First Marantz, now Denon: The Home Amp is not the first streaming amplifier with a stylish, square design that was introduced this year. No wonder, since both hi-fi companies belong to the same group. The Denon Home Amp also relies on a mix of audiophile requirements and home cinema features – but costs 200 euros less than its recently introduced colleague, the Marantz Model M1 . We reveal what you can expect from the Denon Home Amp.
Denon Home Amp – Two 125 watts for HiFi and TV
More and more hi-fi giants are realising that hi-fi systems no longer have to be the central jewel in your living room. Modern streaming amplifiers should be compact, simple and have as many functions as possible. After all, very few people want one system for listening to music and a second one for film sound.
The Denon Home Amp aims to bridge this gap. With two 125 watts at 4 ohms, it should be able to drive even stubborn speakers. The corresponding music or film sound signals find their way to the amplifier via a variety of connections. They are all located on the back: In addition to a classic RCA input, there are three digital inputs: A USB socket is available for music hard drives. An optical input is provided for older televisions or CD players . The real trump card, however, is HDMI eARC . The Denon Home Amp can use this to receive the TV sound and play it back through your speakers. At the same time, the interface allows you to adjust the volume of the amp using the TV remote control.
Thanks to its decoding of content in Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital + and LPCM, you won’t miss much, even with multi-channel soundtracks. Although you can only connect a stereo pair of speakers to the Denon Home Amp, the corresponding surround signals are converted to these two speakers – and a subwoofer if necessary .
The interfaces are rounded off by an output for your subwoofer as well as Bluetooth , WLAN and a LAN socket. The functions and connections are therefore identical to those of the Marantz Model M1.
Modern streaming à la HEOS
You can operate the small streaming amp either on the device itself – there are three preset buttons for radio stations or playlists, as well as three buttons for music playback and volume – or via the HEOS app. We have often come across HEOS as an operating system in our tests. Most recently with the Marantz Model 40n . The platform allows you to not only combine most streaming services in one app, but also to transfer your music, regardless of how it gets to the home amp, to suitable HEOS devices. This makes the Denon Home Amp part of your multi-room system .
In addition to the high-quality Class D amplification, a modern DAC is also designed to ensure good sound . According to Denon, this is also capable of processing high-res audio up to 24 bits and 192 kHz, as well as DSD tracks at 2.8 and 5.6 MHz.
Denon Home Amp – Price and Availability
Despite the identical functions, the Denon Home Amp is significantly cheaper than its Marantz twin. Denon is currently asking for $799. This would make the Home Amp$200 cheaper than the Marantz Model M1.
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