Denon HEOS Link HS2 Streamer Review

[Trouble Maker]

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

It seems expensive to me, not just compared to the competition but even other Denon products. Denon AVRs start at $399, but with HEOS they start from $549. How is this product that's only the HEOS streamer $349?

Sonos is equally confusing to me for their streamer that cost more than some of their speakers, their amp cost more than most of their speakers... and the speakers all have streamers and amps built into them.

 

[pablolie]

one has to wonder why and how a respected brand like Denon can't deliver on better. these products are built with off-the-shelf parts.

 

[Koeitje]

Very poor, $350 for just a digital output is just a terrible value proposition. Should cost $125-ish.

 

[AndreaT]

Great review. Steer away from it. Why no manufacturer can make a complete box with good tablet interface, featuring the possibility to use your own music collection from a SSD HD, inspired by the (very expensive) MAN-301 by Weiss, and for less than $ 500? It should not be an insoluble problem. Topping was selling a decent music server for close to $ 200, with a poor user interface and problems of signal crosstalk. Cambridge sells a decent server with streaming capabilities for around $ 1,000, with a very poor interface. Other manufacturers’ products are very confusing: even reading the manual you are left with doubts: will it play my 84,000 FLAC files music collection?

 

[nathan]

Guess I won't get rid of my old SONOS CONNECT AMP. It isn't perfect but for 16bit audio, it is pretty darn good. And if I feel like the 55 watts per channel isn't enough, I can bust out an old SONOS CONNECT and attach is to one of these current class D two channel amps that cost about $100. Again, not a perfect situation, but accurate up to CD quality.

 

[restorer-john]

That was excoriatingly slow.

* excruciatingly.

 

[restorer-john]

I'd like to see if the line inputs do go out to 100kHz as they state. We know the digital inputs cannot with a top sample rate of 192kHz...

 

[Jimster480]

Great review. Steer away from it. Why no manufacturer can make a complete box with good tablet interface, featuring the possibility to use your own music collection from a SSD HD, inspired by the (very expensive) MAN-301 by Weiss, and for less than $ 500? It should not be an insoluble problem. Topping was selling a decent music server for close to $ 200, with a poor user interface and problems of signal crosstalk. Cambridge sells a decent server with streaming capabilities for around $ 1,000, with a very poor interface. Other manufacturers’ products are very confusing: even reading the manual you are left with doubts: will it play my 84,000 FLAC files music collection?

This can definitely play your local music files. You can plug in a drive to the USB port and it can read and access and play all of your files from there.

The music will then appear in your app.

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.

What about the user interface is terrible? I mean honestly I have had Heos products for 10 years and I mostly just open Spotify and press play.
Even if you want to play a local radio station through tune in or iHeart Radio, it only takes a few taps and you are listening to what you want.

Very poor, $350 for just a digital output is just a terrible value proposition. Should cost $125-ish.

To be fair, it is not just a digital out. It does work via RCA and to be completely honest, unless you are connecting this to a very expensive speaker system, the rather dismal DAC performance is actually totally fine for 99% of content.

I definitely wouldn't use this for my headphone amp as obviously this would not be up to the standard but I personally tested it with a couple different sound bars that I use in my bedroom for sleeping and it sounds completely fine.

I realistically use this to put on music while I go to sleep and my wife uses it to play music in our bedroom while she folds closed or does other around the house tasks.
Using this is quite a big upgrade versus connecting via Bluetooth to the sound bar, especially when the Bluetooth drains the battery of my phone and still sounds like a wet paper towel.

I even went on a trip and left my heos playing music for my dog before... 30hr+ long Playlist and it's fine.
9/10 times the app doesn't need to be opened if playing Spotify (or even Tidal once it's setup).

 

[TonyJZX]

realistically the only people who buy these things are people already "IN" the Denon Marantz world - maybe room installers

so its an easy profit center - see the Denon name? its never going to be $129 rrp because why would you not get easy money when the customer demands a one brand system.

