Denon Home Sound Bar 550 Review
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Consumers
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Featuring a neutral sound profile, the Denon Home Sound Bar 550 is a good addition to any home theater. However, this system’s narrow 3D soundstage and lack of sub result in sub-par performance during movies and games.
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our Verdict
Critics adore the Denon Home Sound Bar 550, praising its balanced audio profile, excellent connectivity options, and built-in Alexa voice assistant, and they recommend it for TV shows and music. Editors at Trusted Reviewers love this soundbar’s super-low latency, which means that users won’t notice any discrepancy between video and audio during dialogue scenes. Commenting about its balanced frequency response slope, reviewers from Sound and Vision say that it’s good for all music genres and TV dialogue. Built-in Alexa and app-based EQ presets enable managing this system remotely. Being a 2.0-channel system, however, it downmixes 5.1 surround sound to stereo, so there are better choices for home theaters, as our Devialet Dione review shows. It also doesn’t get very loud, featuring an 87.8 dB peak SPL.
Check out the JBL Bar 5.0 MultiBeam review for a louder soundbar. Our Anker Soundcore 2 review discusses a better speaker for the outdoors, and the Bose TV speaker review presents one with dialogue enhancement.
Reasons to Buy
- Built-in Amazon Alexa
- Equalizer presets and treble and bass sliders for adjusting sound settings
- Huge selection of ports
- Low latency ensures audio syncs with the video
- Supports Bluetooth and Apple Airplay
Reasons to Avoid
- Speaker doesn't get very loud
- 2.0 channel system doesn’t support 5.1-channel audio
- Mediocre low bass
Specifications
- Bluetooth Enabled–
- Depth–
- Dialogue Enhancement Feature–
- Energy Star CertifiedYes
- HDMI ARC–
- Height–
- Subwoofer–
- Surround Sound Supported–
- Voice Assistant–
- Wall Mountable–
- Weight–
- Width–
- Wireless ConnectivityBluetooth, Wi-Fi
- Wireless Subwoofer Connectivity–
- Works With–
Overview
The Denon Home Sound Bar 550 is a mid-range 2.0-channel soundbar that was first released in 2021, touting a 3D surround soundstage and Dolby Atmos in a compact form factor for television and music.
Although it has a 2.0 channel setup, it can be upgraded by adding a subwoofer and satellites, which are sold separately. You can find more advanced devices on our list of the best speakers today.
Since this speaker doesn’t come with a dedicated sub, it doesn’t reproduce deep extended low-bass. Built-in Alexa enables hassle-free customization. Shared HDMI ARC+Out ports, a full HDMI In port, USB port as well as aj Ethernet port provide wired connectivity.
This system has Bluetooth as well as Apple Airplay, allowing seamless streaming from a wide variety of devices. Although it supports Dolby Atmos, it doesn’t deliver a very immersive 3D soundstage. Continue reading our Denon Home Sound Bar 550 review and explore your options on our list of top-rated soundbars today.
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Product Comparison
 |  |  | ||
| True Score | 80 | 80 | 85 | |
| Market Context | – | Both the Denon Home Sound Bar 550 and the B&W Panorama 3 support Dolby Atmos, so they’re somewhat similar. The Panorama is a 3.1.2 system, though, so it has a discrete center channel, reproducing spatial audio better than the 2.0-channel Sound Bar 550. With 98.4 dB maximum SPL, the Panorama also gets much louder than the Denon, which only reaches 87.8 dB. Check out our B&W Panorama 3 review for details. | Featuring a 5.0.2 setup, the Sonos Arc provides a more immersive surround sound experience than Denon Home Sound Bar 550, which has just two channels. The Sonos speaker has a 96.6 dB maximum SPL, getting much louder than the Denon Home Sound Bar 550, which only reaches 87.8 SPL. However, the Denon speaker has EQ presets, unlike the Sonos Arc. | Unlike the Denon DHT-S 216 soundbar, which doesn’t have built-in Wi-Fi and lacks a built-in voice assistant, the Denon Home Sound Bar 550 boasts built-in Wi-Fi and features built-in Amazon Alexa. Both are 2.0-channel sound systems, however, and they both have an array of inputs including auxiliary in, HDMI ARC, and HDMI. |
| Voice Assistant | ||||
| Surround Sound Supported | ||||
| Wireless Connectivity | ||||
| Bluetooth Enabled | ||||
| Wireless Subwoofer Connectivity | ||||
| Dig Deeper | – | Read Review → | Read Review → |
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Score Card
E
Expert Score
*.75
We place a 75% weighted value on Expert Test Scores
C
Customer Score
*.25
We place a 25% weighted value on Customer Scores
True Score
Any product with a True Score above 80 is a Absolutely Fresh
Expert Score Breakdown
Publications with higher Trust Scores are given more weight
ATrust Score
68The Denon Home Sound Bar 550 is fair for mixed usage. Out-of-the-box, this soundbar has… read more- D
Trust Score
80Big sound from a small soundbar, the Denon impresses with its performance and range of… read more - D
Trust Score
NRThe Denon Home Sound Bar 550 is a smaller model that may appeal if space… read more - D
Trust Score
NR“No bottom line found for this product” read more - D
Trust Score
80The Denon Home Sound Bar 550 is one of the better, ‘realistically’ sized soundbars you’ll… read more - F
Trust Score
NR“No bottom line found for this product” read more
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