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Denon’s new premium soundbars target both film buffs and music lovers

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Japanese audio brand Denon has announced two new premium soundbars aimed at those who want excellent musical fidelity to go alongside the sounds of your favorite films and TV shows.

The new soundbars, labeled (as soundbars often are) with tough-to-recall model names DHT-S516H and DHT-S716H, both feature slightly rounded lines and what the company claims is class-leading digital signal processing, aiming to best competitors from Vizio, Samsung, and others with fantastic fidelity in your living room.

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The larger S716H doesn’t come with a wireless subwoofer, where the smaller S516H does, but otherwise both boast many of the same features. They support DSD, FLAC, WAV, ALAC, MP3, WMA, and AAC audio, as well as support for DTS surround sound and Dolby Pro Logic II.

Both new soundbars feature support for the company’s HEOS multiroom audio support built-in, which means they can play music around your home, so long as they’re paired with other HEOS devices. You can also use the HEOS 1, 3, and 5 speakers as rear channels, which allows you to piece together a true surround sound setup using Denon’s smaller multiroom speakers.

“Although Denon’s presence in the custom channel is very strong when it comes to electronics, we’re also seeing a hunger from integrators to access more premium soundbars for other areas of the home away from a dedicated theater or entertainment space,” said Paul Belanger, the director for custom integration at Sound United. “These two new soundbars are designed to easily fit into any job where a dedicated third-party control system or multiple zones are required. HEOS Built-in makes installing these into a bedroom, guest room or other areas with a TV simple without sacrificing compatibility with other areas of the home or running wires.”

One thing that will have many multimedia nerds excited is that the S716H comes with four HDMI inputs, with support for Dolby Vision and 4K HDR passthrough, which means you should easily be able to connect your streamer, video game consoles, and Blu-ray player to your setup.

We have yet to hear the new soundbars, but are excited to check them out when we get the chance. The new soundbars retail for $599 and $899, respectively, and are currently for sale. For more information on the new bars, we recommend taking a peek at Denon’s website.

Parker Hall
Former Senior Writer, Home Theater/Music
Parker Hall is a writer and musician from Portland, OR. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin…
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