 

[Chrispy]

Mostly I'd like to see just how Heos works generally, particularly with various apps/gear. I just didn't sign up for Heos as saw no need to belong

 

[nathan]

I voted "not terrible" because it is a fine alternative to SONOS for people that whole house background music, and are already part of the Denon ecosystem. People looking for a dedicated high quality streamer would likely not choose this, like they would likely not choose Sonos.

 

[Jimster480]

I voted "not terrible" because it is a fine alternative to SONOS for people that whole house background music, and are already part of the Denon ecosystem. People looking for a dedicated high quality streamer would likely not choose this, like they would likely not choose Sonos.

I think WiiM has probably the best setup now for people who don't have anything.

I really thought about buying a WiiM streamer before I bought this one, but I know my wife knows how to use the Heos system and so far all our Denon stuff is still working even after 10 years of use. So I bought this on ebay for around the price of the WiiM.

 

[nathan]

I think WiiM has probably the best setup now for people who don't have anything.

I really thought about buying a WiiM streamer before I bought this one, but I know my wife knows how to use the Heos system and so far all our Denon stuff is still working even after 10 years of use. So I bought this on ebay for around the price of the WiiM.

Yeah that’s the value of something like the HEOS or Sonos gear: fits into a broader whole house solution with many different form factors. No single unit or model is best in class or even best in value on its own.

 

[Koeitje]

To be fair, it is not just a digital out. It does work via RCA and to be completely honest, unless you are connecting this to a very expensive speaker system, the rather dismal DAC performance is actually totally fine for 99% of content.

The RCA output doesn't manage transparency for Redbook audio. That really should be the bare minimum in 2024. But to be fair Denon doesn't advertise it as hi-fi so I guess its fine to ask $350 for a level of performance below $20 phone dongles.

 

[Haskil]

I have read and understood the positive reviews on this device and even more on its use. I have a Denon 3600 and sometimes use Heos... but I prefer to use Audirvana in UpnP...
However, it is still curious that not all streaming platforms are automatically included in Heos or that the owner cannot easily integrate those of his choice... Why can't you find isn't Qobuz in Heos which in terms of choice of classical music recordings is the most complete of all platforms? This device, just like the Denon and Marantz integrated AVRs, would not cost more... Is this due to purely commercial reasons for the agreement between Denon-Marantz and the streaming platforms?
It is strange that the hifi press does not try to find out why... From the point of view of the consumer and his protection: manufacturers should be obliged to include all legal streaming platforms in order to let the consumer choose and not to push the consumer towards platforms of which they become prisoners Without the possibility of including new ones: it is anti-competitive.

 

[restorer-john]

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

Was the "pre-out" level at maximum or did you adjust it to provide ~2V out? What was the maximum output- did the THD+N get better or worse above ~2V?

It's disappointing the device is roughly 10dB behind a CD player from 1983 with a direct optical feed.

 

[amirm]

Was the "pre-out" level at maximum or did you adjust it to provide ~2V out?

I set it to fixed output and that was the level.

 

[amirm]

Why can't you find isn't Qobuz in Heos which in terms of choice of classical music recordings is the most complete of all platforms?

A lot of times services are included that give the device maker a kickback if they sign up new users. Maybe Qobuz doesn't offer this bounty.

 

[Haskil]

A lot of times services are included that give the device maker a kickback if they sign up new users. Maybe Qobuz doesn't offer this bounty.

We unfortunately think of something like that... or of pressure from Spotify or Tidal... The press should investigate...

 

[Barrelhouse Solly]

Disclaimer: I love Raspberry Pis. I'm a cheapskate who is always looking for the cheapest solution that doesn't compromise on basic function and quality.

A Pi 4 or 5 with an inexpensive external DAC and software like Moode or LMS can do high quality streaming for $100 or less. The compromise is that it's not an appliance. These days Pi command line stuff isn't required to configure things but you still have to learn how to use the software so there's more too it than just plugging in some cables and turning it on. Being a lifelong geek I enjoy having a bunch of configuration options to learn. I realize that lots of perfectly intelligent people don't think that's fun. Something like the WIIM with a DAC is a great appliance solution.