difference when streaming music natively versus playing via Bluetooth from my nearby Amazon device. You can also plug a line in if you want to use it as a computer speaker with high-quality output. Denon Quality In addition to the Home 400, I also have a Denon Home 200. The app makes it nice to group them so both can play the same set list simultaneously. This is nice to have music flow seamlessly from the family room to the deck. I thought I might be able to have them play in Stereo, but that’s only enabled if both speakers are identical (i.e. 2 Denon 200’s). Given the virtual stereo sound from the 400 on it’s own, I don’t think I’m missing much. If you have a HEOS enabled receiver, it gives more options for multi-room music, but my Denon receiver uses an older app. It still works great after 20 years, so I can’t complain! I hope these new Denon speakers last that long.