Denon Home Amp Review: Small But Powerful

In this review, we’ll take a look at the new Denon Home Amp. It is a small, powerful amplifier with tons of features and technology. Weighing in at only 4.5 pounds, it offers 100 watts per channel at 8 ohms and 125 watts per channel at 4 ohms, which can power most speakers in the market. 

Specs

Dimensions	3.4 x 8.54 x 9.21 inches
Weight	4.5 pounds
Wired Connectivity	Ethernet
Wireless Connectivity	Dual-band, 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
IR Input	3.5mm
Decoding	Dolby Digital +, Dolby Digital, LPCM, DSD
Channel Assignments	Stereo (Default), Dual Mono
Digital Inputs	HDMI (eArc), TOSLINK
Analog Inputs	RCA L/R
Subwoofer Out	RCA Mono
Frequency Response	20 Hz to 20 kHz

Review

The Denon Home Amp is a lightweight, compact amplifier. It has a unique look and sound profile and is very similar to the Marantz Model M1. The front panel has a simple layout, with capacitive touch buttons for volume control, a mute button, and 3 customizable preset buttons. The top plate has a distinct wave pattern, with vents in it to cool the interior. It has a modern, sleek look, unlike the Marantz M1 which has a sharper look. The build quality is very good, but you can only get the amp in one color, Black. 

Read our full review of the Marantz Model M1.

The back panel of the Denon Home Amp has a simple and easy-to-read layout, with two sets of binding posts, Ethernet, and HDMI eARC, for connecting your TV. It also has an analog line input which you can use to connect your CD player or turntable. There is a subwoofer output as well, and crossovers for subwoofers and main speakers are built-in with the Home Amp. You get an optical input, a USB-A input, and an IR input to connect your control system if you have one. 

The Denon Home Amp was specifically designed to work with custom installations for your home system. It can integrate with Crestron, Control4, and AMX. You can also use two of these amplifiers side by side if you have a more demanding system. It has Bluetooth 4.2, allowing you to stream music directly from your smartphone or other Bluetooth-related devices. 

The Subwoofer Low-Pass can be adjusted from 40Hz to 120Hz, and the Speaker High-Pass can be adjusted from 40Hz to 250Hz. This is an important feature as adding a subwoofer helps take the bass load off your speakers, contributing to lower distortion performance. You can set a volume limit between 80% and 100%, to prevent overdriving your speakers and damaging them. 

The HEOS app takes products like the Denon Home Amp to new heights, maximizing functionality and usability. After listening to the feedback of users, Denon changed the entire app, bringing everything you need right to the home screen. The home screen has everything related to music, your playlists, recently played tracks, and more content from your music services. You can also make HEOS playlists, combining your favorite tracks from different services into one single playlist. HEOS supports Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, SiriusXM, Soundcloud, and Tidal. As of now, Apple Music is missing from the app, but hopefully, it will be added in a future update. 

Just like the Marantz Model M1, the Denon Home Amp is also a Class D amplifier. The good thing about Class D amps is that you can tune them to get the best sound characteristics. The Denon Home Amp has very low distortion, and it is dynamic with extra detail in the center stage. It can work just as well with multiple amplifiers in a whole home audio system. 

Verdict

The Denon Home Amp is an amazing all-in-one amplifier. It has everything you need for your home system, functionality, power, and connectivity. It is very similar to the Marantz Model M1 and is $200 cheaper. The HEOS app has everything you need, and it has support for so many music services. If you are looking to buy an amplifier, then the Denon Home Amp is a solid option.