Denon HEOS Link HS2 Streamer Review

[amirm]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Denon HEOS Link HS2 DAC and streamer. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $349.

The HS2 is chunky and heavy for its size. Its real differentiation from many of its competitors is extensive connectivity:

It is very nice to see so many inputs and outputs together with trigger and IR support.

Setup was messy though. The app was not user friendly. When I went to add the HS2, it was not under the listed options for Denon or HEOS devices. I randomly selected a HEOS speaker. That prompted me to push the connect button. From then though, the app was constantly confused, not able to connect. Right when I was going to give up it prompted me to update its firmware! That was excruciatingly slow. But once finished, I was able to interact with it. I put the unit in fixed volume and ran my tests below.

Sadly for people like me, Roon is not supported. I also didn't see Airplay show up which is really strange. Maybe it has to be enabled some place.

Denon HS2 Streamer Measurements
To get a baseline for performance, I fed it Toslink input and measured pre-out:

This is pretty disappointing. Both noise and distortion are high, delivering SINAD that is 10 dB worse than what 16-bit audio is capable of delivering! Strangely streaming from the App generated slightly better results:

I don't understand why the distortion profile is different.

Much bigger difference showed up in jitter test:

Toslink in blue shows strong data-dependent jitter whereas the streaming (red) is mostly free of that. Both have high noise floor though.

Going back to Toslink input, I measured the output without dither using digital Coax out:

We are getting the theoretical maximum performance indicating the pipeline is "bit exact." Consequently, you can use an External DAC to sharply improve the performance of the HS2.

Its app doesn't have the ability to turn off dither so results are a bit worth but the above flexibility as far as external DAC remains:

Finally, I measured jitter using Coax out:

It is pretty bad but good DACs should be able to filter much of it.

Conclusions
I really like the functionality/connectivity of the HS2. I think it is one of the most complete streamers I have tested. App usability remains low but you can get through it. As expected, internal DAC performance is sub-par. I hope we get to a point one day when companies pay modicum of attention to DACs even in this class of product. Fortunately digital output is bit perfect giving you the ability to pair the HS2 with an external DAC and get superb performance.

I can't recommend the Denon HEOS Link HS2 as is. I am not happy with the DAC performance and lack of Roon support.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

 

[amirm]

Reserved for @AdamG to kindly post the specs.

Manufacturer Specifications:

Network Streamers are fairly complicated devices and perform many different functions. For all full list of feature specifications here is a link to the owners manual:

HEOS Link HS2 - Pre-Amplifier for HEOS® audio distribution | Denon - US

Elevate your home sound system with Denon's HEOS Link HS2. Create a whole-house music setup, control devices from your smartphone, and enjoy great sound in every room.

www.denon.com

 

[Dennis_FL]

I suspect Denon is trying to elbow into the Sonos market?

 

[staticV3]

Going back to Toslink input, I measured the output without dither using digital Coax out:

Wouldn't an undithered sine tone show correlated quantization noise?

Or are you sending a dithered signal to the Denon, just without additional dithering applied by the Denon?

 

[Jeromeof]

When you can get a WiiM Pro Plus with a great DAC, better measurements, better App, arguable better connectivity and Roon support for cheaper, this is device is really just for the Heos fans I would imagine. Not to mention the WiiM Ultra should have similar or better components and a touch screen for about the same price.

This device is not competitive in 2024.

 

[Grotti]

When you can get a WiiM Pro Plus with a great DAC, better measurements, better App, arguable better connectivity and Roon support for cheaper, this is device is really just for the Heos fans I would imagine. Not to mention the WiiM Ultra should have similar or better components and a touch screen for about the same price.

This device is not competitive in 2024.

+1

 

[Rja4000]

Thanks for this review.

I rated "Not terrible" and not "bad" just because the Toslink output is good

 

[fordiebianco]

Being a bit of a Denon fan boy, this is rather disappointing.

 

[AdamG]

If you have a competent DAC already and have a Denon AVR and want to work in the Denon ecosystem it’s not all terrible. I personally have found the HEOS streaming operating system rather clunky and not very user friendly. But have read about other not so technically savvy users praise these HEOS branded systems/products. A pretty large business segment don’t know what a DAC is and they just want plug and play convenience. In this vein it’s not a terrible product and it is priced pretty reasonably for a Denon brand.

Thank you Amir for the detailed review.

 

[TonyJZX]

to my mind i always question the design of the things

like we know that they run off a mobile and so you dont need no buttons or screens on the box so they are selling a device that should be heard but not seen???

and so i have no desire to own something like this? its not a power amp where you dont need any... 'style'

but surely they can do a better job that just a blank alloy case with a nike swoop and a screen print logo?

$349 and you know Denon Marantz are no good at streaming. yeesh.

