Best Denon Heos 1 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020:
Denon’s Heos 1 is the most compact speaker in the range. It is positioned opposite the Sonos Play: 1 , pointing to the fact that its sister only offers Wi-Fi as a connector for an exclusively sedentary use. The Heos 1 intends to make the difference with Bluetooth and a battery … optional!
Best Denon Heos 1 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020
1. Denon HEOS 1 HS2 New Hi-Res Audio, Compact, Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker with Amazing Sound (Updated Version), Black, works with Alexa, 5.08 x 7.44 x 5.04
2. Denon HEOS 5 Wireless Speaker System (Series 2, White)
3. Vogel’s Speaker Wall Mount for Denon HEOS – SOUND 5201 W for HEOS 1, White (single mount)
4. Denon HEOS AMP – Wireless Amplifier for Home Theater (New Version) | High Power Rating | Make Any System Wireless. Powered Subwoofer Connection | Smart Home Automation Integration | Alexa Compatible
5. Denon Heos 3 HS2 New Hi-Res Audio, Compact, Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker with Amazing Sound (Updated Version), Black, Works with Alexa
Ergonomics
The Heos 1 is a compact and well finished speaker: it has three physical buttons on its upper part allowing the volume to be adjusted or cut off. Like the rest of the range, the rest of the functions and other settings are made via the application (described in the Multimedia section).
At the base of the speaker, you can see a strip of LEDs that change color or flicker to indicate the different states of the speaker: wireless connection, pairing, volume control, update … On the rear side, there is an Ethernet port, a USB port for playing music tracks and charging a smartphone and a 3.5 mm mini-jack port to connect it to any device equipped with the same connectors. Finally, a “connect” button allows synchronization on the Wi-Fi network.
The compatible audio formats are relatively numerous and should satisfy the greatest number: MP3, WMA, AAC, FLAC and WAV. Please note, however, that the Apple “FairPlay”, WMA DRM and WMA Lossless formats are currently not available for playback.
The very big advantage, and what we expect from this type of product, is that this Heos offers Bluetooth and a battery … provided you opt for the Heos 1 Go Pack (see box) at 49 € . We have measured its autonomy, which is around 5 hours at moderate volume.
Multimedia
An application available on Android and iOS controls the Heos 1 (but not only) from a smartphone or tablet. However, nothing has yet been developed to control the Heos system from a Mac or Windows computer.
The “Heos” application is rather simple to use: first, you connect the speaker to your smartphone / tablet using the mini-Jack cable. Then, we follow the steps visible on its screen until the speaker is connected to the network. Finally, just add the speakers, one after the other (up to 32 speakers) and place them in the category you want (living room, bedroom …).
Once the configuration is complete, you have access to three pages: “Rooms”, “Music” and “Listening”. The first is used to select the listening area and make the pairing, EQ, balance settings. The second allows you to either access your music via on-demand music listening sites (Spotify, Deezer …), or to find a music server, USB support … When on the last page, it displays the title of the song currently playing, adjusting the sound or even navigating between songs.
In use, we noticed some bugs and slight lag times when moving from one song to the next. However, when the speakers are paired, synchronization takes place smoothly.
Audio
The Denon Heos 1 incorporates a wideband mid / bass speaker and a soft dome tweeter for treble reproduction. The whole is amplified by a class D stereo digital amplifier.
The manufacturer announces that it was designed with the aim of adding sound to a room of 10 to 15 m². It is also possible to pair it via the app to another Heos 1 for true stereophony.
The frequency response curve is relatively linear. The bass is present but a little too soft. The mids are slightly inflated, providing a fairly warm and responsive sound overall. The voices are fairly well transmitted. On the other hand, the sound rendering lacks a bit of clarity and definition. We also find high mids put forward without either being too in excess to avoid sibilance. Treble extremes are also present, allowing a complete restitution on the whole audible spectrum.
The distortion is well controlled with an average of less than 1%. The width of the soundstage is not huge, but still allows to project a minimum in the middle of the instruments. The power is not the most impressive, nevertheless, it remains very correct for a device so compact and above all, the audio rendering remains controlled until the end without excess distortion.
The curves shown above correspond to that of the Heos 1 running on battery and in Bluetooth via the 1 Go Pack kit. As we can see, even if the response curve does not change radically, we lose a lot of information at each end of the audio spectrum. But the thing that marked us the most concerns the enormous saturation in the low mids. In short, we no longer recognize the speaker with this soft and not very detailed sound rendering.
STRONG POINTS
- Balanced audible spectrum.
- Finish.
- Intuitive multiroom application.
WEAK POINTS
- Serious, lacking in responsiveness.
- Bluetooth + battery pack almost unusable.
- Mind-blowing Bluetooth latency.
CONCLUSION
The Denon Heos 1 is doing very well on the audio part. The multiroom works well and the application that controls the whole is ready. Unfortunately, the optional Bluetooth + battery pack that we liked at first is almost unusable, thus limiting its connectivity. We end up with a product similar to a Sonos Play: 1 , more expensive.
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