Denon - HEOS 5 Wireless Speaker - Black

I wasn't sure if I should Sonos or Heos and purchased this with every intention to return it if the quality in a first generation product was not there, but I was quickly turned a believer. I had set up several Sonos speakers for my sister last year when this was unavailable getting the Heos to work out of the box via phone or Pandora library was about the same level of effort The sound is top notch, much better than the Sonos and Samsung Options. This is easily moved from room to room without issue and the WiFi connection is very reliable. My only major concern is that the instructions for setting this up to play off my computer's library did not exist, so I had to tinker around a bit in order to figure out that you need to take deliberate steps with Windows Media player to enable playback. All in all, a great speaker and I look forward to building this out with future complementary products and can't wait to see how Denon expands the line.

Excellent sound for a portable speaker. Options to use WiFii or an Aux input. Other portable speaker (Sonos) doesn't have the Aux input if you don't want to use bluetooth or Wifi. We cranked up the volume last weekend and the sound was clear with great bass and no distortion. Sometimes the HEOS app doesn't sort my playlists like I have them organized on my IPhone, but I probably just need to figure that out better. I recommend this speaker to anyone looking for excellent sound in a portable speaker.

Let me begin by saying that I am a big fan of Bowers and Wilkins. I have three large speakers in my AV room as mains, and two nice 8" in the ceiling. But I've been branching out. Just picked up some nice smaller V-Moda XS headphones instead of B&W P3s. Sound great! And I bought this Heos instead of a B&W A-5. Wanted a classy look - check. Wanted a good brand - check. Wanted something that could help with future whole house system - check. (Denon's better AV receivers allow you to sync these through the app.). Wanted a good application for the speaker - check. Wanted separate tweeters and drivers/woofers with discrete amps - check. This has it all except for a separate sub--you need to buy the Heos 7 for that. But this has a passive radiator built into it, and I am OK with that sound because I already own some definitive technology speakers. There is plenty of bass - I've had to use the app to turn it back a little bit. Best of all: got mine on an unadvertised store 50% off sale. Loved Heos 7 sound--just too large

Im particular about sound quality and long term listening. I find many systems exciting but tiring. I was determined that Sonos must (by now) have a good competitor and since I had tried the Sonos Play 5 at home and returned it I wanted to try Heos. I admit , i was looking for an alternative. I didnt enjoy Sonos because of its lack of sound quality for long term listening and lack a warm, room filling sound. I would never think of a sonos device for my main system (which is serious but not esoteric. if you care: about $8,000 very well spent hard earned bucks) , but I live/eat/work in the kitchen too and my wife wanted music there. I wasn't prepared to assault my ears for hours on end with a noisy thing. she was going to have to wait until a decent enough device existed at a not too exhorbitant price point. she waited a long time. Then I found and demo'd Heos easy setup. multi account. she has her weird music on Pandora, and I have mine. we are both happy. she can choose hers and me , mine. easy listening for hours. simple enough for her to use. I see a lot of use out of it. more sources would be nice, but happy that they will come soon. will recommend to any friend of mine, beginner or enthuiasist. and will be buying a second one for its easy use in a second room. don't underestimate the Pandora/Spotify connect style handoff. its the best change to happen in YEARS ! No phone battery issues and phone calls interrupting. don't hesitate to try it at home. if you wondering about sonos , demo that first, then Heos. & have fun listening.

I love these speakers, they are definitely sound much better than the Sonos 3 but the app is not up to par w/the Sonos. Im still getting used to the GUI but it produces much better sounds than its Sonos rival. Im sure w/in a few months, the app will catch up and all the kinks will be fixed.

