The Denon Home Sound Bar 550 is a 2.0 setup that you can upgrade with a dedicated subwoofer and satellites, sold separately. It has a compact design, and it offers a slightly boomy sound profile out-of-the-box. However, it struggles to reproduce a thumpy low-bass, so you don't feel the deep rumble in action-packed movie scenes. Also, it doesn't get very loud, and there's compression at max volume, so it isn't suitable for listening at loud volumes.
Our Verdict
The Denon Home Sound Bar 550 is fair for mixed usage. Out-of-the-box, this soundbar has a slightly boomy though fairly neutral sound profile. However, it struggles to reproduce a deep low-bass, so you don't feel the thump and rumble in bass-heavy music or action-packed movies. It supports surround and Atmos content, but it doesn't provide the most immersive listening experience. Also, it doesn't get very loud.
- Bass and treble adjustments.
- EQ presets.
- Doesn't get very loud.
- Lots of compression at max volume.
The Denon Home 550 is decent for dialogue-centric content like TV shows. Thanks to its balanced mid-range, voices are reproduced clearly and with detail. There's also a Dialogue Enhancer to make voices more crisp and clear, as well as an auto-volume mode to help balance the volume across different programs. Unfortunately, it lacks a discrete center channel, so voices don't reproduce as accurately.
- Dialogue enhancement feature.
- Mediocre center channel performance.
The Denon Home 550 is okay for music. Out-of-the-box, it has a slightly boomy, though still pretty neutral sound profile that adds a little extra bass to your audio. It struggles to reproduce a thumpy low-bass, which can be disappointing for fans of bass-heavy genres. There are some EQ presets as well as bass and treble adjustments to help you customize its sound. However, it lacks a full graphic EQ, and it doesn't get very loud.
- Bass and treble adjustments.
- EQ presets.
- Doesn't get very loud.
- Lots of compression at max volume.
The Denon Home 550 is fair for movies. Its balanced mid-range can reproduce dialogue clearly, but it lacks low bass, so you don't feel the deep thump and rumble in action-packed scenes. It can play Atmos and surround content, but it doesn't offer the most immersive listening experience. Also, it doesn't get very loud, and there's a lot of compression when you play it at max volume.
- EQ presets.
- Dialogue enhancement feature.
- Doesn't get very loud.
- Lots of compression at max volume.
Changelog
- Updated Sep 26, 2022: Corrected an error in the Height (Atmos) and Surround 5.1 boxes that listed its localization as 'Front-Firing Drivers'. Since it's a 2.0 bar, it downmixes multi-channel content into stereo. Updated the 'Height (Atmos)' 'Surround 5.1' and Usage box scores accordingly.
- Updated Feb 08, 2022: Firmware update adds Alexa support.
- Updated May 27, 2021: Review published.
- Updated May 25, 2021: Early access published.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Denon Home 550 is available in 'Black', and you can see the label for the model we tested here.
If you come across another version, let us know in the discussions, and we'll update our review.
Popular Soundbar Comparisons
The Denon Home Sound Bar 550 is a 2.0 soundbar setup from 2021. It has a very compact design, but like many small soundbars, it doesn't get very loud. It also struggles to reproduce a thumpy low-bass, though you can add on a subwoofer and satellites sold separately. That said, thanks to HEOS Built-In, you can control it and group it with other Denon Home products using the HEOS app.
See our recommendations for the best soundbars, the best Dolby Atmos soundbars, and the best small soundbars.
The Sonos Beam (Gen 2) is better than the Denon Home Sound Bar 550. They're both standalone soundbars, but the Sonos is better built with better center and surround performances. The 5.0 setup can get a bit louder with less compression at max volume. The Denon has some extras, like a Full HDMI In port for high-quality passthrough.
The Sonos Arc is a better soundbar than the Denon Home Sound Bar 550. The Sonos is a 5.0.2 setup that comes with a discrete center channel. It has a better soundstage performance, gets louder, and has a room correction feature. You can also upgrade it to the Sonos Arc with Sub + One SL Speakers. However, the Denon is smaller and has EQ presets and a Full HDMI In port.
The JBL Bar 5.0 MultiBeam is a better soundbar than the Denon Home Sound Bar 550. The JBL is a 5.0 setup that offers a discrete center channel to help reproduce dialogue more clearly. It also gets louder and comes with a room correction feature. However, the Denon comes with a dialogue enhancement feature, and it has a better Atmos performance.
Depending on your listening habits, you may prefer either the Denon Home Sound Bar 550 or the Yamaha YAS-209. They're both decently versatile bars, but the Denon is better movies. The Denon is a better-built 2.0 setup with a better surrounds performance. Unlike the Yamaha, it supports Dolby Atmos content. That said, if you want to feel a lot of bass in your audio, you may prefer the Yamaha, which comes with a dedicated sub.
Test Results