 

[Mikig]

Yes, I agree with AdamG.
Those who use these systems normally buy them in large retailers in a package with Heos speakers, they don't have the slightest idea of what a 9039 or a 4499 or the Jitter is.
The important thing is to press a single button on the smartphone and listen to the radio or some songs in the library. Perhaps you will also connect the TV to it, to obtain a better sound result.

Clearly, however, the Hi-Fi stickler finds its measured performance and poor implementation towards the main streaming platforms most devoted to high fidelity limiting.
However, the devices are still decent, even though it seems to me to be an old project...

Thanks Amirm for the test and review!

 

[Lukerator]

COAX OUT test Jitter，how much is FFT Length？

 

[WalterW]

It is not very expensive, but also not very convincing. Competition is too hard.

 

[Burnsy1]

The pricing on this thing seems ridiculous, when you can buy an entry level Denon AVR with Heos built in, while having amplification and everything else all in one for about the same price.

I have a Denon 4400 and a Marantz AV7703 and use HEOS frequently... but I can also use apps like BubbleUpnp. I do wish there was a cheap - reasonable way to get synchronized music to my HEOS enabled Denon receiver in the den, along with my old school non networked receiver on my back porch. This would likely do it, but it's not worth the price.

 

[rank]

Price way too high just to have Denon branded on it.

 

[Curupira]

Price way too high just to have Denon branded on it.

My thoughts exactly. The established industry is less and less competitive each day that passes by. Yesterday it was Japanese products overtaking the western industry, today they themselves are getting overblown by the Shenzhen technopole.

 

[Haskil]

Heos is not a very good application: it does not even allow multichannel broadcasting... is not recognized by Roon and does not integrate Qobuz for purely unbearable commercial reasons. Moreover, these stories of streaming platforms integrated or used in this or that application are those which mean that a mini PC will always be preferable to any hi-fi streamer.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

There really isn't any excuse for the internal DAC's performance--not when a $9 Apple dongle can get SINADS in excess of 100 db. Why don't these guys just spend the extra $1.00 and put in a decent dac is beyond me.

Again, thank you for the excellent review, Amir.

 

[Jimster480]

When you can get a WiiM Pro Plus with a great DAC, better measurements, better App, arguable better connectivity and Roon support for cheaper, this is device is really just for the Heos fans I would imagine. Not to mention the WiiM Ultra should have similar or better components and a touch screen for about the same price.

This device is not competitive in 2024.

Yep, but since my whole house uses heos; i got this.
You can find them pretty cheap on ebay. Less than most wiim devices.

The app is pretty good once you have it all connected. I personally just use my heos from my Spotify account. The devices just appear in my account and I can play to them directly.

There really isn't any excuse for the internal DAC's performance--not when a $9 Apple dongle can get SINADS in excess of 100 db. Why don't these guys just spend the extra $1.00 and put in a decent dac is beyond me.

Again, thank you for the excellent review, Amir.

I don't think it's $1, it has to do with the scale of manufacturing. This device also came out like 6 years ago. Denon hasn't updated it (which is their fault).
For the price though, the DAC should definitely be better.

Heos is not a very good application: it does not even allow multichannel broadcasting... is not recognized by Roon and does not integrate Qobuz for purely unbearable commercial reasons. Moreover, these stories of streaming platforms integrated or used in this or that application are those which mean that a mini PC will always be preferable to any hi-fi streamer.

I don't think that it was ever built for audio enthusiasts. It is built for convenience and simplicity. My wife, for example, absolutely loves it and uses it all the time. She plays iHeart Radio, Spotify, SoundCloud and Amazon Music. It's very simple and she likes it for that reason.
You can easily make groups of devices so you can play across multiple rooms or have one room have multiple speakers like how we have our kitchen & dining room set up.

The pricing on this thing seems ridiculous, when you can buy an entry level Denon AVR with Heos built in, while having amplification and everything else all in one for about the same price.

I have a Denon 4400 and a Marantz AV7703 and use HEOS frequently... but I can also use apps like BubbleUpnp. I do wish there was a cheap - reasonable way to get synchronized music to my HEOS enabled Denon receiver in the den, along with my old school non networked receiver on my back porch. This would likely do it, but it's not worth the price.

You can buy one of these and the previous generation model on eBay quite cheap, sometimes under $100. That's how I purchased this one, as I would not spend $500 on a brand new one, which I think is just a ridiculous price.

It is not very expensive, but also not very convincing. Competition is too hard.

I actually think the MSRP is way too high and realistically it should cost $200 max MSRP. Especially now that we know the performance.

 

[RDoc]

In my opinion, anything with HEOS rates Poor -> Ridiculous because of the terrible user interface. HEOS seems to just be a way for Denon et al to have a placeholder in the market.