My husband and I often say that we love the times that we are living in. I think this is mostly due to the amazing technology that is breaking out seemingly on a daily basis. We’re old enough to remember when technology basically meant a transistor AM/FM radio! When we think about how far we have come, it is mind-blowing. And Best Buy is a huge reason why we enjoy technology so much. We buy all of our audio equipment at Best Buy because they have the best selection and prices around. And their sales staff is professional, experienced and incredibly helpful. Our last purchase at Best Buy was our BluRay player, which we bought just a few months ago and LOVE! Recently, Best Buy sent us an HEOS 5 Wireless Speaker by Denon. Setting up – everything was pretty simple and only took a few of minutes. ‘Un-Boxing‘ it was pretty amazing with the way it was ‘presented’ with so many little packaging presentation touches that let me know right from the start that this was something special. You can set it up with either a network or a cable that connects your device to the speaker. I set mine up with the WiFi network and the downloaded iPhone app guided me through everything I needed to do. At the center, bottom of the speaker there is an LED light that lights up to tell you the status of the speaker. For example, flashing blue indicates it is searching for devices to connect to and solid blue indicates fully connected. I imagine once you have set up one HEOS speaker in your home though, any other HEOS speakers that you add will copy the connection information so you should only have to connect using a cable once. Easy to Navigate iPhone App - The iPhone app is very simple to navigate and its simplicity is certainly one of its best attributes. There are basically three elements to the app: Rooms, Music and Now Playing. The Rooms section is where you will find a list of all the speakers in your house connected to your device. (Only one in my current use). A very cool part of this section is that you can apparently ‘group‘ the rooms together by holding down the name of one room speaker and dragging it on top of another. And moving one speaker above another speaker will turn it into the ‘lead‘ or ‘first’ speaker. The Music section of the app is where I found all the streaming services compatible with the HEOS 5 system – such as Spotify, Napster, and Pandora. Denon says there will be quarterly updates to the system where they will add other streaming services such as iTunes (which is suppose to be on their list, Yay!). I was most interested in accessing all my music on my iPhone. The Now Playing section is how you control the system itself. If you want to play, pause, control the volume or see what’s playing, this is the section that you would head to. There is a Settings Section of the app that also gives you the option to share the music on your device with the HEOS 5, which allows you to access the music on any device in your house that has its music sharing turned on. So even if your iPhone (or other device) with all your music on it is tucked away somewhere, you can still stream music to the HEOS 5 from it without having to actually go and get it. Great Performance - The speaker certainly comes alive and fills the room with full-sounding music. The one thing I did notice was that the volume control on the iPhone app wasn’t as sensitive as I would like; it didn’t seem to register until it reached about a third of the way through the slider. There are separate volume buttons on the speaker for you to crank up the volume if you want to. Great Design - I really like the look of the HEOS 5 with its tear-drop shape – appearing almost like an iPhone docking device. And its simplicity is certainly one of its best selling points. It looks good, sounds great and has some pretty cool features. Now I want to buy an additional speaker (or two) to expand my ‘whole-house’ music system…

I don't normally write much on reviews but I think I need to help others who might have been in the same dilemma I was on wireless speakers. Originally, I was just looking for something for my garage while I was outside so I bought a Jambox it did the job at first but seemed to lack more of what I was wanting. So I did my research and went to BB to hear Sonos and Heos keeping in mind BB is a huge store and its not going to sound the same. Listened to the Sonos and though wow this is not bad. Stepped over into the Magnolia section and turned on the Heos 3 and what a difference, so stepped it up to Heos 5 and thought wow this is so much better! Of course I listened to the Heos7 and was blown away but came back to reality, its for my garage! Anyway, I am very happy its fills my garage and at times my neighborhood at low volume!! Great speaker I now use in my garage and office, I would recommend getting a NAS with this so that you can access all your music anywhere. My last thought on this speaker: Does Denon ever make any bad sounding speakers?

These speakers sound awesome! Completely clear across the frequency spectrum. The bass response is full and rich. It creates an optical illusion due to it's size. It's got a discrete handle if you want to be portable. The setup took about 5 minutes and I was up and playing off my iPhone. It came with all the cables necessary for setup. Great job Denon!